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It was about 10 o'clock on a warm Spring night. The sky was clear of the fog that often shrouds Kotzebue this time of year, and the mountains could be seen on the horizon. We hopped on the ATV's and headed out on the loop road which has quite a few interesting views of the tundra and of town.
We came to this place where the sun was low on the horizon behind town. Wanderwoof set up the Gigapan robot on the tripod for a panorama of Kotzebue, and I played with my Nikon D80, collecting these 44 handheld images, which were stitched with Autopano Pro. You might notice the shadows which confirm the near-360 degree field of view of this photograph. |
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Note! We have cleaned up the jagged edges and changed the blue tinge on this panorama and uploaded it again on June 16.
When we arrived to camp here in the evening we saw sea otters swimming nearby and a big cruise ship in the distance. It would be possible to see orcas and many different birds including bald eagles. None of these were present when I took the gigapan, however. This was shot with a Nikon P90 and the Epic 100. I am not sure how to prevent the ragged top of this image. It is happening on others I have shot as well. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to prevent this? I have not yet tried to manipulate the exported images in Photoshop, but this may be the solution. |
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Point Hope area as seen from out on the sea ice beyond the point. |
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We used Photoshop to crop the jagged edges and enhance the colors in this gigapan compared to the original image I uploaded a few days ago. |
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Kiana, a pretty little Alaskan village at the confluence of the Kobuk and Squirrel Rivers, was actually behind me, up a rather steep hill. This quiet panorama nicely shows the cold, vast emptiness of the newly frozen rivers that provide food, transportation and recreation to the folks in the village. |
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A long shot of Kotzebue from the hill above town. |
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Kotzebue Alaska as viewed from the hill above town. Stitched from 27 hand held frames shot in portrait orientation. Note the occasional "shivering artifact". Have fun searching for the third dog sled team. |
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These family housing units for the Maniilaq Health Center are literally on the edge of town. Beyond is the vast Arctic tundra, which in winter is a formidable, snowy, treeless, windswept wilderness. On this particular day, I saw a moose on one of the snow banks by the building on the left. You can see his escort out of town on gigapan.org. Just look for Moose on the Loose. |
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The Alaskan village of Selawik is built on a wetland on the river near Selawik Lake. It is far removed from Kotzebue and the coast, and fuel for heating or generating electricity is very expensive here. Every gallon must be shipped in.
Here we see the windfarm that supplies some of Selawik's energy without the cost of burning fossil fuel. Wind is plentiful up here on the Arctic Circle, and these wind generators are usually moving, cranking out watts that came to town on the wind. This panorama was photographed with a Nikon D80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. |
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It is the end of summer, and in some ways Kotzebue is like other cities in the Northern Hemisphere. The tundra is changing its lush green cover to fiery shades of yellow, orange and red. We are harvesting local fruits. In our case, it's time for the last of the blueberries and the first of the cranberries. The waterfowl are starting to fly south. The sun is setting early enough for people who work the day shift to enjoy a sunset.
Our 3 scheduled Alaska Airlines' flights are mostly on time these days with the fog season ahead of us as the sea ice returns and the cold and wind of winter following soon after. In this place without roads into or out of town, these planes are very important in our lives. The planes bring our mail and groceries. They fly us, our friends and families away for visits "outside." They bring us home when the time is right. This 45 frame panorama was photographed with a Nikon D80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. Please have a look at the autumn tundra as we see it from the end of the Kotzebue runway. |