Featured Image: Relaxing, Alaska Style

I’ve had N3102N for almost a couple of months now and I’ve been having lots of fun exploring the backcountry around Anchorage and the Mat-Su area. I look forward to taking some longer trip with the little Cessna as soon as I get all the new airplane bugs worked out.

Although it’s not very fast, it doesn’t have big tires and it’s only got 85 horses under the hood, it’s still capable of taking me to some pretty fun places without burning too much gas. It’s the the adventure photographer’s dream. Oh, the places I’ll go!!

This photo was taken during our July 4th picnic on the Knik River gravel bar. Independence indeed! Shot with the Nikon D700 and AF 80-200mm f/2.8 lens, zoomed to 110mm, 1/1250 sec at f/3.5. There’s a little bit of diffused sunlight on the plane, but what makes the two main subjects stand out so much is the fact that I’m shooting towards a rain squall off in the distance, which helps soften the background and bring the eyes forward.

That and the fact that the airplane is bright freaking yellow.