DSLR Photography Forum

From 200 miles above the arctic circle in a tiny whaling village of 750 Inupiaq Eskimos living in the oldest continually inhabited settlement or village in all of North America -=[POINT HOPE]=- Alaska
Life can accurately be traced back to over 3,000 years ago to this one piece of land.
We hunt and live from the Bowhead whale ! At this present moment we are camped out 7 miles out on the ocean ice pack of the Chukchi Sea in the Bering Strait of Alaska.



An umiaq (skin boat) is being taken down to the lead opening, the tents are for the women who are on much safer ice.



18 whaling captains are spaced out 1/2 - 3/4 a mile apart hunting food for the village. Practically the entire village is out here now.

The hunters sleep outside @ temps of 30 - 60 below zero with no tents !

This is a typical camp. this is home for the next two months, right here, 24/7 !



Believe it or not, I had 60 rolls of color film and no water with which to process the film, I had to melt snow, for months, to obtain all the necessary precious water to process this film and make these images.
I was sent to this village as an electrican for just two weeks to wire two construction camps, when the job fiinished I quit the company and stayed. That was 27 years ago !! I am STILL here.



Tuzroyluks crew . waiting for a whale, A bowhead whale has a keen sense of eyesight smell and hearing, and other traits that you will not believe. That tiny boat cannot move as fast as a whale can. That whale can easily out run that umiaq. Those skins (6) are sewn together using a water tight stitch and using dental floss !

A Whale will GIVE ITSELF to the captain of its choice, and no matter which year it is, that whale will ALWAYS match that Captains personality, Some captains will never receive a whale because of their personality of being too mean to others etc.
When a whale is received or dies, the weather will change also to match that captains weather. This all sounds preposterous I know, but i have witnessed this too many times and it is no coincidence for sure.

I have many photographs and bizarre stories to show you and text that will amaze you.. .. for sure !



Thirty Below Zero and these children will play out all day long day in and day out, do they look cold ? No. here the cold just gets on you, it never penetrates ! It's a wonderful day for a picnic miles out on the ocean ice.



7 miles out on the ocean ice, where do you suppose we get water when we need it ? We melt snow for water to wash dishes and such, but for delicous fresh drinking water, where do you suppose we get it ?

What a facinating introduction. Welcome to shuttertalk.
Thanks for sharing your unique story, your images are great. Shooting in snow and ice can be so challenging - what equipment do you use?
Im looking forward to seeing more or your images.
Shane

This is really exciting. Welcome!

Welcome to ShutterTalk, Great introduction, images and story.

Wow! Welcome to Shuttertalk, love to see more of life in Alaska

Wonderful story , and what a great life style to be able to capture and live . Thanks for sharring , welcome to Shuttertalk .

I cant wait to see more . And would also like to know what kind of gear you are shooting .

......... Shawn

Great photos!
I really enjoyed them.

Interesting question about how to obtain fresh drinking water from saltwater ice.

I imagine the answer involves sunlight, and the way it will (over time) cause the salt within the ice to settle to a lower level, so eventually you can just chip off the now-clear top levels of ice and melt them into delicious drinking water.
Sadly, it seems like a slow and labor-intensive process when it comes to walking around your ice blocks set out in the sun, chipping-off the good parts.

Welcome to ShutterTalk.

As far as I remember when salt water freezes, only the water freezes, removing the salt from the water. The top layers of permanent ice is also mainly a result of snow and rain.

Then it is over 20 years since science in school LOL.

This is why I love Shuttertalk. It is universal.
What a fantastic story and fine photo's.

Welcome and what an amazing story.

KeithAlanK came up with the correct answer exactly !!
Eskimo Technology uses the sun! & we wait..

Just stand up any large piece of ice, now brush and take all the snow off the top of that ice.

WAIT.. go do other things.. it won't take long for the sun to cause that salt to settle in that piece of ice.

you can actually see it in the process becoming clearer and clearer, when it does, just take your

kettle over to that piece of ice and chip horizontally and fill your kettle, delicous fresh drinking water.

We don't have to use lots and lots of ice.. just one big piece will get us through the day.

Each and every day, one piece of large ice will provide us with all the water we want.

We have 24 hours of sunlight now and this process is much faster than we can use it !!

We can speed up this process by placing the ice on sand, Sand will suck the salt down quicker.

We also use sand IF we have to cut gigantic holes in the ocean ice, if a whale is hiding under the ice, dead!

When a whale dies we have 3 days to find it, or the meat is bad.!

