In 1969 I spent the summer working the Anchorage, AK. A summer in Alaska is a very beautiful and interesting experience for a life-long Californian. One of the places I recalled as particularly picturesque was the little fishing village of Ninilchik, on the Kenai Peninsula.

Ninilchik (from the Athabaskan word meaning "lodge is built place") was a Dena'ina Athabaskan lodging area used for hunting and fishing. The first people who would permanently stay in the village were, apparently, Russian traders. A Russian Orthodox church stands on a hill just above where this shot was taken.

Fortunately, my return to Ninilchik after a 32 year absence was not a dissapointment. While the village had changed, it was still picturesque.

However, what shocked me on this return trip to Alaska was the extent to whick the glaciers had receded over that 32 year period. Climate change in the northern regions is way more dramatic than what we see in the rest of the U.S.

This image was recorded on Kodak medium format B&W film called "T400CN." This B&W film used color negative technology to give a finer (or more difuse) grain structure. In its day, it was what some considered the state of the art for "high speed" ISO 400 film if fine grain was the goal.

As an aside, both sides of my family migrated through Tucson on their way to California. In fact, my father lived for a while in a house that was locate on land that is now part of the University of Arizona at Tucson, which is the site of the famous (among photographers) Center for Creative Photography.

The US Southwest is a region rich in history and artistic subject matter

Old Army Pass is on the left, just above the barely visible Lake 4. Often dangerously covered with snow, Old Army Pass is the shortest route to 14,000 ft. Mt. Langley.

The stream at the outlet of Lake 4 is one of the best places to see large Golden Trout. California Fish and Game staff use traps in that spot to catch the fish for collecting eggs and other purposes.

Just to the right of the Foxtail Pine snag on the right (and not shown in this picture) is an amazing campsite and shelter. A wind-blown, dwarf conifer covers an area between two large boulders. Campers have erected a "doorway" into this sheltered space that makes it look particularly inviting. With a lamp hanging from the "ceiling" of the shelter, we spent a very pleasant evening in this nice, backcountry "living room."

This panoramic image of the basin holding Lakes 4 and 5 is manually stitched from many medium format Technical Pan negatives, making a file that is about 20,000 pixels wide. In addition to using multiple frames to make panoramas that are wider than normal cameras can take, I also merge frames that were focused at different points. This focus stacking allows depth of field that is beyond what a single frame can capture. The net result is very high image sharpness and detail across the entire, sometimes very large print.

I had found a few good viewing locations of the Grand Tetons earlier in the day, but the light was not that interesting. So, I kept an eye on the light and, as my family finished dinner in Jackson Hole, I excused myself and drove back to the spots I thought were the most interesting.

A copy of this image sold at auction at Anderson Ranch Arts Center for $2400.