#039 Behind the Lens with Carly on the Kenai - Carly Padrta

 Carly Padrta — known across Instagram as Carly on the Kenai — is a lifestyle and adventure photographer based on the Kenai Peninsula. What started as a hobby born out of new motherhood and a pandemic-era YouTube rabbit hole has grown into a full creative career taking her across glaciers, into the backcountry, and all over the state of Alaska. 

In this conversation, Carly pulls back the curtain on what her life actually looks like behind the camera — from the gear she trusts in brutal Alaska conditions, to how she balances adventure with raising two young boys, to why bad weather almost always makes the best photography. 

In this episode: 

• How a halibut charter in Ninilchik turned into a life in Alaska
• The accidental origin of her photography career
• Why she lets her camera take a beating — and what's survived
• Her go-to gear: Sony, Sigma, and a backup SD card she keeps for emergencies
• The Knik Glacier camping trip that got a little too real at 2 a.m.
• Her honest take on AI editing and presets (spoiler: she's not a fan)
• Aurora photography, wildlife encounters, and her favorite spots on the peninsula
• Practical advice for parents who want to get outside but feel stuck

Follow Carly:

 Instagram & Facebook @carly_on_the_kenai

Transcript

The State I Am In (00:09)
so I wanted to show you, I actually already showed you the picture. cheated and I showed it to you before, but I probably put it up here for other people to see if they're actually gonna watch.

But talk about ⁓ Emo Carly. Was it a phase? Was it not a phase? I'm still in all black and I'm listening to Senses Fail on the way over. Is it Senses Fail? I was gonna ask you. Yeah, which bands? less eyeliner. You could have done the tattoo. know, people were like doing eyeliner tattoos. I don't know about how thick you'd want to lay it on. Yeah, so which bands? It doesn't melt in the rain as well. It doesn't have the same.

Same effect. Today would have been a good day for it too. ⁓ Which bands still take up your playlist that you're like, man, I'm still listening.

Senses Fail, was sort of like the emo punk. so like, of course, Blink 182 and 741 and a little bit of rock. Like I still listen to Slipknot.

So I was kind of like all over the place. Slipknot was like forbidden for me as a teenager. So that was like my dirty pleasure of like, oh, I got the CD, right? My friend gave me the Slipknot CD to borrow and disturbed. So you had to burn off of like lime wire? Lime wire, Napster. Do you remember Napster? Yeah. Yeah. That was, think, think lime wire came after. I don't remember. I remember I totally, my mom bought me like a brand new really nice laptop that she was like.

this is so expensive, I don't even know why I got this for you. And it was like for school, which I was like, I don't need this for school. Totally ruined it with limewire. anything you download, it's just viruses, immediately viruses. I still listen to like my chemical romance. Like I don't want to admit that, we should probably edit that whole part out. It's crazy to think about. I think about my childhood as a kid, grew up listening to my mom playing Van Halen and all these like 80s songs.

And I did have the thought like, wonder what kind of music my kids are gonna listen to. You know, when I have kids someday, it's kind of, it's a little bit different. My son, he's nine, eight, going on nine. He's like, dad, do we have to listen to screaming music on the way to school? And I'm like, look, man, like this is, I'm sorry. Like this is what you're getting. This was my, like, this was what I liked in high school. You're gonna have to deal with it. ⁓ But yeah, I totally went through a big.

emo phase two. I didn't really do the eyeliner. I couldn't bring myself to put on makeup, but. I had the black hair and the eyeliner. You're lucky your hair is already dark. That's true. You didn't even have to dye it. Yeah, I know. I just had to grow it out, which my hair is so like my hair is not intended to be long. Like I have no business in having long hair because it's just so thick. It's just kind of like, you know, like the Justin Bieber, like, you know, flipping the hair thing like.

I had long hair before that and there was no flip happening. It was just like, you know, it's like stationary. It looked like I was wearing a helmet half the time. But yeah, I'll put on that picture too of my emo days just so that we can both be embarrassed together. Yeah, for me it was Taking Back Sunday. I like taking back Sunday. The Used do you ever listen to the used? And that evolved into like, yeah, the Underoath like.

screaming like metalcore stuff and just kind of stuck. like I was telling you earlier, there's kind of a pipeline from that kind of music to like the sad country cowboy folk music. Cause now it's like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers. And it's like somehow it's the same, So let's jump right into it. Carly Padrta

Good job. Thank you very much. It's not the easiest of last names to say. I totally get it. It's missing some vowels, but you made it work. I appreciate it. Most people probably know you as Carly on the Kenai That's how I found your Instagram. I was getting ready to move to the peninsula. I think actually was already here for probably about a year. And one, the peninsula compared to Fairbanks. I know a lot of Fairbanks listeners are going to hate this, but it's just gorgeous here.

Like my first eight years in Alaska was in Fairbanks and I love the people of Fairbanks. I love like it holds a special place in my heart, but it just, doesn't, it's not the same as what you can find out here at your own back door as far as just the mountains, the ocean, lakes, the rivers. mean, so much. If you want, yeah, you can really get whatever you want. Totally. Mountains, ocean. Yeah. And the...

Bummer about Fairbanks, it was such a drive to go fishing. That's what I hated. It's having to drive to Chitna, out, six hours for a turn and burn trip to salmon fish. ⁓ So when I came down here, I was like, my gosh, this place is amazing. And the way Instagram works, it's like, you're on the peninsula, here's this person that's sharing all this beautiful stuff from the peninsula. And that's how I came across your work, your photography, and just stunning landscapes, the wildlife. ⁓

everything you do such a good job of like capturing like these just amazing scenes and there's like a mood to them like with the lighting I love what you do with lighting and on the on the back end with editing from like the style of text that you use to how it's like integrated into you know it's not taking away from the scene at all that you've you know taken a picture of it adds to it I think you do such a good job in that so I've been a fan for a while thank you super happy to have you on

and just to be able to talk about Alaska through your lens over the last couple of years. So I usually start with people's origin story. Everyone kind of has their own being in Alaska. It's like usually people ask you like, where are you from? Just right off the bat. I mean, you could have grown up here and people will still ask you where you're from. think it's really common that a lot of people don't grow up here. for sure. Like there's

A lot of people that have lived here and then they, go somewhere else, but you're right. A lot of people are like, you know, I'm from, you know, I've lived in here. I lived in Alaska for this many years, but I'm originally from dot dot dot. So yeah, I kind of want to learn about how, you know, your origin story, how you got to Alaska and, ⁓ we'll kick it off from there. gosh. Well, originally from Oregon, I grew up on the base of Mount Hood and.

I grew up loving the mountains, loving the snow. I wanted to live in the snow. ⁓ And we kind of ended up here. I don't want to say on accident. was not. We were 20-ish something and bored, which just sounds terrible. say 20-ish and bored? We were 20-ish and bored. No kids, no real responsibility. So it was like, why not?

It was, we weren't really too happy with where we were at and it sounded fun. And it was kind of like under the idea that if we hated it, we could always go back. ⁓ it's been seven years or just about almost seven years. This will be seven years and we don't want to leave. Alaskan could either chew you up and spit you out or.

You're like, this is where I need to be. So think seven years is probably the good, I don't gatekeep the Alaskan title at all. If you live in Alaska, you're an Alaskan. Seven years is a good amount of time. I think you know by that point, like what your relationship is with this place. Our first experience with Alaska was we came up in May. So we came up during breakup to go halibut fishing and we stayed in Nenilchik for like four days. Okay. And somehow Nenilchik and May won me over.

