Story Behind the Top 5 Grams of 2014 - #2 Ruth Gorge Sunset

Behind the Gram 2014 - #2 Ruth Gorge Sunset

Caption as Posted on Instagram: Today on the REI blog you can find the photos from my favorite trip of the year, and one of the most amazing places on the planet. Click the link in my profile to see the whole story.

Location: Stump Camp, Ruth Gorge, Alaska Range, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Technical Details: Captured with Nikon D610 with Nikon 27-70 2.8 Lens @ 24mm. Exposure 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640. Color and contrast adjustments in Adobe Lightroom. Cropped and uploaded via Instagram.

There are places on this planet that exist on a plane of visual drama that renders any written or spoken description completely impotent. The only wordsmith who has approached consistent success when writing of the sublimity of nature is the great John Muir. His words upon exploring the glacial landscapes of Alaska will serve well to describe the area captured in this image.

Fain would I describe the glories of these months in the ice-world, the beautiful and terrible network of crevasses, the clustering pinnacles, the thousand streams ringing and gurgling in azure channels cut in the living body of the glacier, the march of the clouds on the mountains, and the mysterious splendor of the auroras when the nights grow long...But this would require a volume,while here I have only space to add Go to Alaska, go and see.

And so, despite my personal interest in how I created this image with the help of ski planes, base camps and two weeks of watching and photographing constantly changing conditions, my recommendation to you is that you follow the recommendation of John Muir. Go to Alaska, go and see.

But first, one photo tip: Don't waste precious moments of glorious light setting up that tripod. Wind your ISO up to as high as it needs to be in order to shoot a shutter speed faster than 1/250, and blast away. The rules of photography are changing with technological advances, use them to your advantage.

P.S. If you want to know more about this area and my trip there, visit these stories:

http://blog.rei.com/climb/catching-turboprop-ski-plane-ruth-gorge-alaska/http://thesummitregister.com/skiing-climbing-alaskas-remarkable-ruth-gorge/

To follow the ongoing adventures, follow @scottrinck on Instagram!