Good morning! Sharon here with more Yukon territory scrapbook layouts from my Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder last May. Last week I shared my bear encounter pages with you and this week my focus is on the wild empty landscape of the Yukon.
Full of beauty but empty of people! I have never been anywhere so remote and it struck me how odd because most of the gorgeous places I have been during my travels are full of people because of the natural beauty. Our guide informed us that just 5 days prior the lakes were still frozen over and as you will see in the photos the ice was gone revealing the most beautiful water I have ever seen – even rivaling the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Multiple shades of blue, green, aqua – just like the colors found in tropical waters and it was absolutely crystal clear.
As there were no people I could take unobstructed photos to my heart’s content. The weather was beautiful – very comfortable even at the white pass – no jackets required really. What also struck me was how quiet it was – I have never heard quiet like that! I think I could hear my heart beating – imagine no traffic noise, no airplanes, no birds, no leaves rustling – absolutely nothing except the wind.
This first layout is of the White Pass which was an area we drove through, got out of the car and snapped some photos. Nothing really here but the spectacular view. I used a frame within Creative Memories Storybook Creator that has the shadows inside the frame. I added repeated heavy shadows at all angles to deepen it to create a window type effect.
I also applied the same photo as the background and matched it best I could to create a maximum big view just like what I experienced. This page needs no journaling in my opinion and I kept the title light and airy but I did choose a fancy font to maintain the focus on the photo yet add interest to the page. The sheer circles again add interest without dominating or hiding the photo at all. I think the wind was my inspiration because it was a bit windy and that was really all one could hear – it was that quiet.
This layout contains one of my favorite photos from the trip. The water was so clear and the mountains were dramatic. At this particular spot there was old mining equipment left on the shore from days gone by so that was fun to photograph. People did live there once upon a time.
One thing I have been doing recently is photographing my shadow if I am in a particularly interesting location. You can see this all over instagram as well and it is just kind of fun to do – I like to think of it as the modern day equivalent of writing on a tree trunk or bathroom stall, “I was here”, not that I ever did that mind you.
My final layout is a photo that I had the guide take of my husband and I. A few words about this. Sometimes it is hard to do – I dislike asking strangers to take my photo with my camera. For one thing, most of the time the photos are horrible & I also hate handing over my expensive professional camera.
I have learned something just recently though about this process. This photo here before editing turned out underexposed as I had the camera in Program mode. When that happens the camera’s light meter is going to evaluate the entire scene and create an average for the entire scene rather than exposing for the people in the picture. This usually results in a photo that is too dark with the people being almost in silhouette.
I was able to correct this photo in Adobe Lightroom with some fairly good results – enough so that I used it for our Christmas card this year. But here is what I learned just 2 weeks ago – I was traveling with my husband and I handed over my camera to a woman to take our photograph. I had remembered how this photo in Alaska turned out so before I handed it over to her I set the camera to manual and zoomed in on my husband who was already positioned where we would be standing. I set the focus & exposure for him, said a quick prayer and handed the camera over. I told her not to touch a thing except the shutter and to make sure the focal square was on one of us. The photo turned out perfectly! I was a happy camper.
So the more experience I had in shooting in manual over this past year the more confident I became in taking those few seconds to get the camera right. Those few seconds made all the difference in the world. The lesson for me was – slow down and set the shot up for success. Another tip for those of you that have a DSLR and are not as comfortable shooting in manual or really don’t want to hand your camera over yet is to carry a point and shoot with you.
This is the camera that you can hand over to a stranger to take your photo. I almost always carry a point and shoot with me for moments like that especially when there are heavy crowds and a lot of confusion. On this trip the point and shoot came in very handy when were dog sledding or in heavy crowds during the glacier viewing. My big girl camera was way too heavy for those moments.
With my point and shoot I was able to stand up on the sled and take photos at the same time. Maybe some were not quite as good but it’s the difference between having the photos and not having the photos. I feel the same way about taking photos in Disney World – sometimes the point and shoot camera is the way to go depending on what you are doing. Practice the week before your vacation and you will be prepared to hand your camera over with greater confidence!
Happy Scrapping! See you next Tuesday!
As always, GREAT layouts, awesome photos, and tips I will remember (love the tip to set your camera before handing it over to someone else)! Thanks, Sharon!