There is very little meat on a whale, it is 80% blubber, fat, flammable fat !



We have many time tested tricks that work, for instance, when you are cold, how do you get warm way out here in the middle of frozen no where?

Pick up that hacksaw, are you cold ? then slice thin stips of raw frozen caribou meat, or fish, RAW & Frozen, swallow these small pieces whole, do not chew them. swallow them and fill your stomach full,

Your stomach has to work awfully hard to digest all that froazen meat or fish, and your body will start to push body heat the liks of which you have never encountered. DO NOT TRY THIS and attempt to stay in side. your gonna burn up big time!

At 30 below zero we are taking clothes off because we are too hot !!! this food is called "quaq" !
This is a hunters breakfast when he is going to stay outside all day long hunting, you will not get thirsty eating this way.



See the other side of the lead opening? that ice is moving from right to left in the photo due to the strong north wind,
That wind is 30 - 50 mph and that ice is moving quickly. DONOT WATCH that ice.! it is very easy to hallucinate out
here on the ocean ice pack, just watch that ice. At some point in time, that ice will STOP and YOU will begin to move in the
opposite direction, you can FEEL IT moving and then you will fall over, freguently sending these people into uncontrollable
laughter.! which I seem to have a habit of , constantly.
I was constantly falling over due to watching that ice. dumb city boy from Boston !!

What gear did do I use..
any camera that doesn't require a battery !

Pentax K1000, worked flawlessly encased in ice ! same with Mamiya RB67, not one problem ever, Cannon AE1.. worked flawlessly
Mamiya C220 worked perfectly not one bad frame of film with any of these models.

Nikon F3,, I will never ever use, touch own or posess a nikon ever again, it constantly failed.. .. .. ..!

Out here on the ocean ice.. all advertisements do not mean squat ! Action speaks louder than any words advertisements or manufacturer hype !
Bring a digital camera down to the ocean ice pack. that camera won't last 12 hours never mind 12 weeks !
I had to chip the ice out of the viewfinder every morning on the 35mm cameras, mounted on a tripod in that wind,
they were always encased in 1/16th of an inch of ice. all controls were iced , the ice cracked when anything was moved, such as focus, aperture ring, shutter speeds etc.

I would place a lens cap over the lens when the sun went below the horizon and the severe cold would set in.

Melting snow to develop frozen film, was a first for me, my process worked perfectlly, only because I have had so many color darkrooms and the C-41 process was easy for me to process correctly, in fact at times, i would go home, put frozen film right into the developer. well first i USED water, to heat the tank to the correct temp and help the film defrost in seconds.



I have owned and built 17 color darkrooms, here is a smal portion of # 15 in Wash. state.

I went through cases and cases of color paper, not boxes, cases,!!! I have always made good money in photography since the early seventies when I first purchased my Mamiya RB 67.

My specialty was taking photos of complete strangers unawares, and then selling those same images to complete strangers !
I did things differernt from what all the books suggest, Weddings. nope too much work for too little money!

All I did was put an ad in a newpaper,, Learn how to print color, 8 week course, 200 bucks. Instantly I had 25 students, 5 for each night of the week, and 5,000 to purchase chemiclas and cases and cases of paper, for years I taught people how to print gorgeous color from 4th graders up to and including 80 year old women !! stick with the kids,, it is safer.



FREE: 11 X 14 GORGEOUS COLOR PHOTOS.. delivered down to the ocean ice. THIS HAD TO BE A first !!

Very beautiful.
I thought your pictures had a very film like quality when I first saw them, so even if I wasn't thinking of the cold and the batteries so much, I would have been surprised had they been taken with digital equipment.

uli

Thanks for sharing more - I love it. Totally different to our world.

WulinkaI am just begining to make the switch over to digital,

and I shutter to think what might / could happen in this extreme cold. ( pun intended)

So lets look at some digital photos recently taken with our new Panasonic DMC FZ50




I don't think the settings for the camera were correct. we found out that in aperture mode this pixalation always happens.

Practice .. .. to learn.. what not to do again !



I am ready to order chemicals and build darkroom #18

4 x 5 enlarger w/ dichoric color head / color analyzer, the works (Beseler of course)




All I want need is my Mamiya Rb 67
I can stay outside for months with that rig and get perfect gorgeous color that digital could never
NEVER come close to.. .. !!

Yes I can get gorgeous color here in this cold also, but not, like film can do over a long extended period of time.
ONCE THAT CAMERA is exposed to the cold, you cannot bring it in because it will "sweat" profusely ! and it takes a long time,
to clean that sweat that is just astounding that that much water will come off the outside !!! DARE NOT OPEN for many hours!