And if anyone knows, Nenilchik in May, it's like wet, rainy. It's muddy. It wasn't like the tourist season. No. You're like in the worst part of the shoulder season. Yeah. But it won your heart. Yeah. Halibut fishing in May. And you probably went off of... Did you go to Deep Creek? Yeah. So you're like, what the heck is... I had a blast and I was like, I need to do this more often. Yeah.

two months or I guess no, not two months. What would that be? Three months after that we moved. So that was, that was your, did you guys just go for that halibut charter in the Ninilchik and then you guys went back to Oregon or did you go see anywhere else? 10 days we did go down to Homer and then we went up and stayed another like two days in Denali. Okay. Um, or near Denali, I think it was like Trapper Creek, but most of it was.

Ninilchik That's awesome. You know, one of my first charters was out in Ninilchik And I, yeah, I'll never forget that experience. I'm like, so where are we? Where's the boat Harbor at? And they're like, no, we just go to deep. Everyone needs to go to deep Creek at some point or anchor point and do a tractor launch. Yep. It's like nothing else. I, the first thing I thought of was like, this would be a killer summer job. Like you're just pulling boats out day after day. ⁓ I don't know what they pay. I think it was like 80.

80 bucks a launch. I don't know who's getting that money. I mean, it could be more now, but who knows? But yeah, that's quite the experience. And then coming back. So it's one thing getting pulled out there, right? And then you just kind of drift off. It's another thing when they're just like full send into the back of the trailer. And I don't know if you've ever watched like the tractor launch fail videos from from there. Yeah. And the boats just like, uh, I haven't seen them go into the air because they missed the

Like the trailer. Yeah. I'll have to look those up. It's... Luckily I've never been on a boat that's done that, but it is an experience. Did, like you said, you like, you love the mountains. Living by Hood. I remember memories of Mount Hood. My aunt lived in Rogue River and we would go stay with her and then kind of just go explore Oregon. I remember going to Mount Hood as a kid. Oregon's beautiful in its own right to just way more people. It is.

⁓ Did you have like, were you outdoorsy as a kid? Did you like going out, hiking, camping, that kind of stuff? We did. I grew up doing a lot of fishing, mostly like trout, like fishing and hiking, camping. I had a period of time where like whitewater kayaking was a really big, big thing. Cool. I'd still do it now. I just don't really have like that group of friends who's interested in doing it.

But yeah, I grew up pretty outdoorsy and it's just, it's progressively gotten worse. Well, especially being here. mean, you just, it's easy to discover new things. And then you're like, my gosh, this might be my new identity now. I saw that this year you had a big like ice fishing, ice fishing run this winter, right?

I went through that phase a couple of years ago. I went off the rails on ice fishing. Like I had, I was out ice fishing and this kid, was probably like 10, 11 asked me like how often or like how much I've been ice fishing this year. And this was on, it was Superbowl Sunday. I was out ice fishing on Superbowl Sunday. And I told him at that point in time, probably about 50 and he like jaw dropped. was like, that is so cool. And I was just like, no, it's.

It's not enough. It's probably ADHD or something. Like, I went off the rails a bit. Did somebody take you? Like, did you go, was it like someone took you one time and then you're like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. Yeah, so we can do a shout out to Marina who started the whole ice fishing. Okay. I don't want to call it a problem. Addiction? But...

It might've been a bit excessive. Not that I'm like upset about it. I'm a little upset that the ice is now gone. I was going to say that's probably the only reason we were able to meet today was because like the ice is on its way out There's no more ice. Yeah. she, a friend of mine, invited me out. Yeah. Yeah, that is a lot. I'm happy if I can go. I didn't go at all this winter. The first time someone took me out, I was like, this is amazing.

and spent way too much money on all the things and took my kids out. They were less excited. Like they didn't quite catch it. I also took them out like on a terrible day, like that I probably shouldn't, I had no business taking them. But I was just like kind of feeling it out and we were there. Basically got everything set up, drilled a couple holes, caught nothing and then went home. But no one left in tears, so it was kind of a win. Yeah, with kids, that's it.

That's a win right there. had, my husband took me out a few times and we took the boys out with us to go ice fishing. But I don't, I don't know why ice fishing with him wasn't as exciting. It was more fun having like another girl there. I can't,

I've kind of had experiences like that where you, there are certain things that you can go and do with either by yourself or, you know, with a, with a group of friends. And then I think it's when you're trying to like bring it back home and be like, Hey, I love this thing. Let's all go do it together. It's just like, you can't recreate that same excitement for like, you know, your spouse or your kids. And so it takes a little bit more work. I think, think that's what it is, but you bring up a good point. You have a family ⁓ you do. I mean, you have a lot going on in addition to, you know, photography.

It's just one part of your world. And so I do, we will touch on that today. We'll talk about like how, you know, how does that work with having kids and a spouse and doing other things? And I think most people are probably interested in like, what are the mom hacks like to get outside? Cause I was telling you earlier for me, I love to do things outdoors. I'm not, I wouldn't say that I'm like, I don't like hiking, camping, fishing. do all those things.

I just feel like I can never do them enough. I feel like I get stuck in this indoor world of work, 12 hour days, come home and chores and stuff like that. so at the end of the day, when you're just chilling and you're like, just relaxing, and you open up Instagram and you see that Carly's been running around the peninsula in these amazing places, you're like, ⁓ my gosh. how is she doing this on a Tuesday. exactly. This stuff is in my backyard, and I'm just not.

experiencing any of it and this gal's out here like on the top of a mountain with her dogs like in these breathtaking scenes and and so I think people listening probably want to know what any any life hacks to be able to to do that with a family with a family it is easier when there's like another adult there to help because I have two young boys and I've been taking them out since they were babies I think the first time like they're

First big outing, it was also halibut fishing, but in Nikiski like beach halibut fishing. And they were like two months old and we had them out there in the rain and it wasn't the best weather and just getting them accustomed to being in the elements and planning for the elements. ⁓ but also starting small, like always having like your backup plan or not committing yourself to something that's too big.

the same time. ⁓

almost every day, like when the weather is half decent, we're outside. So I think they're just like, my kids are so used to being dragged along to whatever adventure and I don't think at six, they understand how fortunate they are. But I think when they get a bit older, they're gonna be like, wow, my mom was pretty fricking cool.

Yeah, I think you're probably right. You mentioned something earlier too about expectations. You want to talk about that? kind of the story. zero expectations. Have it, as long as there's no tears and everyone's alive with all of their limbs, then that's a good day. That's a win. Yeah. I told you a story of me just taking my kids like down a simple trail in Kenai city limits and thinking that I was going to be like the best dad ever. And like the weather was great and like.

You know, there was still snow on the ground, but I get outside and like 10 minutes later, like, I'm tired, my feet hurt. Like my leg hurts. It's like that movie Up with the kid. Like it's called Up, right? With the balloon, with the balloon, the floating house. I'm terrible with I can't remember. But I think it was, I think that's what it was. A little kid's just complaining, but, and I was like, this was terrible. But you mentioned just not quitting after a time.

that because kids are gonna be kids but I think exposure over long term they figured out. ⁓ You brought up weather that's one of the things I appreciate about the the pictures and the kind of adventures that you go out on it's not always just pristine beautiful Alaska it's like cloudy rainy snow like you look at your your Instagram page and you see all seasons represented there basically pretty equally.

