My 10 Favorite Shots of 2019

Here are my 10 favorite shots of 2019! Some I enjoy because they recorded a rare & fleeting moment, while others remind me of pleasant times spent in the mountains. They’re not in any particular order, except for number one. Enjoy!

1. Muldrow Glacier Ice Cave At Sunset

I planned to take an epic shot of Denali from a ridge across Muldrow Glacier on a backpacking trip in Denali National Park last August but I ran into trouble crossing the river on the west edge of the glacier. While hiking across the glacier, I stumbled upon this tunnel under the ice with a glowing blue ceiling. I realized the sun would shine directly through the entrance as it set, so I camped beside the tunnel and caught this shot of golden sunlight reflecting off the ice. Overnight, the ice stopped melting and the puddles inside became perfectly calm, but I was too cold and tired to emerge from my sleeping bag for a reflection shot.

2. Aurora Proposal

A client asked me to help him propose to his girlfriend under the aurora and capture her reaction in the moment. He wanted Rainbow Ridge in the background but that area was too cloudy when we arrived, so I had to find another scenic spot that wasn’t too windy. The aurora was incredibly active earlier in the night but by the time we made it to this spot the aurora was barely visible. As morning twilight was quickly approaching and time running out the aurora started to brighten enough for a picture, so I had them pose for a couple shots and gave the guy the cue to propose. As soon as he dropped to one knee, the sky instantly exploded, and she said “yes”. (Click here for aurora tour info.)

3. Delta Junction Visitor Center Rainbow

I chased this rainbow around Delta Junction for about an hour before sunset in early June, taking several shots of it over a few local landmarks. With sunset around midnight at the time and little traffic on the road I was able to stop in the middle of the Richardson Highway to line up this shot of the Visitor Center, which marks the end of the Alaska Highway. A few images of this rainbow are available in my online print store.

4. Harding Icefield Sunrise

I first hiked the Harding Icefield Trail in 2013 when I wasn’t as strong of a hiker or photographer. Last September I carried a big backpack full of gear up the trail and camped overnight at the top to catch the early morning light over the Harding Icefield and Exit Glacier. After a summer full of rugged off-trail hikes with high elevation gains, the trail seemed like an easy walk. Watching the sunrise from this spot was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve witnessed in Alaska, and it was difficult to pick a spot to photograph because there were so many options. If you enjoy hiking, I highly recommend this trail.

5. MacKeith Hut

A low snow year and warm summer temperatures exposed the ice on the upper Canwell Glacier by early July. I took advantage of the conditions and paid my first visit to the MacKeith Hut, which sits in an exposed location on the hillside above Canwell Glacier across from the pass to Gulkana Glacier. The hut is incredibly comfortable and the views are amazing in every direction. If I could figure out how to stock enough food here I’d never leave. See my MacKeith Hut post for more.

5. Canwell Glacier Snowshoer

Canwell Glacier is also one of my favorite places to visit in the winter. I took this shot in January on a snowshoe trek to the glacier with some friends, and I like how the blue ice and my friend’s red jacket stick out against the white snow. I also like how my friend’s tracks are the only marks in the snow, which is otherwise untouched. I hiked up a steep, snow-covered ridge of ice so I could get this aerial feel and capture the size of the ice cliff. (For tour info, click here.)

7. Eastern Alaska Range Vista

I visualized this 300mm selfie shot with me in front of McGinnis Peak (left) and Mount Moffit (right) in Google Earth before I took it, and I used a tripod with my camera set on an interval timer to take it. This shot wasn’t my main goal on this hike, but I thought I would try it out on my way down from Boulder Peak after catching the sunset and sunrise from high in the eastern Alaska Range. I ended up liking it quite a bit and wish I had chosen this spot for the sunrise instead. (Boulder Peak is one of my guided summer hiking routes.)

8. Caribou Gang

While backpacking near McGinnis Glacier I encountered a gang of five caribou high on the alpine tundra. They were quite curious and approached me a few times to check me out while I photographed them. I like this shot because it captures their curiosity and and also the rugged environment where these animals roam. They don’t look like the stereotypical majestic caribou I see in most professional images because their antlers are just starting to grow and their winter coats are being shed, but this is more representative of the caribou encounters I have in the backcountry during the summer.