Keeping a digital warm out there is IMPOSSIBLE expecially if you have to mount that camera on a tripod, that wind is ferocious, sure someone will come up with some sort of battery warmer case cover thingy
.. FILM is here to stay.. .. .. there is no doubt about that whatso ever, but their monopoly just got a lot smaller with digital, but film has too many practical uses other than just what we see and knowand use it for ..

Aquaq (Ah kook) is getting ready to make caribou soup.. yummy,, there is no fat on a caribou, Take three poundsof meat and grind it up, Fry it in a skillet, when finished there is less than 1 teaspoon of fat in all that meat ! It is delicous and tastes much like beef in some ways. it depends how you cook it.. The Eskimo name for Caribou is Tuttu pronounced 2 - 2 !



I am using Vericolor type S film 100 ISO EV 15 1/250 @ F11 ALL day long !!! - EVERYWHERE !!!
I sent Kodak, 100's of photos and negatives and my process using their film chemicals, they checked it out and fell over !!! THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE THE RESULTS
Very few people ever knew what vericolor film could do, I had a patent pending on it.. at Kodak's advice ! .. .. "we have been trying to do this for sixty years !" you better get this patented ! How ? it is your paper, your chemicals, ?? ?? I don't understand.. ! They told me
if I succeeded they would purchase for 7 figures ! WowoW !! I didn't succeed, just in wasting thousands of dollars pursuing this.

Dale Neville of Buffalo New York was advetising in RangeFinder magazine that if you shoot weddings, then push vericolor to 200 and send the film to himi.. so in essence it became an issue of "you cannot patent something that IS BECOMING common knowledge ! "

Essentially it was simple push processing with results no one would ever expect !
Because of vericolor's execptional wide lattitude, it was possible to take a roll of film
120 perferred, (size) expose film at 100 ISO now, with same roll, expose @ 400 iso keep going on the same roll @ 800 ISO @ 1600 ISO

All on one roll of film !!! the results knocked them over !!

I don't purchase a box of color paper, I always purchase it by the "cases" ! I went through THAT MUCH paper and chemicals.

I used to work, as an electrican, on huge industrial type orojects, On one job out west in Hanford washington, a nuclear power plant, I snuck my Mamiya RB 67 past the metal dectors and guards,, all of my friends carried some piece of that camera through the construction workers entry way. I got the chance to expose one frame of film, of a construction crane. That was 3 city blocks long, The block and tackle was the size of a 3 story building, This huge crane could easily pick up and walk with 1000 tons ONE THOUSAND TONS moving !

I got the camera out safely and developed the film and brought that picture to work 8 x 10" gorgeous color, VERIcolor.. TRUE EXACTING COLORS... I made $12,000 off that one image,, every night we would process 100 8 x 10' in that sink ! i had a Durst semi auto processor,

but that could only process 25 - in an hour.. I can do that much in less time much less time, using two trays !

KODAK SAYS in thier literature that in tray processing you can easily do 3 prints at once! and they describe this process of how to accomplish this..

then they go on to say,, that with much practice.. Six can also be done,, Well I have been beyond much practice for many years..

we tried 10 at once, and we got the "ballet" down pat!.. with those two gra-labs.. we perfected this process and did 20 at once..

so processing 20 at a time, 5 runs and we had 100 prints.

and print # 1 looked exactly like #100 ! ( provided proper replenishment rates were observed)

A nuclear power plant under construction has a huge labor force, beyond anything you would ever expect.
It takes ten years to build ONE.

Each craft or trade had at least 1000 workers !
So every morninig I would drop off a box of 8 x 10 photos to the carpenters shack, the electricans tool shack, the fitters, the iron workers, every trade craft there is...

I would go to work broke every day and have 300 by 9:30 am! I became a hit ! the Kodak Kid !

I wish I had some of those to display.. i have one..just one, butit is not what you expect.. I was in the area at the time
Mount St. Helens blew ! One week before it went BOOM !
had I been in this spot when it blew.. everything was killed destroyed in this area of spirit lake.



A computer monitor does not do justice to this photograph, the incredible sharpness of this image is not even apparent on a computer screen
that white car, in the forground, when blown up to 40" x 60" you can read the license plate !

Mamiya RB 67 (camera of choice) Vericolor 100 ISO EV 15 125.@ f 16 I threw my light meter away in 1973, I haven't used one since.