Bad weather makes the best photography. You know, and that's probably the emo in you speaking right now. The emo kid in there. All of my photography is a bit like, yeah. Like when you ask, is it just a phase? I'm like, my, my photography is a bit. Moody. It is, it's moody. Yeah. ⁓ but I feel like that's like, everyone wants to go out on like the good days like.

those rainy days or the days that are cold and windy or just whatever. Like, they can be so beautiful, but so many don't experience it because it's not the most comfortable. They didn't get out the door. There has been times I've been out in the elements and hated my life and regretted it. But. You're like, this was a mistake. There has been times where I thought I was going to have frostbite at some point, but.

I don't know. Living in Fairbanks, feel like my, I probably got frostbite or frostnip or something. My hands don't respond to the cold the way that they used to. It can be like not that cold outside and my hands are like freezing. I got cold hands anyways, but do you go like, let me back up a little bit before I get too ahead of myself. Photography for you started fairly recently as far as like,

If you moved to Alaska, you said about seven years ago, you weren't doing professional photography before then. This is something that came after you arriving here. Do you wanna talk about how that began for you? I was a new mom and all the hobbies that I had were really difficult to do with newborns.

And then it was also like the whole COVID 2020 where everything was shut down. So I was watching a lot of YouTube.

and I think it was like Peter McKinnon or I was watching a lot of his videos and I was like, this sounds great. This sounds like fun. can buy a camera and like practice photography. And I think I got my husband on board with, I was going to do like photography of the boys.

to share, you know, with our family in the lower 48. Like I'll get a nice camera and we could do like nice photos of the family and stuff and send them to our friends. And I don't think he ever anticipated it going this far in either die. So I...

I just got like a cheap Canon crop sensor camera and started doing photography with it and dragging my poor boys have been all over the place because mom wants to get photos of just something. And it did start off really small with like going to bridge access or the beach and getting pictures of the mountains or escalated pretty quickly to being sent all over the state and working with major brands and

Yeah, you've got to see professional photographer and yeah, yeah, it escalated quickly. ⁓ Do you feel like the camera drives the adventure or is it the adventure and you're taking the camera with you? Like has that changed? Is it like it sounds like in the beginning it was like you were going and looking, you know, for ways to kind of develop this new skill. What is it like now?

I think sometimes it is like the desire to get a specific shot drives the adventure a little bit, but ⁓ it's also fun just getting to like document the adventure or tell a story of the adventure and like an aesthetic way where it's just not like a couple snaps with an iPhone or something like that.

But yeah, sometimes I feel like I get myself in adventurous situations because I have a camera and I'm like, maybe this isn't worth the shot anymore. mean, running all over mountains, glaciers. I mean, you've got to experience some, some pretty cool stuff. I think you bring up a good point about, you know, having your iPhone camera or whatever people use and whatever kind of phone they have.

think what's cool about your work is that when you go out and you're hiking whatever mountain, know, name your mountain, and you're just taking it all in, and you take a picture of it, even on your iPhone, is, phones have pretty great cameras, and then you look at it, and you're just like, man, like, it doesn't, it doesn't really capture it. And I think what you do a phenomenal job of, like you said, is you kind of tell the story through really nice work, through like your,

the pictures that you're taking, but then on the back end with like kind of telling the story like I mentioned through, you know, just the, either the caption, I don't know if you call it the captions, but like the overlaid stuff that just kind of builds on that whole experience. And so you kind of get more of an experience through looking at your work than just like a single shot. And I think that's what is pretty cool. What kind of scenarios have you found yourself in that you're like, oh my gosh? I think...

One of, okay, so the funnest, don't, is that a word? Funnest, yeah. Okay. It's going to be a today. I think this was two summers ago. I was invited on this women's adventure retreat for the summer solstice. And I was invited to be like the photographer on it. And I was like, great, what are we doing? We were going to camp on Knik Glacier.

And I didn't have that much experience. Like I had been on a glacier, but I hadn't had that much experience like with camping on a glacier. And, ⁓ it was really fun. It was a great experience. I loved it. I have so many memories from it, but there was a moment at like two in the morning where the glacier calved really like excessively. And it shifted the entire block of ice we were on.

to where it started creating a crevasse under us. And that was one point in time I was sitting there and I was frozen because I didn't really have any experience with camping on a glacier. And so your three season sleeping mat that you think, this will be fine, isn't fine when you're on a solid block of ice, laying there like, you know? I hope I don't fall into this glacier at some point.

But like so many great memories off of that, that was one where I was just like, yeah. Like what did that sound like? It was just really loud. Like, yeah. I mean, you've been on the ice, like ice fishing. Have you been out and then you, hear the ice like creaking and moaning and like, I've had it like break under and it's like a pressure crack. So it's not like it's breaking. Like it's going to fall apart, but it just starts growing. like, luckily when you're on.

The ice, ice fishing, usually that means ice is like growing. Yeah, it's an unsettling sound yeah, it is. Like when you're out in middle of a lake and it cracks and you can feel it, you're like, you freeze for a second. Like, ⁓ my gosh. Yeah, it sounds, the sound is like pretty cool.

Was there a point where you thought to yourself, I'm pretty good at this? Like with the photography, where it was like a hobby turned like, hey, I'm taking, like, do I need to take myself more seriously as like a photographer now? Like what was that transition from just kind of doing this as a hobby to people reaching out to you? I think almost any person who gets into art, I feel like a good,

artists will always criticize their own work and think it's trash. So like sometimes I'll take a photo of something, edit it, and put a lot of time and effort into thinking, I don't like it. I hate it. It's ugly. And then I'll have all these people like, my gosh, it's beautiful. So I think like any artist will criticize their entire art form of whatever it might be. ⁓ But not like a...

I don't think there was a particular time where I like, need to take this more seriously or any sort of click that really registered. It happened very just organically. ⁓ If I took myself seriously, I probably would be a bigger photographer by now, but at the same time, sometimes taking yourself seriously takes all of the fun out of it. ⁓

Yeah. That's a good point because

The more you do something, you do something that's especially born out of like just you're trying to learn something new, you enjoy it, it gets you out, you're creating something, you know, an artistic outlet. And then there is a fine line of that. And then it just being work again, stress. And I think it's, yeah, you kind of have to evaluate, you know, the direction that you're kind of heading with, with stuff like that for sure. it work? Like, yeah, I, I, they're...

there ends up being like a line between, especially taking like an art form as a. ⁓

like an income source. making it into an income source can take the fun out of it so quickly. So sometimes just scaling it back and learning to just enjoy it, it's beneficial. And especially like trying to create like any sort of creative form when you're stressed or...

having like some sort of guidelines put over it, like takes that ability to create like out. You end up just being kind of drained. ⁓ Yeah, that's a good point. ⁓ I think people could probably apply that to, like you said, any art form that they could be in. There is a fine line there. And yeah, especially like with, you know, in

In preparation for like going out and you know, taking photos, ⁓ what's your mindset? Like what kind of mood do you have to be in? Is it like a calendar based thing? Is it like just how you're feeling that day? Like spontaneous? Is it weather? I mean, we kind of talked about that a little bit, whether may or may not be influential, but you know, for something like with what you were doing in the freelance form, know, not so much the...

other people reaching out to you have a certain project in mind. But just when you're looking to go out and explore, maybe you have something in mind, is that based on your calendar or is it based just on how you're feeling? Pretty much just like how I'm feeling. There is no, it's kind of like the whole taking your kids out. I set my expectations low and just hope for the best. photography is kind of the same because you never know what you might get.

