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| 03-09-2008, 08:49 AM | #3 |
| 03-09-2008, 08:49 AM | #4 |
| 03-09-2008, 07:13 PM | #5 |
| Thank you .. .. Young Man !!
Each and every whaling camp is set up identical in each and every aspect. The hunters live down at that lead opening 24 / 7  Fresh hot food is brought down to the hunters 3 - 5 times each day. The food is great, but when you eat a hot meal there is a price to pay.. your body begins to relax, you become just a little lazier, and you begin to get cold after a while. Fresh hot coffee is always at hand. fresh hot tea, and fresh hot chocolate. Now just where do you think these people obtain all this water ?? 700 + people are out here on this giant ice pack. 18 whaling captains are spaced out some 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile apart, setting the guantlet for the animals that have migrated in this pattern for many thousands of years. Sitting here, waiting, watching, listen, look; that is what is the order for the day. We have to be out here, before these animals begin to migrate.  This was an extremly cold day, the wind was vicious indeed. I would always scream when I reached the end of the roll of film.. I knew what was about to happen. Taking both gloves off to insert a roll of film was a tortureous task. My hands arenumb and now they are going to become frost bit and it hurts bad and it takes a long long time for me to get the feelings and movement back into my fingers after changing that roll of film.. tears, pain which cannot be described touching that metal / plastic at that temp. it hurts severly. and as your hands warm up the pain is just too intense. THIS was all of my own doing and choice perhaps because I just would not listen to what these people told me to do ! yuk ! I am NOT going to do that. and as a result I suffered immensly.. This is why your nose runs so much when it is cold out... . I was told... "use it " ?? !! yuk !! so I suffered. and then some.. but then one day. the pain and numbness was just too great.. I could not get my fingers to work and I had been trying for much too long and the pain was too intense.. I just couldn[t move any of my fingers, they were all numb and I couldn't move them.. TAKE YOUR GLOVES OFF.??????? BLOW YOUR NOSE into your hands and rub it all over your fingers and hands and put those gloves back on quickly.. !! Holy !!! WoWoW !!!!! Instantly,, I mean instantly my hands were warm as toast once those gloves went back on,, and my fingers and hands did not hurt as they warmed up.. Kakiik (Kah keek) wonder substance of the far north. once you do this just once.. your hands cannot get cold for the rest of the day. Now I am all smiles out here and again everyone is laughing at me for my new found discovery that actually works.  Military Intelligence is an oxymoron in the strictest sense of th euse of that meaningless word. Draft an Eskimo into the army from 50 below zero and stick him in the jungles of Vietnam @ 120 above zero and expose him to the horrors of war. My good close friend Pete Lisbourne.. he will never get over that experience..Pete makes his living by walking the beaches and finding fossil ivory. This is a big huge business in the arctic and Ivory, fossil ivory commands a very hefty price for very small pieces.  Fresh hot food is brought down to the hunters 3 - 5 times each day. The food is great, but when you eat a hot meal there is a price to pay.. your body begins to relax, you become just a little lazier, and you begin to get cold after a while. Fresh hot coffee is always at hand. fresh hot tea, and fresh hot chocolate. Now just where do you think these people obtain all this water ?? 700 + people are out here on this giant ice pack. 18 whaling captains are spaced out some 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile apart, setting the guantlet for the animals that have migrated in this pattern for many thousands of years.  Are you still cold, then we have more tricks to keep you warm(er) out here.. and the way to get hot out here. is to eat.. .. raw, frozen meat or fish. !! Last edited by Majik_Imaje; 03-10-2008 at 02:45 AM. | |
| 03-09-2008, 11:05 PM | #6 |