Learning HOW to read LIGHT is the most important aspect of photography !! There is / are ONLY three things that happen when you squeeze that shutter to expose that frame of film.. that image or negative.. or photograph will be TOO LIGHT,, PERFECT TOO DARK

When i am finished with this thread, I will teach you how to shoot from the hip, with no light meter, in any conditions.. but it takes practice to LEARN this method with CONFIDENCE.!

your going to make mistakes.. but this is how you learn, by recognising those mistakes and NOT REPEATING THEM.

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE you can ever make in photography.. .. in a darkroom.. ... .is the color you paint that darkroom.

It is a PROVEN FACT color influences us, inspires us, motivate us, to some degree..
it is also a proven fact of color theory that black is NOT a 'color" it is the absence of ALL color, there fore do not paint a darkroom black !

15 of my COLOR DARKROOMS were painted WHITE !! all white ! It makes such a huge difference that I can't begin to expain it all here now.. later sure .!! My first two darkrooms were black,, and my photos proved I was lookng at that for too long, I would easily get fatiqued and could not see well !

JUST THE EXACT OPPOSITE IN EVER RESPECT with a darkroom or color lab that IS white.!!!

WHITE = PRESENCE OF ALL "COLORS" !!

..

Rex Rock, whaling captain, scanning the horizon in search of the mighty bowhead whale,

-=[WINNER]=- ! Alaska Prerss Award 1989 - published Alaska Magazine,

I have been published in Alaska Magazine 3 times, one with the longest article ever by one person 8 pages full color w/ text

Go into any good book store,, a big white coffee table type book "ALASKA'S ARCTIC " you will see more images in there, that I don't
have, some I still posess, but there is a photo of Aquaq, dragging a seal past me as I am lyinig down on the ground rolling over to capture it.

(wink)






Midnight in the Arctic in May, by June, 12 noon the same as 12 midnight .!




2 - b - continued !

I hope that you continue to post at Shuttertalk. Our community would be greatly enriched by your worldview and unique contributions.

More great stories and pictures.

great stories and photos . I would love to see more ....


Thanks .... Shawn

Excellent as a post. You should consider a book.

More, More, more,, .. that is what "she" said.. .. when the "bed" broke !

sorry,, I just couldn't resist !
My sense of humor is bad at times !

More photographs ? sure, lots of them with astounding text you will NEVER believe !

NO matter what type of gloves I had, I could not keep my hands warm, my fingers would always freeze up quickly.
I was often in intense excruciating pain, whenever I had to change film, the people I was camped with saw this often
and would laugh, .. .. "this is why your nose runs so much in the cold, "USE ITI " YUK !!! NO THANKS !!!

Kakiik .. .. that stuff that is coming out of your nose.. "snot" ! YUK ! no way !

that is gross !... ... I had heard their suggestion(s) and I wasn't going to do something like that.

to me, it was unheard of, then one day, I had NO CHOICE. I was out in the middle of no where, no place to go to get warm, My hands were killing me, my fingers were numb could not move them and the pain was more than I could possibly bear, I had no choice but to LISTEN, and do what they kept telling me to do.. I took my gloves OFF, and blew my nose into my hands, and rubbed it all over and QUICKLY put my gloves back on.. WowoW !!! I do not beileve this.. INSTANTLY.. my hands / fingers were "toasty" warm, THEY DID NOT HURT when they warmed up (which was instantly)! and they cannot get cold for the rest of the day !! DO NOT TRY THIS IN DAMP ENVIORMENTS it will have the oppositie effect. it would not work in Boston !!

But here in the extremely dry arctic, it works just fine. I have worked in Prudhoe Bay as an electrican many times on the trans alaska pipeline.

and a few times workerfs have "caught" me doing this trick & with the same thought as I had when I first heard about this in the early 80's.. they said to me.. your sick.. yes. I am.. I have no problems admitting that one bit.. I would walk into the lunch room and everyone would move to another table..

It wasn't long before I would "catch" these workers doing the exact same thing.. WowoW.. this really works.!!! YES IT DOES.

But when you have to get on a smowmobile and go 200 miles.. and the wind is 70 mph and the temp is 60 below, that makes for a chill factor of OVER 100 DEGREES BELOW ZERO !!! how do you think that wind, feels on your face. ??? just like razor blades cutting your face and it hurts.
When a hunter goes out into this weather, and returns home,, his face has "black" burn lines. sort of like someone held a propane torch up to his face and made burn marks.. black, dead skin, where the Kakiik was not put on thick enough on his face !! It takes months to heal this dead frostbitten black skin !