If you go out for wildlife, you never know if you're gonna get wildlife, or if you get wildlife, might just be like a duck, you know? And it's like, oh, those are gonna be the best duck photos I've ever taken, you know? And so sometimes you're not gonna have that drastic, breathtaking landscape. Sometimes you might just get like a swamp. And thinking it like, how can you make this look pretty? Or how can you tell a story with this? And it's like some straggly trees.

Like you just, yeah, set your expectations low and... ⁓

I was trying to find these quotes for Earth Day and they were all like quotes I was looking up for nature and I can't remember who said, I want to say it was like Leonardo da Vinci and it was like anyone who loves nature will find beauty in it anywhere or something like that and that's pretty much what you got to do with photography. There's a story or there's something you can share about it. It might not be necessarily what you want.

But there's something.

Training your eye to find that is part of the craft. Yeah. And that's solid advice for, I mean, someone that's in the arts, someone that's a photographer. It's solid advice for me. kind of feel like with everyone has a story to share is what I've learned doing this. I've learned that someone can have a million social media followers or they can have five and their story will resonate.

pretty similarly, like the human story is remarkable if you know where to look ⁓ and how to listen and what to explore. ⁓ And so I think that's really solid advice for someone that is in photography as well. In that same vein, what do you think someone that may be listening, that follows your work, that is in that field, let's say they're just starting out, you like you were.

What's your advice to that person that's just beginning, as they kind of take what you just said and start looking for the beauty in everything, you're looking at the story in everything, whether that's attitude, expectations, gear specifically, editing software, all that kind of stuff, what have you learned in this time that you've been doing this? I'm pretty happy that when I started out I had like,

not top of the line good gear. It's incredible how, I don't want to say bad gear, but less ideal gear can really teach you how to be a good photographer. And so I started out with a camera and a, a crop, I think it was like a Sony Rebel T7i.

not the best of cameras. It's like a crop sensor, like super, it's not high end whatsoever. This was like a $700 kit, right? With the kit lens and starting off with that and learning how to use a camera and learning how to make that camera take good photos, right? ⁓ And learning how to edit photos that weren't taken with the best quality and how can I still make this look?

nice or aesthetic or, it, it trains you really well as a photographer to learn how to use gear and use it to its best ability versus if you just went out and like dropped a ton of money and had the best autofocus or the best dynamic range or, ⁓ even just using your iPhone still and figuring out how can I take the best or ⁓ Android if that's

If that's one of you. Learning how to take like the best photos possible with that before growing. It can be frustrating, also very.

That's the word I'm thinking of, like beneficial to developing like an art form or what you enjoy as a photographer. ⁓

And then other than that, just like kids, set your expectations low. Figure out how to make it fun and enjoyable and create things that you genuinely enjoy looking at when you might not have something epic. Like I don't get to go on an epic adventure every day. Sometimes it's just walking around the beach or...

in a swamp somewhere or just a little hike and how can I take the same view and make it look like a brand new one is like the entire goal of that. Yeah. Sometimes a view that I've seen a hundred times, you're like, you take a photo, but just at a different angle and use a little bit different lighting and you're able to, you know, just whatever, edit it a little bit differently. And you're like, wow, that, even though I've seen that same view a hundred times, it's

Yeah, it's extraordinary. You can make the ordinary extraordinary with just a little bit different perspective. And I think that's what you do a really great, great job of. And you also just show what's accessible, I think. What are some of your like favorite hikes, go-to spots that you rarely leave disappointed here on the peninsula? Honestly, like the beach is so much fun. Like I don't share a lot of photos from the beach, but I do have a, it's...

It's so much fun doing photography there because it changes all the time. Yeah. Whether it's a, even driving out here, like looking out, can't see the mountains, but it was really pretty with the fog and you got like just a couple of like little ships out there and icebergs sort of around it. And you're like, that looks very like not gloomy, but ominous in a way. you're like, ⁓ maybe that's just the emo in me. I'm like, ⁓ like.

This is a little dark. like it. This is pretty moody. This is enjoyable. And like Cooper Landing is always pretty. I ended up going out there once or twice a week. I'm bad. Once or twice a week. I'm out there all the time. Which like, like certain trailheads or just, are you just pulling off the side of the road? Anywhere. Yeah. There's so many different places and like,

You don't necessarily need a trail or anything like big and there's some of the pullouts. You can just go there and walk down to the river and you're like, or to the lake even. And you're like, wow, this is like gorgeous. Yeah. Cooper Landing is beautiful. ⁓ what places have you been able to see outside of Peninsula? know a lot of your, you know, a lot of what you share is based here. I you are Carly on the Kenai.

But what are the places in Alaska? I across the inlet quite a few times. ⁓ Like Katmai, Hollow Bay, Lake Clark. I do love it over there. It is so beautiful. And it's the same as over here, but also very different. ⁓ And then of course, ⁓ Knik Glacier and Matanuska and getting more up into the valley. ⁓ I have been up to Fairbanks. It is...

It's a different type of beauty. And you guys have very good blueberry picking up there. Yeah, no blueberries are awesome. I am jealous of your blueberry picking. The fall is my favorite time in Fairbanks. is very pretty. I was up there for a, I guess this was late August. It was for a caribou hunt, but yes, it was very pretty up there in a different way. Yeah, it is a different way. in a different way. there's just a lot to see.

on the peninsula, there's a lot to do and it's hard to want to leave when there is so much, but yeah, definitely like across the inlet, the Anchorage Valley area. And I think with your attitude of just knowing that there's something to be like a story to tell or something to be captured, even if you've seen it a million times, that kind of just, now it's just like you're, it's unlimited what you can do, you know, when you kind of have that.

in mind. have a friend that's ⁓ into photography and he's like looking, he's like, I need to go to this location to get this shot. He's got like, I'm sure that's a whole niche of photographers, right? They're trying to capture certain things around the world or around the state and they're like a checklist, right? People come to, ⁓ I just talked to the Porter boys from Snug Harbor. There's people that come from all over the world.

in the country to go and take pictures of bears, you know, over across the way, Lake Clark. And, ⁓ you know, they go and they're so excited to see bears and just check that off their list. And it's like, you know, mission accomplished if they're able to do that. And which is cool. And, you know, no, like, I'm not trying to downplay that at all, but Alaska is just so big. Like there's just so much. and there's so much on the road system and there's so much off the road system.

We'll talk about aviation in a little bit longer, because that's going to open up, that opens up a whole other world for you. ⁓ So we talked a little bit about gear starting, you don't have to start big, you can kind of start small. ⁓ What about when it comes to like, you go to edit or go to like, your cropping photos or now with AI, there's like so much out there.

At least what I'm learning, at least on the video side of it, is it's kind of disappointing, at least right now. It'll probably get better. ⁓ But what is your approach when it comes to like, okay, you've went and captured like however million, I don't know how many photos you take. I assume it's a lot to actually create it to, you know, how you want it to be, how you envision it in your mind. Any advice there?

⁓ I feel like being a self-taught photographer, I'm probably doing all sorts of things wrong, you know? Quote unquote wrong.