| Tricks are for keeping warm. Inupiaq technology is time tested for many thousands of years. It is no easy task to live out here, people do get cold. It is damn cold out here. I wanted to give up many times. This was a brutal experience for me, thrust out here in the middle of frozen no where. but it was something I was "destined" to do ! Hind sight is always 20 / 20 ! and my sight was thrown into full focus when my mother revealed to me a little secret she had never told me about. She was pregnant with me, and as an expetant mother she wanted to put the upcoming photos of her new baby in a "scrap book" as they didn't have photo albums in those days.. Scrap books were the rage and you had to paste corners into the pages to hold your photgraphs. She purchased one. before I was even born. I never knew about this until much later in my adult life. when I made Alaska my home. in 1981. On the front cover of that scrap book it said the word .. Alaska ! Alaska wasn't even a state in those days ! and the image on that front cover was an image of an eskimo driving a dog sled out on the ocean ice into the sun !!  this seven mile journey takes many hours. It is a very rough ride. I had the flu when this image was created. I was at home early april sick in bed and a knock on the door. come in was my reply.. sme hunters walked in and said.. Jakey wants you down on the ice now, with your camera ! I laughed and said I am too sick and rolled over. Hey ! Put me down. I was too weak and too sick to resist. and the next thing I know I am on this sled going over hard bumps. very hard bumps and it hurts. I was convinced beyond any doubt that all the lenses would be shattered in that case when we arrived. Much to my surpise everything was ok. when the snowmachine goes over a little hump in that ice. the front of the sled rises as much as 3 or 4 feet.. and then the entire sled comes crashing down hard when it reaches over that small crest. some familes stay together out here. close to each other.. there are 18 whaling captains. all spread out, hiding in the ocean ice pack, waiting 24 / 7 for weeks on end.  Are you cold ? then pick up that hacksaw and cut some small strips of raw frozen caribou meat. This is a hunters breakfast. It will keep you very warm all day long and you will not become thirsty, slice off thin strips. now swallow them whole. do not chew them. FILL your stomach full. now this is what happens. your stomach has to work very hard to digest all that raw frozen meat or fish. you will begin to generate body heat the likes of which you have never ever experienced in your life. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS and try and stay inside.. you will burn up and end up in the hospital. A hunter will take a raw frozen fish and wrap it up, in tin foil or something else. and put it down his boot and go out hunting, walking for hours and many miles. Later when he is hungry he will pull that fish out and unwrap it. and enjoy a hot steamy meal out in the middle of frozen no where.  This is a hard core lifestyle. Everything is different in this different world a different planet !! a planet of cold and ice and unique silent beauty  | |
| 03-09-2008, 11:07 PM | #7 |
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| 03-10-2008, 03:22 AM | #8 |
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The beauty of the arctic is all around us and I take special attention to always look for the unusual. This is one beautiful place of quiet, and peace. the only sound is the wind, the ice cracking and the sound of your thoughts.  As I was saying, some familes stick together out here on that ice pack. there is just so much work for these women to do. Non stop work all day hong and half of the night. washing dishes, making meals for all of these people.  Just where do you think all of this necessary water comes from ?? snow ?? yes we melt snow for washing and cleaning. but for drinking, snow is yuk ! no matter what you mix it with it is yuk. eecchh ! There are many different methods or ways to obtain delicous fresh drinking water way out here in the ocean ice that is all frozen salt water. We have two choices. regular or unleaded ! Only joking !  One method that is expensive is to haul river ice down to the camp area. this is a time consuming journey and it takes much work. the kupak river is 80 miles away so we are talking about 160 miles or more round trip just to fetch a sled load of ice to transport all of that distance. We have a much faster and quicker method of obtaining delicious fresh drinking water out here. It is all around us, but it is frozen, and it has salt in it. yuk !  Now we have "tricks" that you have never heard of to get this salt out of the ocean ice. Two methods again.. sand !! Sand will speed up the process if we place a huge piece of ice upon it. We can also use sand to cut huge holes in the ice if necessary, like when a whale is hiding under the ice. Sand will suck that salt down out of that ice and you can watch it happen. also the regular way requires very liettle work. Just stand up any large piece of ice and brush all of thesnow off the sides and the top. Now go sit and wait.! As the sun beats down on that large piece of ice. it starts to become clearer, you can see the salt starting to settle inside of that piece of ice. when enough of the top portion becomes crystal clear, then walk over with your kettle and chip the ice horizontally and fill your kettle with chips of this ice, which when melted is just the most delicious fresh drinking water you have ever tasted !  