Each and every tent is set up in the exact same manner, no matter which whaling village your in (9) ! The homemade wood stove is on the left, the grub box is behind that on the left side
with space at the end for the boyer to sleep when he is off duty. The sled with caribou skins is on the right side going the length of the tent.

These women have to work very hard, to feed 8 hunters, a boyer, and 3 - 5 women who do all the necessary chores in the tent area.
wood is gathered every summer as it washes up on the beach(s) in the area, this is saved and stored for whaling next spring.



So? what are we going to do today ? um.. - er - !! children are always finding ways to excercise their immagination. Out on the ocean ice, there is no place to go, ice is everywhere. nothing but ice, for miles in any direction.

Even though rifles are everywhere, all types of firearms.. in 30 years i have never seen / heard of anyone getting hurt in an accident involving any firearm ! amazing !



Nancy Rock now Nancy Oviok, cuts some muktuk for a "snack" ! "HOW? people can live, from eating flammable fat is far beyond any sense of reasoning I can comprehend.!

This is what they live for,, THAT WHALE !! their whole lives and culture revolve around THAT WHALE.!



Muktuk is eatn in small strips, ususlly dipped in ugruk oil, more flammable fat that is melted. add salt & mustard. LOL It has a similiar taste to cod liver oil. except it is much stronger. In 1983, I had tried to go hunting on a snowmoblie. I had all my pipeline winter gear on, we didn't get 1/4 of a mile before I called it quits, I was too cold, frozen up, just going down the street. I'll stick to walking. But then I tried taking a tablespoon of ugruk (yuk) every day at noon to thicken up my blood so I would not get as cold.Fruit will thin your blood, blubber will thicken it!
(ugruk is bearded seal) that is what the umiaq has for a covering, six ugruk skins sewn together with a water tight zig zag type stitch, .. .. using dental floss !


Two beluga whales have been divided here, and some of the remains are still visible, while the main portions have already been taken back to the village to share with the elders of the village.

What a way to go food shopping eh ? A huge walk in freezer, no electricity needed !!




Some times when we are out on the ocean ice, that strong north wind will shift suddenly, then all hell breaks loose,, we got to get the hell ouf of here and we only have minutes to scramble. It takes as much as 8 hours to set up a whaling camp correctly and get everything working and in a state of perpetual rediness 24/7. When that wind shits, and it does many times each year when we are out on the ice. we have 20 minutes of less to get the hell ouf of there. THIS IS WHAT IS HEADED OUR WAY AND WILL RUN OVER AND CRUSH everything in its path for miles @ 20 -30 mph or faster !!!


It is the fastest mass organized exodus, people running for their lives literally, EVEFYTHING has to come off that ice, including all the people.
This would be some spectacular event to witness from above in the sky. Maybe some day .. .. who knows.. but in the very olden days, they had no way to evacuate, being that far out on the ice pack..So they would STAY out there.. and take a first born baby girl and STRIP that baby and hold the baby up into the wind, and move that child.. to the direction they needed the wind to shift, so they could stay out there.!!!



We are on land now, after the mad scramble to get off the ocean ice !, Everyone is exhausted, and thirsty, clean cups have to be washed, snow must be melted so we can wash them, we always make sure we have plenty of "clear" ice to use for drinking !

Now to tell you something that you mothers will never ever comprehend or imagine,

Every crew has a boyer.. A boyer has one main job.. HIS RESPONSIBILITIES.. ... you just will not believe !

At night, when the women go to sleep in the tent, It is the boyers JOB to stay up by himiself all night long.
Keep that woodstove fired up just right, and chop more wood using an axe, Sicpan must be used also in case the wood is wet,
sicpan is extremely flammable seal oil, it is put on the wood, inside the woodstove, and it will melt, coating the wood, and it will ignite. Put in just a little too much sicpan and you will burn down that tent quickly !
also included in his duties, he must clean out the empty thermoses and make new coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate and fill the thermoses and get them back down to the lead opening where the hunters stay, 24/7. He is armed with many rifles in case of a polar bear attack
He is trained to watch the wind, the ice for cracks can appear at any time, in any place and swallow the tent and occupants.
GO TO SLEEP, your in very good hands, he will have breakfast prepared for the cooks when they wake up, and all dishes will be wahsed and ready to go.. lie down, go to sleep for hours. hand your lighter, and all your matches over to him.. he is now protecting you !

BUT THIS BOYER.. .. .. is only three years old !