With the editing side, and I hate, like, I'm not a big fan of, like, ⁓ buy my preset or, you know, stuff like that and using, I don't want to use, if you're going to take photos and use AI, just don't, like, that takes the entire art form out of it. ⁓ I would say, like, I just use Adobe and that was because,

At the time, that was really all that there was or all that there really was available on YouTube tutorials, because that's where I learned most of this. I went to YouTube University and learned photography. ⁓ But practice with an actual editing software, and it doesn't have to be anything fancy. And learn how to manipulate the photo.

into being something that you enjoy.

I've also followed photographers that I've really enjoyed and...

their specific, like if there's little editing things where it's like, I really like how they make this look so dreamy all the time. And then practicing on how can I do that? How can I make my photos look a little bit more dreamier? ⁓ A lot of it does come with practice and I feel like the idea of using AI to manipulate something or... ⁓

using a quick preset, like I'll just use a preset. It takes like half of the fun. Editing is tedious sometimes, but it's also part of what makes a photo into.

like something you enjoy. It's like a big part of... And with your stamp on it. Yeah. Like it's, you did that. Like it wasn't some preset, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. If you just kind of rely on the preset stuff or AI, takes away the, when it takes away the reps for what you're doing, right? If you're getting out a couple of times a week, taking a ton of photos and then...

going through editing, is tedious, but the product is something that you've created and then, at least on this side of it now, you know that there's plenty of people that love what you create and like the style that you have and what you've kind of put the time and effort into and maybe that wouldn't have been the case if you just kind of like copy pasted something else. As far as

gear on the outdoor side of it. That's a whole other thing, right? And going outside and taking photos. I'm sure there's probably some like necessities that you have to have when you are loading up your bag to go outside. Do you want to talk about some of those like essentials? Like don't leave home without it besides your camera. Don't leave home without your SD card, you know, stuff like that. Like just make sure you have one. I always keep like a

It's not like a very, it's like a very low budget. think it honestly is from like Cabela's. Like it was supposed to be for like a game camera or something like that. ⁓ very small, but I'd like leave it in my bag as like my, my gosh, I forgot an SD card sort of situation where it was like, ⁓ I can still take a couple of photos with this one. It might not be like the best thing to use, but like have your, have a backup. leave it in there. ⁓ gear wise, I.

I hate having to carry around a heavy pack. I will have the most simple setup. normally just take like the Sony C72. ⁓ And normally it's like my Sigma 24 to 70. Those are my go-to. That's what I'm taking every once in a while. I'll take out my drone or like an Insta360, but it's...

It's just the added weight that I just don't. I don't want to say I'm lazy. Like I'm hiking like 13 miles and I'm like, ⁓ my pack better be light. ⁓

Yeah. My gear choices and I don't really, I probably the worst person with this. Like I, my camera body and the lens are weather sealed. Okay. I do take like a dry bag with me in case it gets like really wet out there, but I. You just let. Other than that, like I'm just working off of some prayers right now. Hoping everything goes good. So far it's.

Yeah, I'm rough. Like, if you want to know how durable gear is, like, I have tested the limits on. Let you use it? That's funny. My 24 to 70 is still going strong. that's awesome. If that tells you anything about that lens, like. I'm, terrified to take my camera outside. Like, I love it, but I'm like, it needs to stay in the studio because if it breaks, like, I don't know what I'm going to do. So that's funny. You're just like, Send it.

Rain, snow, freezing weather, I have taken my gear into all sorts of conditions where gear probably should not. And I feel like any adventure photographer does the same thing. it's like, we've learned where its limits are. Like, I know my camera will freeze and it will just shut off. the LCD screen will just stop working. I know it froze. And I just got to warm it up. It'll be fine.

Whether you're supposed to under your jacket whether you're supposed to do that like Sony be like gosh don't do that That's not what this is meant for and like don't worry guys. I Tested it out for you in the field. That's awesome. Like putting it in real conditions real Alaskan conditions I have broken things and had to go get them repaired or ⁓ My old I do have like a Sony a7r3 I

dropped that on some really hard ice while trying to get Aurora photos, had to send that in. I have broken my 24 to 70. I got sand in there. was like the most, it wasn't even like a, like I was just taking it to the lake. We get pictures, like nothing wild happened, but I got like some sand in there and. That was enough. Yeah, that was just enough. And I was like, like I've taken you into like blizzards and the little grain of sand was too much.

⁓ yeah, I have, yeah, just send it. tested the limits. Don't, don't ask me for weather proofing ideas. Cause I'm just going to tell you. You're not going to put out a proper care of your equipment video anytime soon is what you're saying. I'm like cleaning the lens with my shirt. Like, come on, let's get that smudge off of there. That's awesome. Yeah. ⁓

Don't follow me for a proper how to take care of your gear guide. I will show you how to test your gear in the field. Get the most out of it. Yeah. You brought up Aurora, which is another whole other aspect. So we've talked like there's a landscape, you know, part of it. There's, you know, wildlife and then yeah, Aurora is another whole new world for photographers in Alaska and another one of those, you know, destinations where photographers.

Photographers will come just to be able to capture the Aurora. When I first started this podcast, one of the first people I reached out to were the Aurora Chasers up in Fairbanks. And we've kind of like back and forth. They're just so, they're so busy. ⁓ We haven't been able to connect. I hope someday to connect with those guys up there. Super nice. And I like definitely want to come and talk like really in the weeds, like nerdy style about Aurora ⁓ photography. But that's like a whole.

seems like a whole different world of like doing stuff at night and like trying to capture stars and like a lunar eclipse and like Aurora. And then it's just the timing of it. Like, is it going to be out tonight? You know, do you want to talk about some Aurora experiences or like maybe the learning curve on that? I'm still really basic with like my, I know there's some incredible photographers out there that are doing some really.

Just amazing things with like their Aurora. Like it's very planned out. That's the thing is you have to really plan what you're doing. And I guess I'm that type B where it's just on a whim. We're going to figure it out as we go. ⁓ I do really enjoy getting out for Aurora photography and ⁓

playing around with it, like taking some of the rules and just completely ignoring them. Like, you got to have a completely dark sky or, ⁓ or sorry, dark like landscape and, ⁓ long shutter or, know, no movement in it or I'm just out there. Yeah. Like out there, have gotten a few words, like I'm pointing it directly towards Anchorage and you can see the light pollution from Anchorage from here. don't know if you've ever. Yeah. Like, yeah.

And like it makes them for some really cool photos or like playing with cars driving by and like the the light movement from like a longer shutter speed and like tail lights. It is it's a fun genre to play with. ⁓

I I don't push myself as much there. So I don't want to say I get afraid of the dark, but there is something very intimidating with being outside in the dark in Alaska by yourself. And it's like, this is how like a horror movie would start. Like, ⁓ and so I feel like I don't push myself as much in that genre solely because of that. It would be fun to like go out on like a

tour, like with some of the Aurora tours and or even meet up with a group of people who are also wanting to go do photography. Yeah. ⁓ cause it's like, I'll just go to my yard. If they're out, they're out. If they're hopefully it's, you know, right above me. Cause I got trees everywhere, but, ⁓ it is a really fun genre and it does take a level of commitment with

learning about everything, like the light index and what stars are going to be like and the moon and what direction the sky or, you know, just whatever it might be. does take a level of commitment there. Right now with that one, it's just, I don't want to say it's luck. It's less.

structured. Okay that's a way to put it. That's a good way to put it. That one we're having fun with it. Okay yeah did you capture any of the like red orange pink aurora this year? Okay I did. mean people all over the country did saw it. Yeah yeah yeah I was at my chicken coop. Awesome. And looked up and I was like holy Toledo. Yeah. Like the entire sky is red. Yeah. So that was one night where it was most of it was

from my yard just, Cool. What about wildlife? Any favorite, ⁓ I mean there's like the staples, right? Like I'm still, even though I've lived here 13 and 14 years, I still see, I'm still yelling moose every time we drive by. know, like I'm still like moose. I don't pull over for the record. I'm not the person that pulls over and like stops traffic for it. But if they're in my yard.

still I'm watching. They're fine. watching the moose. Yeah, they have their own personalities. giant wild horse just out there. They're huge. I don't think people realize how big they are. And they're just out there and they're kind of goofy. They are very goofy. are goofy. Watching them run across the street is still my favorite thing because they're just like galloping. they're like, yeah, yeah, they kind of like punch the ground instead of like just, yeah. So besides moose, is there any other like favorite wildlife?

photos or animals I guess that you like taking pictures of? Bears are always fun. Especially like the brown bears locally because they're, I don't want to say that they're tame, but I think they're really used to people and they're well fed and they're just fun because you can kind of hang out and they'll just hang out with you. My favorite though, probably caribou. Okay.

