Punchbowl in Misty Fjords National Monument, Southeast Alaska
Life is a unique journey; no two are lived exactly the same way. Imagine it, almost 6.5 billion separate human journeys being lived out on this planet at this very moment. Each of us on board the National Geographic Sea Lion is on a collective expedition, but we are also each on our own individual journeys.
In life, as in photography, we create our own experience. We have the ability to choose the lens that brings our world into focus. We can go wide and expand our perspective. Drink it all in, looking for the BIG picture. Try to see it all, go for the overall picture. Southeast Alaska lends itself very nicely to this view. It is so vast, so immense, so overwhelming, that a wide angle view gives the overall “gestalt” of the experience.
A long telephoto lens allows us to exam a small piece of the bigger scene around us, to pull it in tight, to search out the details. Sometimes when the scene before us is so overwhelming that it is beyond capture or comprehension we must simply concentrate on the details; try to focus on a fraction of the larger equation. This is the view to take to capture the moment, to freeze the action, to pull out the very millisecond in time that best summarizes the event.
This expedition is really about the journey itself, the challenges we face in making a satisfying image. And so photography is a perfect metaphor for life. We are all seeking the light, choosing our lens, and finding our own unique perspective. The light is there to be had by all of us; it’s how we choose to capture it that defines us as photographers, and in the end, how we see that light defines us as individuals.
Life is a unique journey; no two are lived exactly the same way. Imagine it, almost 6.5 billion separate human journeys being lived out on this planet at this very moment. Each of us on board the National Geographic Sea Lion is on a collective expedition, but we are also each on our own individual journeys.
In life, as in photography, we create our own experience. We have the ability to choose the lens that brings our world into focus. We can go wide and expand our perspective. Drink it all in, looking for the BIG picture. Try to see it all, go for the overall picture. Southeast Alaska lends itself very nicely to this view. It is so vast, so immense, so overwhelming, that a wide angle view gives the overall “gestalt” of the experience.
A long telephoto lens allows us to exam a small piece of the bigger scene around us, to pull it in tight, to search out the details. Sometimes when the scene before us is so overwhelming that it is beyond capture or comprehension we must simply concentrate on the details; try to focus on a fraction of the larger equation. This is the view to take to capture the moment, to freeze the action, to pull out the very millisecond in time that best summarizes the event.
This expedition is really about the journey itself, the challenges we face in making a satisfying image. And so photography is a perfect metaphor for life. We are all seeking the light, choosing our lens, and finding our own unique perspective. The light is there to be had by all of us; it’s how we choose to capture it that defines us as photographers, and in the end, how we see that light defines us as individuals.