In 1982, The boyer from the crew next to us, was Howard Stone Jr. when he walked into our tent, and asked for my lighter, I fell over laughing, everyone looked at me like. it is ok.. he is a boyer.. I did not know what a boyer was then, but to hand a lighter over to a 3 year old was just not something, I could ever fathom !

That photo above was taken in 1989 James Nash - boyer for a whaling crew ! HOW ABOUT THAT !!

I can easily SWAP hats, with any 1 year old in this village and it fits me ! How these children get so big so quickly is beyond me.

Daisy Della Fay Age 3 In 1983 United Bank of Alaska.. .. offered me 100k for the complete rights to this image, under the advice of some friends in Boston that were very high in the Art World I declined that offer, I am so glad I listnened to thier advice. I have already passed that figue in sales of this image, in over 33 countries around the world. and again, a computer monitor cannot do justice to this image.

IN 2002 in Anchorage I opened a small Educational Lifestyle / Culture Gallery @420 W. 4th Ave just for a year, to test my market survey. I was shocked at the response, not from the tourists but from the people in Anchorage and that lived in other parts of the state.

We never knew all of this ? !!! WowoW... Many times when visitors were walking with a native friend, and they walked past this image of Daisy Della Fay.. we would often over hear.. the person say to the visitor,,, "That WAS my daughter, when she was younger ! ha ha ha ha ha !



Two "teenage" girl-friends pose for me in traditional dress @ 50 below ! Do they look cold ? LOL !!

nope. not one bit, once your dressed correctly, then you can EASILY STAY OUTSIDE for the whole day and longer, weeks, months !

Heat is something new, for thousands of years, they lived and went hunting with no heat !



Elainie Frankson & Minnie Stone two friends of mine, i have been asking them recently, to pose again, together, in new parky's and mukluks twenty seven years later, I hope to have that image uploaded SOON.. (fingers crossed).



Grandmother & Grandfather, Aaka & Aapa, Lilly & Donald Oktollik

My four sons.. .. GREAT grandparents !

fantastic introduction Majik..........I really enjoyed your pics and the insight into your life on the ice

thank you for sharing

I will never ever forget this day as long as I live.

I was so cold, it was approaching 50 below zero and the wind was 'sharp" like a knife.

cutting through every opening or seam to get to your inside clothing, Now I understand why an Eskimo hunting parky is a pull over, no zippers. I have a zipper on my jacket and I can feel it, even though my back is to the wind. This is the way to "warm" up ! ha ha ha ha ha.. I am freezing my ISO & ASA off.
Then I created this image and screamed! because I was out of film AGAIN. and i know what is about to happen, if I try and change this film, Oh ! NO ! I dread this. the pain is so intense, agony, just trying to achieve a simple process of inserting the film inside the camera and get it started and get the cover closed so I can put my gloves on and then my huge mittens. Crying in intense agony and pain, the likes of which I can't describe in words.



I am walking to a different camp, 1/2 mile - 3/4 a mile away, I gotta get moving to generate some body heat, just sitting on a caribou skin, with walls of ice all around me, is kind of boring, I want to create, capture, this life-style culture. As I am walking, I meet up with this lovely young girl, Kathy Rock age 10 sitting on a snowmachine, back to the wind, she knows me well, and as I brought up the camera to capture her face, she began to smile, I brought the camera down and said "Kathy No!" Please do not do that.
I want you to pretend I am not even here, I want you to look right past me as through I am not here. I tried again, I knew what I wanted, but how to get it ? Every time I brought that camera up, her face would change. I kept speaking to her, then she caught on,, OH yes ! Yes ! yes ! -=[click]=- THAT is exactly what i wanted.Yes - I spent 1/2 hour talkinig to her, and only exposed ONE FRAME OF FILM



Many people have tried to gain access to this village for video or photographic reasons. John Denver was allowed, Paramount studios wasn't, The BBC hired a film company to record this, they were in town, but never got to go out onto the ocean ice. because of greed.

This BBC hired video company wanted the rights to go .. and record.. the entire whale hunt, This is what we want they told the Whaling Captains Association and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commissioner -.

What do we get ? Was the response from the Whaling Captains & the other people of Authority in the village.. We will give you a copy of the tape we produce!

The film company, had all their gear set on a sled at the Commissioners house, all ready to go, When they found out that the only "gift " or "what do we get" ? was just a copy of the video, the commissioner said.. We will have to have a meeting to discuss this, The video people asked .. " when will that be" ? We want to go now.! The commisssioner looked at them and said, We have to go whaling now, we will discuss this later, and left the film company stranded in town.

