Land of the Anti-Icons

Here's to Gary and Kent for getting me off my "forum-ical" arse and post a pic! They're right, this forum needs more participation and photos to show off this Great Land. So, here's my contribution.
So many people focus on Denali/Wonder Lake on their visit to Alaska - photographers and travelers alike. But there are sooo many other locations that are not as well known but can offer just as impressive vistas, opportunities, and far less crowds. Areas that are "unexplored" photographically, if you just leave the well-traveled iconic locations behind. This is just one of the areas that have become a personal icon for me - the Hatcher Pass area in the Talkeetna Mountains. It's a fantastic area, with incredible photo ops. Not to mention the very good options for you to capture what could be "Tomorrow's Icons" that are still relatively undiscovered today. Fresh locations, unspoiled vistas, and new photographs just begging to be taken. There are moments, when hiking and photographing in these areas that I remember a wonderful quote, that originally dealt with first exploring the Yosemite Valley. But any valley or summit could easily be inserted for Yosemite, in your own context.
"We did not so much seem to be seeing from that crag of vision a new scene on the old familiar globe as a new heaven and a new earth into which the creative spirit had just been breathed. I hesitate now, as I did then, at the attempt to give my vision utterance. Never were words so beggared for an abridged translation of any Scripture of Nature." - author Fitz Hugh Ludlow upon first visiting Yosemite Valley.
Thanks for looking!

I remember hearing that quote recently while watching "National Parks: America's Best Idea", and you're right, there are many places around Alaska in which we should put down our defenses and cynicism and be absolutely floored by the spectacle of it all. You've also got to love the way people talked/wrote back then. How often do you use the word "beggared"?

I wouldn't call Reed Lakes area "unexplored photographically", it has been photographed by every major landscape photographer in Alaska, It was the "secret" spot I was told to check out ten years ago when I moved to AK. But I agree that there are many places left in Alaska that allow a photographer the chance to discover "their" vision.

I think that the Alaska viewing public, both locals and tourist, are finally opening their eyes to new images and places. Publishers are now looking for non-iconic images of Alaska and are willing to publish work that isn't in Denali or Katmai. This will be the trend, as the market is saturated with the icons. So I think you will see more "secret" places showing up in magazines and books and more print sales of places that are not over shot.

Please, take my comments with a grain of salt, your creating some nice images, but be very, very careful when claiming anything new.

Though, A photography book of the Talkeetna mountains has not been done before so get to it before someone else does!

Great image Dave, and I agree with your point about "anti-icons." It's a NEW location if it's not been widely seen in print, even if it's on the standard punch card for local photographers. It's just that no one has managed to surmount the buttresses in the publishing world.

One thing I struggle with in advising visiting friends is the weather. We show our best stuff taken when the weather was optimum, but so many of the images are solely dependent on weather and light for success. Kodiak has some dramatic views, but the other 364 days, 23 hours, of the year they're pretty humdrum.

I particularly like shots like this taken during breaks in the weather that capture both great light and the weather. That's more along the lines of what we should be showing photographers who can only be here a few hours or days, if we want to give them a true taste of the photo experience waiting for them.

Perhaps not "unexplored" photographically, but definitely "less" explored. Less explored than say Wonder Lake, Polychrome Pass, or the Southern Overlooks of Denali. I guess my point is that these "other" areas are no less grand or less epic (even though less recognized) than the aforementioned icons. The expectations of so many to visit Wonder Lake and capture something new, or "check" off a location on a sheet like a birder ("I've seen that one now, on to The Grand Prismatic Pool) is a flawed plan, and leaves me feeling empty. I'm drawn away from high traffic areas for just that reason. Standing on the shore of Wonder Lake at sunrise/set, you may have 15-20 or more photogs nearby. A friend and I had this small lake to ourselves for 2 days. Didn't see a single person. I realize the location may not be "new" to local photographers, but how many people from outside our state could identify the location of this shot - compare that to any of a thousand images of Denali. I'd venture to say that some might want to visit this location.
That's epic. That's iconic. That's "unexplored and new" to a LOT of people.

Be happy that everyone goes to those places, that leaves the rest of Alaska for us.

Hahaha! Soooo true Carl!

I agree, Dave, that you certainly don't have to travel to the icons in Alaska to see lots of eye catching scenes. Mountain peaks for one, are all over the place and when you get up close to them even the smaller ones can be quite impressive. This one is right in my back yard, so to speak.