Again, so much work, just for simple things such as a drink of water, or water for cooking or water for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and so much more. One woman asked me on one forum. how do you change your socks and underwear every day ? ha ha ha ha ha.. my first question is where are you going to do this at such sub zero temps ?? I guess the best place to do that is next to the shower room !! Here in Alaska above the arctic circle the temps sound just so cold. but it is amuch different type of cold. it just gets on you, it never penetrates your clothing. How you dress is extremly important out here. Once your out here, that is it. There is no quick way back to the village, it is a lot of slow work making that trip. There is just so many supplies that must be brought down to the ice. During the summer months driftwood is gathered for the next springs hunt, if you don't have any wood. then you have to buy some from the store to keep that tent warm at night. There is a lot of important food inside that tent.  Most of the children in the village are brought down to the ice also, this is where they learn at such an early age, great responsibilities. fire arms are everywhere out here, no one has ever gotten hurt in a rifle or gun accident that I know of. All except Gus Kowanna last spring. he is one lucky boy to still be alive.  All trash is always cleaned up at regular intervals, this is our home and we do not want trash or garbage thrown all over the place, things must be kept neat. | |
| 03-10-2008, 03:31 AM | #9 |
| 03-10-2008, 03:52 AM | #10 |
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:yes this is some serious work out here. and in hard core conditions that few people could ever endure. Being exposed to 24 hour sunlight we easily become solar powred out here with all the reflections bouncing all over the ice and it is wicked bright and blinding. It is very easy to stay alert and awake for 3 days or longer. Once you finally get tired, just lean back on that sled and close your eyes and rest for a few hours. your good to go for another 3 days or longer.  As you can easily see, these women don' t have much room to work. there is a lot of cooking to feed all of these people 3 - 5 times each and every day. Lots of cooking, lots of cleaning and washing dishes in this tiny tent with 3 - 5 women working so hard all day long. the blue tarp is to block the wind and prevent it from making the inside of the tent drafty. We have doughnuts to make out here. Yes, every crew has fresh cooked doughnuts each and every day, that is the staple food to munch on constantly out here. But how do you ever get that dough to rise out here, in such drafty cold conditions. Inupiaq technology: Once that dough is all mixed, it is put into a clean plastic bag. then that woman will put her parky on and carry that dough on the inside of her parky, much in the same maner in which a child is carried outside when it is cold. It is never too cold to take infants outside in blistering cold weather. Inside of that parky, they are toasty warm and happy and sleepy  The woman making the doughnuts is Emily Lane, the young lady below is one of her twin daughers, Minnie These two twins were Emily's whole life. One day in 1991. emily and her twins and her younger brother Frank went up river during the late spring, to hunt for fossil ivory. This is a long boat ride. they were warned. do not make any noise up there this time of year. the snow and ice on the mountains is ready to katak (fall) They all went up there for the day, The ice & snow did fall, Frank pulled Emily out of a huge pile when she was buried up to her waist.. they quickly looked around for the last location they remembered the twins were at. Frantically they dug where they remembered the twins being when that ice & snow fell. for over an hour they dug and dug using their hand and well.. they sadly had to give up, and head back to the village. hundreds of people came out. and dug and dug with shovels and all sorts of tools to move that snow and ice. Then they found them. dead.under the snow holdling hands .. sob.. such a tragedy that could have easily been avoided.. born together and died together at the young age of only 17  You require a lot of protein to keep going 24 hours every day. You quickly forget which day of the week it is and no one cares for that matter. we are out here to have fun and hunt. that ice pack on the other side of the lead opening is moving very quickly perhaps 20 mph. that wind is strong, the everpresent north wind is vicious and unrelenting, constantly blowing from the north. Which is right to left in this image. Do not watch that ice moving on the oher side of the lead opening. It is very easy to hallucinate out here, and I was providing these hunters with much amusement. When you stare at that ice for too long, at some point in time, that ice will stop, and you will begin to experience the sensation of moving in the opposite direction, I was always falling over, much to the delight of these hunters who were laughing hysterically at this dumb city boy from Boston !  