Of course they got the hint and left town on the next plane. I didn't want anything , and these people knew that, that was the only reason I was allowed down here with a camera.. John Denver did these people a very grave injustice on National Televison. 1976 or 77 I was in Boston at the time.

I remember seeing / hearing John Denver and a "man" with a funny hat, was with Mr. Denver out on the ocean ice and a polar bear was walking past them, far out on the ice,

Now it is 1982 April and I am in Point Hope, sick, so sick with the flu, There is a knock on my door and I faintlly said come in, and I rolled over, back to sleep. I am sick I said, please go away. Jake wants you down on the ocean ice with your camera NOW!.. ha ha ha.. I said.. I ain't going no where, I am too sick.

the next thing I know, hey. put me down, I am too sick to go outside. I am too weak also as they dress me in the proper gear, I can't resist I have no strength.

Next thing I know, I am on this sled, on my way down to the ocean ice, with severe flu and I am very scared. This seven mile journey out to the lead opening was a rough trip, going over small hills would bring the front of this sled 4 feet into the air and then crashing down as the rear end of the sled (me) hit hard. I found out when I arrived some 4 hours later, that the temp was 60 below zero, I slept outside that night and FROZE the flu ! I was 100% the next morning. But I was convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that when this camera case was opened, I feared the worst, thinking that every lens would be shattered in this constant crashing of the sled from 4 feet up, I felt like I went through a game of tackle football, I was so sore all over after arriving at camp site.



I knew Jake, I had seen him in town many times and spoke with him of my love for photography and how I would love to just "give" him and the others free photographs and would do all I could to help their cause for the right to hunt. But when I got down to the ice and saw Jake dressed up in his hunting gear, my head just snapped Deja Vu ! WowoW.. "thats the guy that was on the tonight show video that John Denver was showing... the man with the funny hat.. My Captain.. Jake Koonuk




Jake told me EVERYTHING that went on, when Mr. Denver was up here. how he wanted to help them in their right to hunt the whale. Ha ! Hypocrite. John Denver said on the tongiht show ... " -. they caught a whale and just left it there to rot. He called these people some very bad names, He was here for 4 weeks I have been here for almost 30 years! i was sent here for just 3 weeks as an electrican to wire two construction camps, when the job finished i quit the company and stayed. I fell in love with these people, the lifestyle/culture & of course the Arctic.

That was just the biggest outright lie in the world, It takes the combined effort of hundreds of people, to get that whale upon the ice. I have been on 5 whale hunts, I can say with absolute 100% certainity. no one in this village or any village would ever walk away from a spoon full of Maktak (muck tuck) A = ah.

NO one could or would ever do that, these people don't waste anything, ever .Zip lock baggies are always saved, washed and used for future uses at whaling and other times. They are too expensive to just throw away. We use them over and over for many different things.

DANGER: Polar bear - Nanuq (Nanook of the north) Nanuq is pronouned just like that old "fake" movie Nanook of the north made decades ago.. what is so ironic is that the persons name was not really Nanook and that in real life he died by being eaten by a polar bear!



Sob.. I had a very close friend in Point Lay (100 miles+ north here) Charles Stalker Jr. III He was my electrical apprentice in that village. Dec 1990 Sob.. .. A polar bear was going after his pregnant girlfriend. Chalres was only armed with a knife when he distracted that bear away from his girlfriend. He never had a chance, one swipe of the LEFT paw, literally cut him into two pieces and he was eaten. The bear was killed and his girl-friend survived that attack because of the heroism that Charles displayed.

Allan Rock was out on the ocean ice and was attacked by a polar bear. Armed with only a large knife. That bear died!

ALL bearsare left handed, they will always swing with the left paw first.

Billy weber was out on the ocean ice and a polar bear was coming after him. armed with only a .22 rifle and only one bullet left. Billly weber ran, His friends could see the predicament he was in but were too far away to help. There is only one place to shoot a polar bear, and that is in the ear. Shoot for the skull and it will bounce off his skull and the bear will get you!
Billy was running for his life, and that bear was gaining on him, while running he merely pointed that rifle back and took his last shot, Billy lived to tell about it.. that bear was that close, that Billy got him right in the ear.


These are all very true stories that anyone in Point Hope will verify.

