Hi all...

In June I'm going to be going to Alaska on vacation. We're going to visit Denali NF, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and then get on a ship for 7 days down the inside passageway ending up in Vancouver, BC.

It seems like this will be a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, and I'm afraid of missing something. Anyone shot up there before? Any recommendations on gear to take, things to make sure I see, etc? FWIW I shoot all digital, and I'm bringing 2 Nikon bodies with regular + zoom lenses...

Contact me out of band at jtj3 at comcast dot net if you feel like it!

I have just gotten back from a photo assignment in Antarctica, so guess the conditions would be similar. And I too shoot all digital. Some of my recommendations would be: make sure you have extra batteries or a very fast chrger, as the cold will shorten the time they can used. Try keeping spare batteries near body to get some heat before use. If possible take a waterproof casing for your camera. Weather conditions can change rapidly and you don't want to miss any good shots because of it, or ruin the camera. A tripod would be good for some zoom shots. Sounds obvious I guess, but try and get camera and waterproof casing in outisde temperatures for a while before photographing, the temperature changes between indoors and out may make your lenses fog and miss photo opportunities. Take extra storage card or download off camera often, you'll probably find much more to photograph than usual and on the excursion I was on several other photogrpahers were having to delte images they'd rather not have as they had run out of room, not expecting to take so many shots. Hope some of this is of use and hope you have great time! John

My top tip - essential in fact, is to take me along too!! ;)