⁓ because they're less predictable. It's, it's almost like you're lucky. Like you, it's, they're, they're more difficult to find because they're always moving and they don't have necessarily specific spots where they're just hanging out the time. here, if you go to the river during fishing season, you're probably going to find a bear, you know, ⁓ the caribou also they're extremely goofy. They're extremely curious to where if you're out there with a camera, they're like.

⁓ who's this? And like, I've had caribou. I always try to use like a telephoto lens, obviously with wildlife photography to keep that distance. But there's been times where I get too behind on the camera where my face is in the camera. I'm not really paying attention to what's going on around me. And then I realized that the caribou is too close and I look up and it's like 10 feet away and it's just like also staring at me. Like, what you doing? And it's like.

⁓ yeah. They are kind of curious that way. I've heard hunters doing like weird stuff, like standing and like with their hands up in the air, kind of just doing weird stuff and the caribou kind of like, what's going on over there? They're, they're fun. Yeah. So I think probably the caribou are the most exciting. Whenever I share like a caribou photo, like nobody cares, but I'm just like, this is so exciting. What about, ⁓

like sheep, like I know you've done some like doll sheep or rams. Have you ever, have you caught any of that up in the mountains? Like been up in the mountains and come across any that you're like, oh dang, there's some sheep over there. Yes. Most of the ones I've caught in the mountains though, it was like during hunting season and I didn't have a camera with me. It was solely like iPhone and like a scope mount trying to get like videos of them.

Um, I have been lucky enough to get quite a few close ones, like driving up to Anchorage, like around like the blue, you know, the everyone. make an appearance every now and You know, they're out there because everybody's like pulled off the side of the road. Yeah. Everyone's going 25 or just pulled off somewhere. There's people walking around. You're like, Oh, they're sheep. Um, but yeah, the ones, the ones in the mountains are at least down here on the peninsula are extremely difficult to get to.

They don't make it easy. And most of the time I've been out there solely for like a hunt of some sort or flying. And then you can't really stay too long enough. You're in an airplane. don't want to stall it just to see some sheep. Do you think that like wildlife kind of kicked off your photography journey?

How much are you out there hunting for like, you know, are you trying to like have a bucket list of animals you're trying to take a picture of? Like I'm thinking of like lynx or... I still, I have only seen a lynx one time. Okay. Out of all the times I've been in the outdoors, I've seen a lynx one time, very briefly. And that has to be probably the last animal I don't have a photo of. Okay. From Alaska, is a lynx. So that would be actually

They're very elusive. They are totally. ⁓ You took a picture of a, I think it was a fox that I saw somewhere along the line. I love foxes. There's way more foxes I felt like in the interior. I saw them a lot more. ⁓ just, they're probably one of my, I mean, the wolves are cool for sure. ⁓ But yeah, foxes are, they're just quirky and super pretty. like the pictures that you took of that too were really, really good.

Have you got any wolves? I would like to get more the I only have one like actual wolf photo and that was We flew out to Hallow Bay For a bear viewing. Okay. We had only seen one bear after hiking around that we didn't see anymore. So we flew out to It was like a decomposing whale. Right? This is what we do in Alaska fly out find a decomposing whale

⁓ kind of circling over that there was a brown bear. Okay. We're like, this is cool. Let's stop here. ⁓ try to see how close we can get without irritating the bear while doing that. A wolf came out to also get to the whale and the bear and the wolf were sort of interesting, not attacking each other, but kind of circling and checking each other out. And then in the midst of all that, there was also like a Raven. was also like flying from like side to side. It was like,

Such an interesting trio and there's like a ⁓ decomposing whale in like the foreground. It would be cool to get like some more wolf specific photos. That's another one where they're sort of elusive and they don't come around too closely usually. ⁓ But it would be cool to see more of those. Yeah. Do you feel like when you're out there by yourself?

Is that like intimidating at all when you tell people like, hey, I'm like gonna go on a hike by myself and like take pictures. Like, is there any, is that intimidating at all? Was it at some point and now you're not like really concerned? I think I started off really small. Okay. And then sort of worked my way up. So I don't really get that intimidated now with doing it.

I'd rather go out on a backpacking trip by myself than like walk around a major city. ⁓ Like that's just where I'm comfortable at. ⁓ There has been moments where I've gotten like scared briefly. Like there was once, I think this was last fall, like hiking in middle of nowhere, kind of bushwhacking a bit. And I stumbled across like ⁓ a bear kill.

And I was like, and all the vegetation's over my head. It's thick. And I'm like, this is not where I should be right now. At the same time, I didn't have a dog with me. I was just like, I should leave. This isn't... ⁓ But usually, I feel completely comfortable with just being out on my own.

gallivanting through the mountains. don't like. Yeah. Yeah. You do travel like you do take. I see a lot of pictures of your dogs. ⁓ And so I think that is kind of another. Dogs are pretty good about alerting you to stuff. ⁓ Do you take any like do you take a weapon with you bear spray? Are you like one camp or the other when it comes to that? Are you just like I sort of depends.

I usually carry just a firearm, but...

in more populated areas. have been like, I, I've forgotten it and like just grab bear spray. Like, well, I'll just be really loud today. ⁓ Usually. Yeah. I just carry a fire on with me. I feel like that's usually the go-to for Alaska, especially down here. I don't know. Feelings might be different up in Anchorage, but when you get outside of the city, that's usually

I'm glad you are. We got really big bears here. Yeah, think that's probably not a bad idea. Let's take a break real quick.

One of the things we haven't really talked about, I mean we kind of hinted at it a little bit, is that you've been...

entering into this world of photography and people taking notice and you have people reaching out to you and now you have the opportunity to go and like photography like work trips and stuff that. What kind of brands or businesses typically reach out to you and what ideas do they, like they give you the outline or the guidelines, where are they usually coming to you with?

Usually they want, there's an advantage with living in Alaska. There's a lot of brands who just, they feel like Alaska is like a bucket list to see their brand in, like outdoor brands specifically. ⁓ And they just want like someplace scenic in Alaska. And like, that's their idea, ⁓ which is nice. I like it.

usually they want like that.

Iconic Alaska Beauty for the brand and that's usually where their ideas start And I think there's a lot who don't realize the capabilities of the outdoors that we have here I was talking to one brand and The idea of shooting their product on the glacier came up and they're like we can do that

I was like, yes, we can. Like, you just gotta pay for it. But usually.

