;)
I just returned home from Anchorage, where the Iditarod sort of began today and even though it is earlier than my normal bedtime, I am exhausted beyond all reason and want to do nothing but to go to bed.
Think how exhausted those mushers are going to become.
I did not go to Anchorage to see the ceremonial start, as I did not have time for it. I went to photograph a wedding. Before I got to the wedding, I stopped where the Iditarod began so that I could see my friend, Rose Albert, who had some of her paintings on display in a coffee shop on Fourth Avenue, right in front of the starting line.
I plan to see Rose again tomorrow, at the real Iditarod start in Willow and afterwards, I will put her on this blog. In 1982, she became the first Alaska Native woman ever to run the Iditarod.
After I said hi to her, I stopped to visit another friend, Othniel Oomittuk of Point Hope, who also had his artwork on display.
This mask represents Point Hope, the mountains nearby, and a rainbow that he once saw when he was atop those mountains. Look at the corners of the eyes, and you will see the tails of bowhead whales, upon which the whole culture and life of Point Hope is based.
I am not going to say much about Othniel right now, as I need to get to bed.
Sometime soon, I hope to go visit him and then I will put up more pictures and share a sliver of his story with you.
;)
This is the bride, Emily Frantz of Barrow, who was about to become Emily Caldwell. I was going to post one scene from the actual ceremony, but the images are still downloading from the card and have not even reached the ceremony yet.
So, as quick as I could with no study to determine which was the best one, I grabbed this shot of the bride.
God, she's beautiful!
And so is her wedding parka, which she made herself from the skins of white rabbits and red foxes.
Let's get this straight - I am not a wedding photographer. I do not photograph weddings, except for photojournalistic purposes and, occasionally, very rarely, for a good friend or relative.
There is a story here to explain how I wound up photographing this wedding, and it involves airplanes and helicopters, cross-country flights across Alaska, search and rescue of lost and injured people in the Arctic, body recovery, polar bears, whales, and a grand trip across the Bering Sea into Russia.
All made with the father of groom, Chuck Caldwell, pilot extraordinaire.
Now I must go to bed.
If I can get there.