9. Mount Moffit Sunrise

I love telephoto shots of striking mountain faces, and the SE face of Mount Moffit (seen here) is one I’ve stared at quite a bit since moving to Alaska. I shot this at sunrise on the same day I saw the caribou in the previous image, and the clouds and mountain ridges combined to create an interesting stripe of light over the face. I really wanted to get closer to Mount Moffit this summer but the weather didn’t hold on this trip and wildfire smoke ruined most of the weather windows I had later in the summer. See my McGinnis Glacier post for more.

10. McCallum Creek Aurora Portrait

I shot this aurora portrait for some friends of mine before they moved out of Alaska. We were searching for a good mountain background on this night where the aurora was dancing wildly but the Alaska Range was mostly clouded over. We finally found a gap in the clouds over McCallum Creek and waited for the right moment. When the aurora came alive again it lined up perfectly over the mountains and their (adorable) baby cooperated better than I could have hoped. I miss nights like this where photographing the aurora didn’t freeze my fingertips, as well as clients like these who bring me Snickers and Mountain Dew :)

Torchlight Aurora

The wind blows sparks from my torch as I watch the aurora borealis from the ridge of Donnelly Dome, south of Delta Junction.

Over the past four seasons, I've attempted to photogragh the aurora borealis from several natural settings away from Alaska's road system. I wouldn't refer to them all as "backcountry", but each location took significant effort to reach whether the aurora showed up or not. This fall I hoped to catch a good aurora show while camped near the base of Denali, but the overnight weather simply never cooperated. I spent a cold night winter camping with friends next to Black Rapids Glacier in mid-March but the great aurora show I was expecting showed up early and flared out by the time the sky darkened that night. Another attempted aurora photography adventure was thwarted in late March when I got my car stuck in the snow in my driveway.

With aurora photography season quickly coming to a close in Interior Alaska, I took advantage of a clear, moonless night in April with a good aurora forecast and set out to climb Donnelly Dome. Since there would be no moon to light up the landscape, I brought along supplies to make a rudimentary torch: a long wooden stick, an old t-shirt soaked in vegetable oil, some matches, and the toilet paper I always keep in my pack for kindling. The warm glow from a fire nicely complements the aurora on dark nights and adds a bit of life to an aurora image, and with the torch I would have the freedom to move around and create more adventurous shots than with a campfire.      

Aurora borealis dancing during twilight above the lights of Fort Greely.

I arrived at the base of Donnelly Dome after 10 p.m. with the orange glow of nautical twilight still on the horizon. The aurora was already stirring so I paused for a few shots as I snowshoed up the trail toward the steep slope on the north side of the dome. After an hour or so I reached the summit ridge and found a steep rocky portion where I began waiting for the aurora to brighten again. The breeze was cold enough that I felt the need to put on my parka, and I threw on my polar bear pajama bottoms as a joke for anyone looking closely at my photographs. 

View of Fort Greely and the Missile Defense Complex from Donnelly Dome prior to lighting the torch. Light pollution is noticeably reflecting off the snow over 10 miles away in this long exposure.

I prepared my camera gear and took a few test shots without the torch so I'd be ready when the aurora sparked up. The foreground appeared very dim and blended in too much with the flats below. Posing silhouetted on the ridge made the image more interesting, but it still didn't really pop. I waited for over an hour until the aurora finally showed signs of life, at which point I quickly lit the torch and began photographing.

Posing with the torch on the ridge of Donnelly Dome overlooking Fort Greely.

The torch burned brightly, completely outclassing my headlamp and making it difficult to prevent overexposing the foreground as I executed my shot looking towards Fort Greely. I used my camera's timer to capture images of me posing with the torch while trying to stay completely still in the breeze. It doesn't seem like a t-shirt and a little vegetable oil would burn very long but the torch lasted over 20 minutes, which allowed me to try several different compositions as the aurora shifted in the sky. For about 30 seconds the aurora went wild over the summit of Donnelly Dome in the opposite direction, but I didn't have enough time to reposition the tripod, change the timer settings and find a good spot to pose with the torch to capture the display. Oh well, it was still a cool sight. 

After the torch burned out, so did the aurora. I made my way down in the dark and got back to town sometime after 4 a.m. These aurora images turned out to be my last of the season and I won't be taking any more until at least August. Hopefully, solar minimum will have passed by then and we'll see more frequent stunning aurora displays next winter!  

For tips on creating aurora images like these, read my free Aurora Photography Guide.
Interested in Aurora Borealis Photography Tours? Contact me for more information!