Posts tagged #Alaska

It's the Small Things that Matter - Macro Photography

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Wednesday Thoughts

Earth Day

Earth day came and went while most of the US were under some sort of “shelter in place” order. I remember last year they closed off parts of Broadway and had a bunch of sustainable groups that gave out freebies, or had you sign up for various things. I think the same part of Broadway is closed today, but for very different reasons. It’s nice to have a day that celebrates the marvels of this earth, but I of course like to marvel about our earth every day.

Documenting the smaller things on earth

Ever since I moved from Alaska my camera has been getting less and less attention. By now it is a bit outdated and I have been thinking that I should get a new one for several years now, just like I have been thinking that I should get a tattoo. None of that has happened, yet. At one point I got really into macro photography, because there is no better way to see natures magical world than to drop down on your knees and get close to the tiniest parts of this ecosystem. I am the type of person that will do just that and don’t think about the consequences, i.e dirty knees, until afterwards. I can easily get sucked in to the details, maybe that is why I am a lab manager.

Now when I look through all my photos I want to get back, back into photography again, but the lack of the nature I want to depict is nowhere to be found in this urban place. There are details here too of course, just not so obvious, or maybe that is the whole point. You have to search for it and train your eye for a different environment. Either way, one can dream about the nature that used to surround me at least.

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Life in New York, Photography, Nature, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged Earth Day Broadway Macro Macro Photography Photography Alaska Montana Wisconsin Puerto Rico Flowers Nature insects Life in New York Ladybug 2020 Taking Macro Photos.

10 Years in the US

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This past August marked the 10 year anniversary of my life on this side of the ocean. 10 years seems so unreal to have lived in a different place than where you were born. So many things have happened in these 10 years. I was so young when I first got here and had no clue that this would be where I actually settled down. I have lived in three very different states, spanning northwest to the very far east of the US. From a cabin in the woods to one of the largest cities in the world. I have been lucky enough to go to very remote places in Alaska, roaming around Montana and Yellowstone, walked through old plantations in Puerto Rico, experienced the Northwoods and the UP, seen the desert sunrises and sunsets, I have seen the desperation in old peoples eyes while walking through the casinos in Las Vegas, learned about the fire history in the west and seen the aftermath of reoccurring fires, learned about the Native Americans and how they just like the Sami people have been pushed away from the place they call home, skied long distances races in 20 below in the wilderness of Alaska, walked the streets of New York and seen the misery that comes when you lose everything. I have learned that you can’t take anything in life for granted, and that you never know when it will be the last time you see someone. I have grown but also lost so much since I landed at that small airport in Fairbanks, Alaska with only two bags. But most of all I gained a second family over here.

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under The great wide open and tagged Alaska Montana Yellowstone Minnesota Wisconsin 2019 Äventyr New York.

You'll Bleed to Death Before We would Ever Get Back

Flashback Friday

Fieldwork in Nome, Alaska

July 2018

I was lucky enough to help out with some fieldwork in Alaska again, and what a whirlwind the days before that was. We pretty much packed up all of our belongings and put them in a big container, to be shipped to NYC (well Actually, New Jersey) at a later date. We scrubbed and cleaned our place from top to bottom. Not that it was super dirty, but that is how I am, I want to leave it all clean. It was also because our friends were going to move in after us. Luckily we arrived in NYC and Manhattan, East Harlem on one of the hottest weekend, we reached 104F or so….. First, we struggled to find parking. After that we made a lot of trips back and forth to the car, until we finally were done. The apartment wasn’t that cool either, but it had AC’s, which we quickly turned on as we tried to survive this heatwave. As we sat down in the living room with a beer that evening I saw a mouse in our house. Two days later I was watching mountains and glaciers from an airplane window on my way back to Alaska and this time Nome, where the temperature was looming around 50F. It did reach 70F just in time for my birthday.

Summers in Alaska are almost like a fairytale. The endless nights will keep you up longer than you should, but come morning you still have enough energy to last through the day, and night again, and again and again. We spent an hour or so in the truck every morning to get out to the field site. Away from the ocean and the small town, towards the mountains and the wilderness, and the end of the road. The only way to get to Nome in the summertime is by plane, or boat I suppose. In the wintertime you can mush, snow mobile, ski, walk or bike as well. It’s strange to think about, a place in the wilderness isolated from the rest of the world. And out there in the mountains you are really isolated from the world. It makes it even more important to think about safety. If you hurt yourself out here, breaking a leg or god forbid cut yourself in the thigh you are in trouble. Almost everyone I know cary a pocket knife, or knife of some sort when they are out in the field. You need to to cut zip ties, or anything else you probably would never have thought of before. But it is important to know where and on what surface you are cutting something. It almost comes natural to place things in your lap and fix them, but if you slip with your knife on your thigh you’ll bleed to death before you could ever get back to cell service and the hospital out here. There is a reason why it’s a really good idea to have the wilderness first responder class in your backpack. I do not have that, but I have taken a couple of short classes about general safety in the field. Those are far from the deep knowledge you will get from the NOLS class though. Have you taken any safety classes focused on adventures in the wilderness? I am going to try to take one of those classes next time the opportunity comes up.

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Alaska, The great wide open and tagged Alaska Fieldwork Safety Bear safety Nome Mountains Muskox Musk Ox 2019.