Obviously I met Ron on the airplane up to Anchorage. From Louisiana, he was going fishing with family who all had had extensive surgery. Two open heart surgeries, a replaced hip, and replaced knees.....he remarked about how they should have brought an emergency room with them. Ron was a talker and showed me old prints from past fishing trips to AK. Ron was impressed with my camera and big ziplock back full of film. He told me about how he had always dreamed of owning a Hasselblad.
Ron also had a way of talking to the flight attendants......he kept getting us free beer throughout the whole flight!
camera : Hasselblad 503 CW
lens : Carl Zeiss Distagon CFi 50mm f/4
film: Kodak Portra 800
Tags: alaska 2010 airplane american airlines portriat man fisher michael spear hawkins Medium format hasselblad 503cw 50mm f/4 cfi Kodak Portra 800
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This was my first day in Anchorage, we rode bikes about 10 miles into downtown so I could pick up a few rolls of Velvia 50 from the local camera store.....B&H was out when I made my film order. We got a call that we needed to be back, 10 miles in an hour to catch a ride halfway to Denali, Talkeetna.
After getting back and hastily making our last minute packing we loaded our bags into this Subaru and headed off to Talkeetna, where a bluegrass festival was being held all weekend. The whole way up, the music was pretty bad............but it was a free ride so we couldn't complain much.
camera : Hasselblad 503 CW
lens : Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 80mm f/2.8
film: Fuji Provia 100F
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We thought we might stay a night at the music fesitval, then we found out they only sold whole weekend passes. Not wanting to delay our trip a whole weekend, we got our packs out of the car and our ride went on in. Doing some last minute repacking, Michael adjusts his well worn camp shoes. After this, we walked down this dirt road back to the highway. We stuck our thumbs out as we began walking north.
Michael held his hand up for a high five and said "You have no idea what you got yourself into." This is the moment when I left predictability and the comfort in knowing what the short term future held for me.
camera : Hasselblad 503 CW
lens : Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 80mm f/2.8
film: Fuji Provia 100F
Tags: talkeetna blue grass festival ak alaska backpacking hitchhiking hasselblad film medium format fuji provia 100f 503 cw michael briseno mike briseño
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So we hitchhiked north towards Denali and was picked up by a 16 year old guy who drove us about 15 miles up to a gas station, he was getting gas and going back to the festival. We grabbed some food at the gas station and started back out on the road with our thumbs out. It was almost 8PM we thought our chances were slim of being picked up and planned to just hike off the road a little bit and camp for the night as it got darker.
Not a mile up the road, this lovely lady stops her Vanagon and asks if were going to Denali because of our packs, she says she's headed up there and offers us a ride.
camera : Hasselblad 503 CW
lens : Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 80mm f/2.8
film: Fuji Provia 100F
Tags: Alaska hitchhiking conversion van film medium format portrat hasselblad 80mm f/2.8 Fuji Provia 100F michael spear hawkins
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Billie stopped several times just to show us cool views of the mountain (covered in clouds that day) and views like this of a bridge spanning a deep gap.
camera : Hasselblad 503 CW
lens : Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 80mm f/2.8
film: Fuji Provia 100F
Tags: alaska ak road bridge michael spear hawkins film medium format hasselblad fuji provia 100f
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