Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Photo by: Ian Shive

Ian Shive

Capturing Alaska: Winter into Spring

The best stories are those that exist around authentic moments. In this case, showing the earliest signs of spring as cracks and textures emerge on a lake in Alaska.

June 01, 2020

Living and feeling authentic experiences outdoors is critical to successful photography. Many photographers spend a tremendous amount of time focused on the technical aspects of photography, but what makes a truly great image is your ability to convey a story.

Nature In Focus | Seasons Changing in Alaska
Loading Video...

When Perfect is All Around...

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is often called “Alaska in miniature.” It has a little bit of everything, from gorgeous white-capped mountains to ribbons of blue rivers flowing through the forests and ancient glaciers hiding high above, feeding life to the landscape below. It’s a place I've been fortunate to have visited many times over the last few years, building a gallery of beautiful still images representing one of America’s greatest public land systems.

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Skilak Glacier

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Skilak Glacier

Photo by: Ian Shive

Ian Shive

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Skilak Glacier

In colder climates, where there are large frozen lakes, it can be common to hear unusual sounds echoing across the landscape, caused by the shifting of the ice in the lake. If you've never heard them before, they are unusual twangs that can be quite loud, like a sonic boom or the trill of a whale underwater. There’s an almost primordial sound to them, calling out across the wind. It’s not often that nature delivers sound beyond the ordinary. We’ve all heard birds, rain, thunder, rivers, wind, and ocean…but ice? As someone who lives in Southern California, I can’t say I’ve had the opportunity to hear this that often, so I was exceptionally amazed!

I decided to try and find the source of the sound, descending from the cliff to the edge of frozen Skilak Lake in the heart of the refuge. The lake had a thick layer of ice capping it. Cars and snowmobiles were even parked in the middle of it so people could ice fish. Regardless, my own instincts, and the sounds of the ice shifting, meant I would stay close to the edge and not venture out on the ice too far.

Are You Ready for the Close-Up?

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Photo by: Ian Shive

Ian Shive

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

As I walked out I immediately I noticed incredible textures and patterns on the ice. With each footstep, I could hear little crunches from the delicate, frozen shapes as they crumbled under my weight, making tinkling sounds like broken glass. But those textures also made for great compositional elements: shapes, lines, depth, and texture.

The wide-open space and ample daylight meant that I didn't really need a tripod, that I would be able to hand hold my camera, working the scene, trying different compositions, sometimes with people, sometimes without. Trial and error is the key! When working a scene with your camera, the goal is not to get perfection each time, but to treat it like collecting raw data.

If you strive for perfection with each shot, you risk limiting yourself, essentially editing your work in real time. Think of yourself as an artist applying brush stroke after brush stroke. That’s what each frame should be. A new addition to the composition you are creating. Editing should be left for the home studio. In the field, you should be pushing the button each time you make a new choice, a new decision. That's why you often hear professional photographers taking so many shots. They’re just getting lots of options to choose the best frame later. I’ll look at the digital screen on my camera for a reference, but you’ll never see me delete an image.

If you have a lake nearby, or even a small stream, you can do this too! This can be done in any scene almost anywhere ice forms, just always remember to be careful first and foremost! Never wander out on ice if you aren’t sure how frozen it is, and certainly never alone. Safety first!

Ian Shive is a photographer, author, film and television producer, and conservationist who has been praised as the “leading chronicler of America’s national parks.”

Next Up

DIY Garden Eco-Friendly Eggsperiment

Looking for a fun, educational, and zero-waste DIY project? Try creating a mini-garden using a convenient kitchen scrap: egg shells!

The Untold Journey of the African House Gecko's Treck across the Atlantic Ocean

Reptile roadtrip? How the African house gecko traveled from Africa across to the Americas.

Meet This Unique Otter Species

A few months ago, Georgia Aquarium welcomed two new additions to their Asian small-clawed otter habitat. Triton, a 4-year-old female, and Han, a 3-year-old male, joined the Aquarium as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Program (SSP).

Caring for Coral at Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium is home to a variety of coral species that come in an array of different shapes and colors. The coral reef wall in Georgia Aquarium’s Tropical Diver gallery is one of the largest coral walls in any aquarium. Propagation aquarists at the Aquarium cultivate and transplant live coral from a behind-the-scenes aquaculture pool to the reef wall in their Tropical Diver gallery.

Rare Whales Spotted in California

A handful of sightings of rare whales have been recorded off the coast of California in recent weeks, leading some to wonder what’s causing the magnificent beasts to swim up to the ocean surface.

Explore These Majestic Sand Dunes... In Colorado

Colorado; a place we usually associate with snow-capped mountains and green grassy meadows, winter skiing, and kayaking in its clear, mirror-like lakes. But did you know the state is also home to a 30-square-mile sand dune field?

Caring for Endangered Species at Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium is proud to care for over ten different endangered species, from small poison dart frogs to the largest fish in the sea, whale sharks. Every day, these animals face natural threats as well as human impacts, and as their numbers decrease it affects our planet’s ecosystems.

How to Help Florida’s Imperiled Manatees

One morning earlier this spring, a young male manatee was found stranded, starving, and distressed on the beach of the Palm Coast.

Global Meltdown: Scientists Race to Gather Crucial Climate Data from Glaciers

Glaciers store a vast amount of important climate data within their frozen rivers of snow and ice. But many of the world’’s 220,000 glaciers are under threat from global warming and are melting at an accelerating rate. Now scientists are in a race to gather long-frozen records of Earth’s past climate from the ice.

Saving Hawaii’s Native Species

Not so very long ago, Hawaii was a remote island, populated solely by endemic flora and fauna–and its native inhabitants. Now, however, it is known throughout the world as a must-visit tourist destination, while Americans have moved to the islands in their masses, buying up beachfront properties.