January 2018 GOTM

Half & Half Tsaina

My favorite view of the Tsaina River Gorge. In this case it's a very bright early spring afternoon.  This gorge runs West to East which puts the North side on the left in this photo.  Because of the typically low sun in Alaska, the north side gets all of the sunlight so it's clear of snow and you can see that it is populated with a variety of deciduous trees and brush.  The South side rarely gets much sunlight so it is populated with evergreens small scrub brush and tundra like mosses and lichens.  It's like the river is a border between two different worlds.  The beautiful snow covered mountains in the background tie them both together.  

To get this perspective you have to go out on a 4 ft. wide rock outcrop that is a hundred feet or so above the river.  The only way to get beyond the brush around the outcrop is to get right to the point of it and hold the camera forward as much as possible. In my case I layed down on the rock so that I was more stable and to prevent getting dizzy and falling over.  I then inched forward until my head and hands were beyond the edge of the cliff and took a variety of shots (you might as well work the scene and make sure you get something good if you're going to literally stick your neck out).  I still had to clone out a few small branches in the lower left corner though.

Sony a6500, Sony SE-1670Z @16 mm, ISO-100, f/11.0, 1/800, hand held.