Photographing the Inside Passage (Seattle to Alaska)

[JerryLevin]

Hi all -

We have the opportunity to take a 2 week cruise from Seattle to Ketchikan in early May. We will be photographing for the charter yacht company conducting the cruise. The boat (a 50 foot luxury trawler) will be averaging around 5 knots, so this isn't a speed demon; lots of opportunities to shoot!

Does anyone have any actual experience going up through the Inside Passage they could share (from the perspective of a tourist, as well as that of a photographer)? Any special locations to watch for, or things to be aware of? This will be the first time we've traveled by boat, should be very interesting!

As always, many thanks!!!

[larry_angier]

Done it three times since 1974...

Last time in 2004 and only from Prince Rupert to Haines...

Ketchikan I figured would be ruined from my last time but it was fantastic!

Two totem parks there--Totem Bight & Saxman at either end of Ketchikan. Lots of neat scenery along the way. Expect rain and bring a polarizer to saturate the greens. Bring a towel to wipe down the mist and rain, no matter what and lots of plastic bags or shower caps for your equipment.

Shooting from the deck of the ferry at probably 12-18 knots, there were few problems except at night when you just cranked-up the iso shot a lot and prayed for something. Bring a tripod in case trip is smooth and it will help for even sharper images or longer shooting.

From deck, you are fine with an 70-200 on digital or film. Even a pano camera like an X-Pan works well for the passing landscape.

If you are shooting the boat, you'll need something wide since most cabins are quite small, to show the accommodations.

If you are lucky, you may see orcas and eagles. Mostly, they will be too far, even for a long lens and then since you are both moving, pray a lot for a sharp image.

If you do go ashore, go lightly with a wide angle and a telephoto zoom and a minimum of two bodies. Definitely expect the unexpected!

Here's a link to my 2004 Inside Passage pix along the Marine Highway. It won't show anything south of Prince Rupert, but you'll get an idea of what's out there since much of the passage is forest-lined bays and shores.

Alaska 1, August 2004 Page 1

The first five pages are Ketchikan or on the way there.

Have a great time and shoot lots of great pix!

[Dennis_Vied]

Yes, I did the Inside Passage 4 years ago from Seward down to Vancouver. The previous suggestions are right on. At the time I was shooting a D1H, but now if I were going, I would take the 5D, 24-105, and 70-200. Expect mostly overcast skies, but when you do get a sun break, the views will be spectacular.

There are maybe 2500 tourist passengers on a cruise liner. Imagine what happens when you get to a small town like Haines, and there are 10 cruise ships there. Imagine a sudden quadrupling of the population of such a small town! The tourist population is probably ten times more than the native population. Most of your problems will involve trying to keep swarms of tourists out of your pictures. If you try to be first in line to get off, or last in line to come back, you might stand a better chance, but then there are the tourists from the other nine cruise ships.... Oh well. One solution....shoot multiple frames for the same scene; the tourists usually move around, and you can combine the scenes in software, like Photoshop, and eliminate the tourists.

The exceptions to this are when cruising in Glacier Bay. The tourists are confined to the ship, so they can't screw up your views of the glaciers.

You'll enjoy it. Plenty of eagles, orcas, and seaplanes will make nice images.

[larry_angier]

Another thing...

The T-Ships come in in the morning; leave in the late afternoon and most people stay within a few hundred yards of their cruisers. Get away from the docks or get there early or late and you avoid the throngs.

A good guidebook, at least for the Alaska section of the Inside Passage is "The Milepost". Has blow-by-blow info of not only the Alaska Highway, but the Marine Highway as well.

Best bet is to go to Amazon and see if you can pick up the 2006 version since most of the general info is pretty much the same for what you need.

[JerryLevin]

Great comments and very appreciated!

The perspective will be interesting as we'll be on a 50 foot boat as part of a "Mother Goose" of 4, so we won't have to contend with 30,000 other folks on the same vessel at least.

Are there any particular areas or locations that (weather gods permitting) will be things to look for? Most of our shots need to be from the water, either for the other boats in our group, or the wildlife and natural scenery. Visits to the towns, while interesting for other reasons, aren't what we've been asked to shoot much of...

Longest lens we'll have will be a (rented) 200-400 VR Nikon. We'll also have the range from 12-24, 28-70, and 70-200 with us, and a 1.4 TC should we should be covered that way.

Suggestions for camera raincoats, w/o spending $300? We've all used plastic bags, but those get old very quickly. And yes, plenty of wipes for all the mistiness!

Again - many thanks!

[Dennis_Vied]

I picked up a sturdy plastic camera raincoat, with elastic closures off E-Bay for a few bucks. It's been pretty effective keeping the camera dry. Don't remember the vendor's name.

One of the best scenic areas is Glacier Bay. Spectacular scenery and not marred by tourists.