Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

A recent thread on global warming and other environmental issues posed the question: “Are we having fun yet?” What a fantastic question to ask of ourselves in the year 2008. This question hit me square between the eyes; that’s really the issue here, isn’t it, I thought. That’s exactly what’s going on. Recent years have given more people more access to more goods and services, more art, more sport, more information, even to more other people, than ever before. With the internet we have access to the entire world at our fingertips. I can learn about almost anything in a matter of minutes. I can order plated Patagonian Alpaca Wool rugs in a few seconds, with the click of a mouse. I can order Goat’s Milk chocolate from Israel in the time it takes me to write this sentence. Figuratively, we have everything, literally we have more than anyone has ever had before. We live, in every sense of the word, in a time of abundance. And yet we seem bent on ‘more’. Why aren’t we happy yet, I wondered. (note: before you read on, this gets kinda long) (more…)

Hey Folks

So one morning when I couldn’t catch the apparently fugacious Mt Blackburn - shrouded by cloud, it’s ironic that such a magnificent and colossal mountain might be so clandestine. Yet so often, that’s exactly what these mountains are; shy, reclusive, and hard to photograph. So I turned my lens toward the ground, shot a few abstracts like this one, of a snow-covered glacial moraine. I really liked the curves and the play of Shadows & Light (a “must have” album, Shadows and Light, by Joni Mitchell, the band is one of the greatest assortment of musicians ever to tour together!). I knew when I took the photo I’d convert it to black and white, as there was little color in the original, though the shadows do take on a nice blue hue.

Moraines definitely look WAY prettier in the winter, covered with fresh snow.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

OK, here’s another trivia; these 2 mountains, Mt Drum on the left and Mt Sanford on the right, are volcanic mountains. Mt Sanford is a shield volcano. Shield volcanos are the result of low viscosity lava flows (free flowing) that build up over time - the lava flows and flows, hardens, flows, etc, and the mountains gradually grow. They tend to have a lower profile with shallow, kind of sloping sides .. they become broader mountains, typically, and are sometimes mistaken to be entire mountain ranges.
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Hey Folks,

So what, you’re all asking, is a ‘rock glacier’? I know you’re asking, I can hear it. Well, you’re in luck; I’ll tell you. (more…)

Hey Folks,

I know, I know .. I promised yesterday’s post would be the last of this series, but I changed my mind. This is another image of some ice forms on the Kennicott Glacier. I really was hoping to get some nice abstracts of the deep blue glacial ice so common in this kind of landscape, and so totally missing from my files. It took me quite a bit of clambering around (before my injury, of course), and fiddling with my tripod so that I could get this particular composition, but I was glad I did. There was this huge chunk of hanging ice right above me (more…)

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from my recent trip to the Wrangells. This is a photo of a couple of chunks of ice. I spent quite a bit of time right around this little area, watching the light - it’s amazing how much it changes in a very short time in the winter here. I found some great pieces of ice and chunks and walls and all kinds of cool stuff. If it had been summer, I wouldn’t have been able to cross the river and lake to get to this part of the glacier. (more…)