Last week, ha ha ha... Gus Kowanna (17) bought himself a rifle that was way too powerful for him or anyone else for that matter, he was warned, don't do that Gus, and don't put a scope on it, he didn't listen. .303 weatherbee bolt action. Gus proudly went out to the ice with his new weapon, He was warned, Gus is out on the ice and went up to the tent for something, when he came out of the tent, there was a polar bear, looking at him from about 30 or 40 yards away or slightly further. Gus picked up his rifle and took careful aim and pulled the trigger, That scope punched him right in the eye and now the polar bear is coming after him, Gus loaded another bullet and took aimi and held on for dear life to that rifle.. BLAM.. that scope punched him square in the eye and he is hurting so bad, getting socked like that, he can't think of the pain he doesn't have much time left at all, carefully he loads another round and held it as tight as could be and pulled that trigger.. that bear went down and Gus got rid of that rifle. I wish I could have reached Gus to get a pic of his face. it was sure swollen. black eye real bad.. he learned his lesson, the hard way. but at least he alive.

Even after that polar bear is dead, stone cold dead, that bear can still kill that hunter or who ever opens that bear up for gutting or skinning or whatever it is called. The liver must be destroyed by fire, so that other animals will not eat it. the tubes must be carefully tied and you better know what your doing, if you get any of that juice on your skin, your dead, there is just too much vitamin A inside that bear.

In Barrow Alaska 1940's A very famous Inupiaq hunter was cleaning a polar bear and he was all but finished and his hands were cold and he cupped his hands to blow into them, he got the tinest bit of that juice on his lip.
He lived for many years and everyone in those parts is aware of him, he passed on in the late 80's I think. His skin was bleached pure white and his hair was as white as snow, he lived, and everyone is witness to this bizarre event.

Scientists are concerned about global warming and the recent amount of polar bears that show up in the water drown, dead. They figure it is because of the extended long swims from the ice pack to the next ice pack.
That is not the reason ! There seems to be a shortage of seals further north, and a polar bear will attack anything he can eat. and the biggest mistake a bear can make is to attack a sleeping walrus. A walrus likes to sleep on its back, neck up head back exposing his vital neck region, the walrus is stretched out, asleep and along comes a polar bear, hungry, he pounces on that walrus who merely lowers his tusks around the bears head and rolls over into the water and drowns the bear! The walrus always wins.

Polar bears live on the ice, they follow the ice, sometimes they miss and end up in town, we do our best to get them out of town, but when a bear is going after a child or another person, we have no choice but to take it down quick.


Last month a mother with 3 cubs intered town, the ending was a good one, they were successful in getting that mother out of town and back onto the ocean ice.
The most delicous meat I have ever tasted in all my life has been polar bear meat, It is jet black, grainy like an old piece of garnled wood but it is so sweet and tender, better than the best prime rib I have ever eaten, It was the only time I have ever asked for seconds and everyone all at once said NO!



The hunter takes care of the bear, the women take care of the skin. This skin is worth over 15,000! To properly accomplish a "native" tan, without the use of chemicals, an extremelly sharp Ullu knife is needed, and many women are required to finish this in the course of an entire day.



Sally Killigvuk (left) and Elizabeth Oviok - Postmaster (right) are using all they got with much strength to scrape the skin until it is soft and clean. There are about six women working on this and it will take them most of the entire day.

Once it is cleaned then it must be thrown into the ocean tied up of course to something solid, then it is hung up in the Arctic wind for a few months to dry out.



Well I hope you found this "bear-y" interesting !

I have LOTS MORE to "show & tell"


The best.. ... is yet to come.. ..!

Wow, this is absolutely fascinating... am deeply in love with your stories and really enjoyed reading them. I can feel your pain when you describe changing film in the freezing temperatures...

Anyway, welcome to Shuttertalk...

G'Day mate ! I am so glad you enjoy these photographs, and I haven't begun to begin to tell you STORIES.

I am workig on a post for a "special section" entitled:

Jesus drove... ... .. a snowmachine, ! You are going to .. SMILE oh so big

when you read this TRUE w/ 7 witness' account the most preposterous story you will

ever hear or read. I STILL have a hard time in accepting this as fact and I was

there, if it weren't for the 7 witness' I would swear I froze my brain & mind.

I promise you spectaculalr images and incrediblel text that will amaze you 4 shure mate.!

Tis nice to be here @ ShutterTalk !

Maranatha !

The Bravest Man I have ever met.

More More More !! you need to wright a book on all your stories , i am very intrigued . I cant wait for the next chapter .

I am off to shoot some borring sports now LOL , so ill have to read The Bravest Man I have ever met later ......

........ Shawn

So wonderful to see this thread growing with more amazing pictures and fantastic stories. Thank you so much for this journey.