Portrait of Alaska

December 29, 2004 1:19 AM

Portrait of Alaska Norio Matsumoto's unspeakably beautiful photographs. Mountains,lights,forests. tiny remote island in big ocean.
posted by hortense (17 comments total)

Wow. Thanks for that link.

The description of how he lives is rather impressive, too (months at a time in the wild, summer and winter). He says that it gets to be -40 F sometimes. He also says that his snow cave is 20 F warmer than outside. So in the really nasty stretches, his home in the winter is a cozy 20 below zero. Ouch.

Beautiful photographs. The northern lights shot make me want to go to Alaska and see them myself.
posted by teece at 1:47 AM on December 29, 2004

Really great pictures. Hard to believe some of the northern lights pictures aren't digitally altered. Also a very clean functional layout to display them. In summary:

[this is good]
posted by rooftop secrets at 2:11 AM on December 29, 2004

Anybody know of how to get a hardcopy book of that stuff? Or even prints? Maybe I'm a moron, but I can't find any sort of "buy me now!" link. It shows integrity to his work, but I also think it's good stuff and I'd love a print for my cube.

I second that the interface is great.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 2:33 AM on December 29, 2004

I third the interface comment. I wish there were more webpages out there constructed like that.

Awesome pictures too!
posted by snwod at 2:54 AM on December 29, 2004

thedevildancedlightly, on his "contact me" page, the photographer says that you can request print ordering info directly from him.

These photographs are simply amazing, I hope he can keep his job.

Does he bring a friend along with him? In one of the photographs, there is a picture of him with a camera and tripod. To me, this seems silly.
posted by whoshotwho at 3:14 AM on December 29, 2004

beautiful.
posted by moonbird at 3:27 AM on December 29, 2004

he saw a book,became inspired,moved to alaska,bought a camera,became nature photographer. I am quite mesmerized.
posted by hortense at 3:33 AM on December 29, 2004

Lovely. Here's a University of Alaska exhibit of the photographs of Michio Hoshino, the photographer whose book Norio says inspired him.
posted by taz at 3:54 AM on December 29, 2004

I've never seen my state captured so beautifully before. It would be nice to be able to meet this guy and have a conversation with him. He sounds very interesting.

Whoshotwho: I don't quite understand your comment about keeping his job. ?
posted by premiumpolar at 4:15 AM on December 29, 2004

These are amazing and beautiful and wonderfully presented. Nice find, hortense.

I have lived in SE Alaska and still have family that lives there. Although I was only there for a year I would encourage anyone considering a trip to go. Like many beautiful places it is just like the pictures but more. The sky, the air, the mountains, the sounds. I don't mean a cruise either, find a travel agent who is familiar with Alaska and can arrange for you to travel throughout the state. You can do it for a little more and have a much more amazing Alaskan experience.
posted by geekyguy at 4:21 AM on December 29, 2004

Beautiful. Thank you.
posted by googly at 6:37 AM on December 29, 2004

This is amazing. It's like a dream of mine that I know I probably would never go through with, but this is just enthralling. He flew in to the glacier on a little plane? I see no indication that he's accompanied by anyone. The self-portrait could easily be with another tripod, and he mentions that the lonliness isn't too bad. Simply incredible.
posted by odinsdream at 8:00 AM on December 29, 2004

im glad that somebody wanted to sit around in negative 50 to capture those pics.

ill gladly enjoy the work from the warmth of my office cube

a trip to the adirondacks in the fall will fulfill my need to get back to nature. maybe one day when i am a bit older ill do a summer trip to alaska. but for now, i like going to places where i will see good looking women. hence my trip to latvia and estonia last year.
posted by hpsell at 8:20 AM on December 29, 2004

Beautiful pictures. MotherTucker wants to go to Alaska and dance under the northern lights.
posted by MotherTucker at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2004

Terrific post, thanks.
posted by jeffmshaw at 11:08 AM on December 29, 2004

I saw the exhibit at the UAF museum (this spring I think?) and fell in love with them.

It would be nice to be able to meet this guy and have a conversation with him. He sounds very interesting.
He does sound very interesting; too bad he died in 96. I wonder if his family is still living in Fairbanks.

i like going to places where i will see good looking women
Careful... there may be good looking women on MeFi who live in Alaska.
posted by rhapsodie at 9:48 PM on December 29, 2004

These pictures are absolutely beautiful. This is what MeFi is all about. A perfect post, my thanks to you hortense.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 12:11 AM on December 30, 2004