Wait, watch, look and listen, that is what we do all day every day, day in and day out. This may sound boring to you but it is just the most exciting time. anything can happen and usualy does in many unexpected ways. Last edited by Majik_Imaje; 03-10-2008 at 04:16 AM. | |
| 03-10-2008, 03:56 AM | #12 |
| 03-10-2008, 04:32 AM | #13 |
| 03-10-2008, 05:43 AM | #14 |
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food shopping in the Arctic is a completly different concept than what you would ever expect. It takes longer than two months ! There are no check out lines. well there is. you will see it later. (chuckle) Tuzroyluks crew cruising for food @ minus 50 below zero, This is the norm, straight into that blistering wind. All day long they will paddle in search of the mighty bowhead whale. One thing yu don't know yet and will refuse to comprehend or understand is that these people do not hunt and kill a whale. they wait, for that whale to give itself over to the captain of ITS CHOICE.  At night when that sun goes down (april only) it get mighty cold mighty fast. I had to put a lens cap over the lens to protect it from these rutal bitter winds. My camera is on a tripod for the night.In th emorning I would have to literallyh chip the ice out of the viewfinder on that camera. The entire camera was encased in ice. 1/8 of an inch thick. the controls were very sluggish, ice cracking everytime I would move any control. but all in all my camera(s) worked flawlessly perfectly each and every time.  I am not using any type camera that requires the use of batteries. They will not last at all out here. How am I ajusting my exposures? How do I know what to do without a light meter ?? ha ha ha ha ha ha.. I enjoy a very high degree of confidence when I create images, I threw my light meter away in 1973. I had learned how to read light, in any condition. If you cannot do this yet it is only because YOU have not been paying attention to what you do in certain light situations. There are only 3 things that happen (exposure wise) when you release that shutter. That image is either too light, right on or too dark. I do not need a light meter, nothing is changing out here, for all practical purposes, Learning how to shoot from the hip, as they used to refer to it. is essential to learn. if you want to capture that once in a lifetime image. I do not have time to waste fiddling about with meters, buttons, menus. I compose and capture, I create. I do not like digital. it is just too magaziney looking. film has soul that digital just cannot capture.  Now there are only two things you do, in any light situation. You either open that lens an f-stop or two, or you close it an f-stop or two. or you leave it alone. I do not change my shutter speed. unless I am on a tripod. Open your eyes and look, next time your outside with your camera, go to manual and learn how to read that light. so what if you make a few mistakes. learn how to do this, it only requires a little practice and then you will understand how light works. Photography is all about light, and what you can do with your imagination and that light !! I have taught for many years complete rookies that knew absolutly nothing about phtography. Turn off that light meter, go out and create. ALL you need to understand is one Exposure value for one light conditon. This is the starting point to learn. then you can effectively fill out, in our head all 22 exposure value charts to their full extremes of each end. Just by starting to understand how Ev values work with different iso's One value is all you have to remember 100 ISO 125@ f 11 That one exposure value represents how much light you need for a correct exposure in a sunlit siutation with the subject casting distinct shadows. i.e. front / side-lit for backlighing open to 5.6 if you are not sure, then open one stop. Once you understand that situation and can recognise it, try and create images of that one situation until you can recognise it and compensate for it when it changes darker. or if on bright sand or snow then you will close that f-stop one stop. I crack up laughing when people say.. I am going to experiment. doh ! there are only three things that happen. ?? ??  | |
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