It's they want the iconic Alaska beauty. They want it outdoors. They want mountains and water and all the things. think there's a lot of brands who don't understand how temperamental the weather is here though. Like not all that's doable all four seasons or ⁓ it might take me a week because we had hurricane winds or know, stuff like that. ⁓

But luckily, like, and I think brands who want to work with me realize that it's going to be outdoors. Like I'm not a studio photographer. That's just not. Yeah. It's not you. No, not your style. Do you, ⁓ do you have people that want you to like capture more than, ⁓ like landscapes or like, do they come to you with like a certain idea for their?

their business to actually take pictures of people or stuff like that. do that a lot more of like the lifestyle. Yeah. Again, it's going to be like an outdoor lifestyle. Yeah. I'm not going to be like in an office necessarily taking photos of like your team and yeah. Gotcha. Like that's not going to be really my style. I probably, I will do some things indoors if it pertains to like

the outdoors in some way. So for example, I did this, photo shoot for Pursuit, and the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge. it was, they wanted photos of like their, greenhouse area and a small local homestead that they were getting a lot of their produce from for their lodge. And so I got to do a really cool mix of taking the train out, getting photos of the homestead.

It was so much like I, I'm a nerd in that way. I thought it was a blast. Um, and their greenhouse and mixing that all in with the lodge. was like moments inside of the lodge and that I really enjoyed cause you got to tell like a full story from the ground to table. But, um, and they also let me do it very moody. It was a beautiful rainy day. Everything was moody and they loved it. And I was like, sweet.

⁓ so what you're saying is like, if you're an accountant looking to get some photos done by you, you're going to drag them out to like Harding ice field or something like that and to get them done. Yes. You're going to have the best accounting photos you could ever ask for. They're going to wonder why there's a desk sitting on the ice field. It's fine. That's actually a really epic idea if you're an accountant in Alaska. So if you do that, I need credit for it. So, ⁓ yeah, that's actually a pretty cool idea anyways.

⁓ But you said earlier, so you're kind of like, you're still doing that kind of stuff, but you are like. I've scaled back, scaling back a little bit, but you're still open to those opportunities. OK. It just has to really align with my style and what they're looking for. Because I feel like and I know a lot of photographers in the area. I have no problem with.

recommending someone else, especially like if you're like, I really like your style. Like I'm not someone who's going to ever do weddings. I don't want to do weddings. I don't want to, I, I've done a few elopements and those are okay when like it's someone who I really align with and what they're wanting. I have no problems with recommending other photographers in the area who will be better at like.

you know, headshots for businesses or, you know, like maternity photos, unless you want to go backpacking, like, I'm not going to do like a really cute indoor. Yeah. It's just not my style. And like trying to push yourself to fit a style or a genre where it's like, that's not. It's cool that you recognize that though, cause I think people might feel the pressure of, I'm a photographer. have to do those things.

So kind of leaning into what you know you do a really good job of is pretty smart, I think, on your end. And that's probably, again, good advice for anyone listening to kind of know what your style is, what do you do well, and then being able to say no. I think people are tempted to say yes to things they don't want to do, and then you probably get a product that you're one, not excited about, or you're irritated that you have to go and do it, and then just changes the whole. ⁓

and process to it. Yeah, just because you're a photographer you don't have to shoot every genre. You can be like, I don't really like that and then recommend someone else or just have that circle. Although this is going to be like totally, I don't know how I got into it. I started doing real estate photography and I really enjoy it. I don't know how that sort of formed. It is...

It is, I would say, very similar to landscape photography in a sense, where you look for the right angles and the composition on an image to make an area look really aesthetic. There's a story to tell with a home too, I think. I don't know how I got started in real estate or lodge photography or something like that, but I do enjoy that and it is a very interesting...

like change or it's not an epic adventure. It's just like an Airbnb and you're like, I can make this look so pretty. Yeah. But I think there is, I think there still is like, like, like there is still a story there. ⁓ when you're like looking like, this is what you're going to experience when you come into this place. You know what I mean? Like you're able to still tell that story. ⁓ the drone stuff, what's the learning curve on, on using the drone? Is it hard? I never really thought so.

I've only had one drone. Most of it I've only used it a little bit for like landscape. The hard part with the Kenai peninsula is so much of it's a refuge and you can't use a drone. Oh, I didn't know that. Or there's an aerospace somewhere. That is a hard part with Alaska in drones is there's airplanes and a lot of it I end up using for real estate photography. Okay.

⁓ getting like exterior photos and being able to get ones from up higher or at an angle where I can't necessarily reach myself with a camera. I, if, if you can play like a video game, you can operate a drone there at, shouldn't say all drones, at least like the simple, like, like a DJI. ⁓ I've never tried like one of the more of the FPV.

I like the ones where you actually have a headset. Oh, gotcha. I've never tried one of those. Those could be a whole different ball game. But the simple... Like analog kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really simple.

At least simple. I'm kind of nerdy. it's like, it seems simple to me. I don't know. Like, ⁓ not a major learning curve there, just getting the, like the muscle memory with your fingers to operate something. ⁓ but then also with like doing it as photos versus video is also different. Like I can do like.

Move up, move back down, move over, no this, this, a little bit more, know? Versus a video where you can't just...

move around a bunch and like, that's the right angle. So there is. If people were interested in reaching out to you for like some type of ⁓ photography work that they wanted you to do, how would they go? What's the best way for them to go about that? Usually like just my Instagram is fine or on my Instagram, I have my email listed either way.

The last thing I wanted to talk about just in the photography outdoors world, at least in this vein of the conversation is like, do you have any weird or funny traditions when you're going out snacks that you take like trail snacks or like I've seen a lot of pictures of you in a jet boil. Like what's your go-to coffee? Like, I don't know, stuff like that. Is there anything that's like your staple snack or beverage when you're out there?

I am so bad when it comes to...

like food, I think I'm, I shouldn't say that. I'm like fairly picky. And so I don't like a lot of processed foods, which tends to be difficult when you're like out for a whole day. I did when I went to Katmai and I backpacked, I spent like three days living off of moose jerky and trail mix.

⁓ Three Bears beef jerky is usually like something I'll go for or... ⁓

I always take like electrolytes with me. usually forget until it's like too late. Like my legs are cramping up. Like the way I prep my gear for weather is usually the same way I prep myself for a hike It's just all off of prayers and good vibes. I do like sometimes tea or coffee. Kaladi's has those, ⁓ I think they call them adventure packs. Okay.

Those are actually it's really good. Is it like instant coffee? Kind of it's like it's like coffee in like a tea bag. ⁓ Okay. Yeah, I've seen those. didn't know Kaladi's had them. Yeah, they're actually like the ones that Kaladi's I think they use like their midnight Blend or midnight sun blend. I think is what it's called. Okay, they're actually pretty good not sponsored by Kaladi's, but As it was

I, when I go outside, I'm like, it's the snack I talked about earlier. Like, does the camera drive the adventure for me? It's like the snacks drive the adventure. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be gone in this many days. Like, okay, how many like Sour Patch gummy bears, like, or, you know, do I need to take with me? Like that kind of stuff. Like I, I, I'll take like dried fruit with me. I, I'm the, I'm the one who'll forget to eat until it's like too late. And then I'm like, wow, I feel like garbage. Yeah.

