Through My Lens | Alaska

I know I’ve said it a lot. I love to travel. I mentioned in an earlier post I was going to Alaska with my mom, my aunt, and my cousin. We had such a great time! Alaska in May is gorgeous!

The trip was 10 days of fun–laughing, relaxing, eating, and adventuring. It was special to watch people I love experience Alaska for the first time. It was even more special to be there for some of their first-time adventures, like dog sledding and flight seeing by sea plane and helicopter.

Alaska is so incredibly beautiful. I love being surround by so much unspoiled nature. The first time I was there I felt overwhelmed by how stunning it was. I’d never seen anything like it. I made a layout about my first visit here.

Being there again was a great opportunity for me to work on my photography skills. There’s always something new to learn, and I can never have enough time with my camera.

We started the cruise in Vancouver where we had our only really cloudy, grey day. Vancouver is an awesome city. There’s plenty to do there and in the surrounding area. We arrived a day early so we could spend some time wandering around the city. It was a great start to our adventures!

In Ketchikan, AK we took a sea plane over the Misty Fjords. We landed in the lake in the photo above. The thing I loved most about landing there was how quiet and calm it was. We were surrounded only by nature, and it was amazing!

When we landed on the lake, we were allowed to get out of the plane and stand on the floats. I carefully climbed out with my camera in hand. I was so afraid of falling into the cold water. Cameras and water are not a good combination.

In Juneau a helicopter took us up to a glacier where we met a dog sled team. All four of us took turns driving the sled. I think this was definitely a highlight for us all.

We had amazing weather throughout our whole trip. The blue skies in Glacier Bay and College Fjords made it all even more beautiful.

Being in Alaska early in the summer season meant there were still some hours of darkness each night. We saw some pretty amazing sunsets. This one was my favorite.

Our cruise ended in Whittier, and we transferred to Anchorage. We stayed an extra day there so we could get out and see some of the area.  We did a small amount of hiking and a lot of driving around. Definitely worth our time!

The gorgeous scenery continued as we flew out of Anchorage. We took off at nearly 10pm, but we had daylight for an hour and a half. Flying over the Canadian Rockies was spectacular.

Between my iPhone and my dSLR I had A LOT of pictures! I’d say it was close to 40% iPhone pics and 60% dSLR photos. You can see more of my Alaska photos on my personal Instagram account.

I also journaled some during our time away, but certainly not as much as I had intended. And you know what? That’s ok. I’m happy to have what I have written down.

I have decided to document the trip in a photo book. It will be easy to have a copy printed for each of us. I’m still deciding on which online vendor to go with. If you have a photo book vendor you’ve had a good experience with recently, please let me know! I’m looking for recommendations.

When I have a big project with lots of photos, I get easily overwhelmed in sorting the photos. Honestly, I usually stall out at that point. I know this about myself, and I’m going to do all I can to push through and create an awesome book. I hope sharing the process and the final product here will help keep me accountable.

Have you been on any recent trips? Are you planning a trip for sometime this summer? How do you plan on documenting your adventures? Let us know in the comments!