by Ron on September 11, 2009
Summit Lake, Mount Evans, Colorado.
This lake sits at 12,830 feet – and there is a road to it! In fact, the road continues to the top of Mount Evans in the distance at 14,264 making it the highest paved road in North America. Unfortunately it is closed beyond Summit Lake after the Labor Day weekend.
When I was hiking around, the elevation really wasn’t noticeable – but at one point I realized my battery was going to die, so I ran back to the truck for another one, and wow – that air is thin!
My super model slept in this morning, so you get stuck with a rare photo of me today!
A pond with Mt. Alice in the background, Seward, Alaska.
As part of my Ask Ron series, Phil Cola asked what is my top selling photo in terms of revenue, and what was the location, setup, logistics etc.
It is a great question – I know I’m always fascinated by the annual issue of Photo District News (PDN) in which the major stock agencies share the same information on their most successful image from the prior year. My most successful images draw on some similar parallels that I will touch on below. [click to continue…]
Sentinel Lighthouse, Southeast Alaska.
One of our regular magazine clients contacted us earlier this week looking for photos of the Sentinel Lighthouse – they were unable to find one on our website. So we dug through our old slide files and sure enough found this image which we scanned and sent off. We have thousands of old slides like this that may have some value, but most just sit and take up valuable room in file cabinets. [click to continue…]
A hanging bridge in the rain forest, Arenal, Costa Rica.
Fellow Alaskan Dan Kehlenback is looking to travel to Costa Rica next winter, and asked Ron for recommendations on a general area in Costa Rica for photography. [click to continue…]
Kayaking in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
As part of the ask Ron theme, adventure photographer Ryan Bonneau asks how I handle my camera gear while kayaking. Ryan is going to be spending two months kayaking in Prince William Sound this summer (lucky guy!). He went on to say he has tried storing his gear on deck in a dry bag, as well as in his cockpit in a dry bag, and has never felt comfortable with either system.
Well, unfortunately I don’t have a solution for this one. I do the same thing as Ryan, and have never felt comfortable with those options either. Usually I keep my camera in a dry bag under the bungees on the deck in front of me, kind of like the yellow bag you see in this photo. My camera’s dry bag is red – it is probably sitting on my skirt and just out of sight in this photo. Getting the camera in and out of the bag and stowed away is always a wet, awkward proposition full of risk – I dread hearing that plunking sound of a lens dropping overboard, so far I have been fortunate. I’ve seen this topic come up in photography forums, but have never heard of a better solution.
By the way, the dark area between both bows is a large school of salmon.
I hadn’t seen Ryan’s photography until today – check it out, he has some great stuff. Looks like he just started a blog as well.
Camping in the Chuach National Forest, Alaska.
How do I handle the power needs for my digital camera and file storage on long trips away from electricity? This was an ask Ron question brought up by two fellow blog’en photographer friends of mine Richard Wong and Gary Crabbe. Both guys operate great blogs – blogs I read everyday, so if you have extra time, do check them out. [click to continue…]
A ferris wheel at night, Long Beach, California.
Well I hate to post the same photo twice, especially in the same week, but in response to my ”ask Ron” request, this was the most asked question. More specifically, Dennis Barton wanted to know how many tries it took to capture this image, while Sheri Lyons wondered how the photo came to look like this. [click to continue…]
A ferris wheel at night, Long Beach, California.
I thought I would try a new idea with the blog and create an Ask Ron category. My thinking is that every so often I would answer reader submitted questions and publish the question and my response here on the blog. They can be pretty much anything photography related, from travel destinations, gear, techniques, thoughts and opinions – you get the idea. If there is a photo you have always wondered about, maybe the story behind the image, that would be good too.
If you have a web presence; website, blog, Flickr page, I would be happy to link back in my response. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, that’s cool too.
You can post your questions in this thread, or feel free to email them to me at ronn@arctic.net If you could, put “Ask Ron” in the subject so that I will know it is for the blog and not just someone asking a question.
I will do my best to answer all questions as best I can, but I will have editorial control, so I could decide to ignore a question – heck, it is my blog. 
So if I start posting photos of a wolverine den, chances are slim that I will provide the GPS coordinates. Likewise, asking for the name and number of the photo editor at XYZ magazine probably won’t get a response either, but most stuff will be fair game. So hit me with your Q’s!
Hey, speaking of wolverine. Now that we are heading into spring, I figure it might be a good time to remind everyone that my deal from last year is still on!