Like I need to eat, like I need to get some carbs in me fast. it's like dried fruit or I'm grabbing for an electrolyte. My legs are cramping. I'm like, shoot. Like it's only been like 12 hours and you know, I haven't had any water. Like, do I? Yeah. I, so I have this hard, I have an Aussie that I take out hiking a lot and I try to keep up with him.

I don't know if you ever tried keeping up with an Aussie. You can't do it, but I try every time. He could run circles around me all day, but so then I try keeping up with him. I don't drink any water. I don't eat any food. And I get back to my car and I'm like inhaling an RX bar or something. What I'm getting is that like the reason you go solo is because

Other people wouldn't be able to. They wouldn't enjoy it. Like I've had people go hiking with me and they only go one time and then they never want to go back. I'm probably not. I'm like, I'm like my dog. I just go and there's no stopping. And then when you do stop, it's like.

Cause you're on the verge of like passing out. Yeah. Cramping up. Yeah, this is probably why I go by myself. it's not. You're like, it's nothing against anybody else. It's just that you might not be able to keep up. So I do want to talk a little bit about aviation side of things. ⁓ One of the cool things that you've kind of shown, you know, through your Instagram is this.

this like super cub build over the last couple of years. And it's kind of come to a head in the last like year or so, right? Of it being done and then actually like air worthy. don't even know if that's they call it. Super beautiful the way it turned out. Do you want to talk about like, how did that opportunity come up? Like you just got this fuselage and you're like, Hey, we're going to, we're going to make this sucker fly.

Pretty much. Where does that start? Pretty much summed it up, really. ⁓ My husband's the type of guy who...

He's always under the impression that he can build it better and cheaper and then it's never cheaper. It's never, and it always takes longer. He's built multiple trucks, a boat.

And then he wanted to build a super Cub. And at this point in time, he didn't even have a pilot's license. He was just going to school. He was in ground school or flight training or something like that. And I was, we didn't know how to build an, like, luckily we had such a good friend circle who was able to coach us through this. ⁓ and he is a very capable and smart individual.

where I knew he could do it, but it was one of the longest and hardest things, projects I think he's ever done. ⁓ It took...

want to say like two and a half years or something like that of a lot of hours, a lot of manpower, ⁓ us and multiple friends. And it's finally flying and in the air and he's flying it. got his pilot's license. Yeah. Yeah. He's had his pilot's license for a couple of years. And, ⁓

There was moments where he was like, what are we doing? Why don't I just buy an airplane? I'm like, well, at this point, it's we're too, we're too far in. Yeah. Like we got to see this thing through and, lots of late nights ironing an airplane. Like the things fabric, like, don't think a lot of people understand that a lot of the smaller airplanes, it's fabric on the outside. It's not like sheet metal or anything. That's why they're so light.

⁓ I have spent hours ironing an airplane. Put that on the resume. ⁓ yeah. What was it like seeing it fly for the first time? I was so scared. Yeah. Like, is it, is it going to go? Like how much can you do on the ground? You know what I mean? Like, like he did a little bit of testing on the ground, taxiing it and, ⁓ yeah, I was there for the first time it flew.

And it was nerve-racking. It was during the winter too. so the conditions just weren't that great, but like the runways were deteriorating because they kept on getting icier and icier and more snow and runways were getting smaller. the day they took it out, there was just, the winds weren't great.

And so I have a video of it, of him flying over me, which also kind of scared me. was like, I don't know if this plane flies, but it's directly over me now. It is, it's, you know, coming in my direction. ⁓ and you could tell a little bit like it being really rocky when it was taking off and like the trees were going back and forth. And I was just like, I, I hope it stays up there. ⁓ it was nerve wracking. was also extremely cool.

I think everyone was so excited that it took off, flew and landed and nothing bad happened. Yeah. In one piece. Everyone was in one piece and the plane was also doing good. Yeah. That's awesome. It had to be pretty cool for him too, to be like, especially for a long project like that, longer than probably anything, like you said, he'd ever done for it to go up and down without a hitch on its first time is like.

You're sleeping good that night. Yeah, it was, it was very exciting. ⁓

Is there any weird christening traditions with planes? You know, like with the boats, like smash. Smash a bottle of champagne or something? so. Just the fact that it went up and down in one piece is... Yeah, like that is... Yeah. Everyone is alive. Yeah. Plane's alive. It flew. I don't know if there's any weird christening or unique christening traditions for airplanes. Where have you guys taken it?

We are still working on its flight hours. So it's been just Dustin really flying. ⁓ He's taken it across the inlet and just around the mountains. For the first, ⁓ gosh, probably like 10 or 15 hours, literally just doing circles around the airport. Flight pattern over and over. You don't want to get too far away from the airport if something does happen. ⁓

And so was a lot of really boring flying, I think for the first few hours on that plane, but starting to get out, exploring the mountains and doing some beach landings. Oh really? Like what? Sweet. Yeah. You want to get that? That's why you have a Super Cub, right? Totally. Yeah.

Like the whole aviation community in Alaska is pretty, pretty cool. Pretty, I would, think it's tight knit just talking to some of the pilots that I know. ⁓ There's so much to be explored here. Like so much. I kind of hinted at it earlier that like, do you think that this is going to open up a whole new like access point? You know what I mean? Like am so excited.

It could be because you're working on getting your pilot's license. that right? So was that like a no brainer? Did you know that like, okay, we're building a plane. I'm going to learn how to fly a plane. was sort of the plan was after the plane was done, then we could focus on me being in school. Like none of it, none of it's cheap, right? Like, so there's only so much we could realistically do. Dustin got his pilot's license and then we started really working on the airplane and then I was going to get my pilot's license. ⁓

I just never told anyone that. Like I did hint like a while back that in February, I started ground school in February and I hinted to something like that a while back and everyone just thought I was pregnant. You know, I was like, so I didn't want to tell anyone. I was like, I'm just going to continue to let them think that. ⁓ And so I did start ground school and.

will be flight. I was hoping to start flight training this week, but weather has been terrible. ⁓ At least for flying. It's great for moody photography. ⁓ Visibility wise, you can't see in an airplane right now. So ⁓ at least not for VFR flight conditions. So I will be waiting. Hopefully next week will be a bit better and I can start flight training. But cool. That's exciting.

That opens up a whole ⁓ new world. So more to come for you in that regard. ⁓ You have some stuff coming up, some places that you're going to be headed to. ⁓ Kodiak. You're going on a goat hunt in Kodiak? Yep. Is it the fall? August? I think we're going to go in October. think that's what the plan was. Dustin I get to have a lot of my fun earlier in the season.

And then come August, Dustin's pretty much gone the entire time, August through September for random hunts.

That's sort of like our schedule. so then I think October, we were going to go to Kodiak, take the whole, take the kids. Nice. remember low expectations on this. I'm going to take my kids goat hunting in Kodiak. Yeah. Take the ferry over, spend a week or two, depending on if we get weathered in with the ferry or not.

Dustin and I both got, we put in for a group hunt. so hopefully him and I can both find a goat. If not, there's deer everywhere. Like I, I hope we don't come back empty handed. Like we're going to try. Chances are good, but yeah, low expectations. expectations. We are going to Kodiak for a goat hunt. in October. Cool. And then McCarthy. So you're head to McCarthy too. that for a work trip?

Kind of. Yeah, yeah, More of like a social media collaboration. Let's see. It's at the beginning of June. OK. So right when the season really starts popping off, we'll be spending it's.

Four days in McCarthy. I'm getting to do like the glacier and the mine and we're flying over there from Glen Allen and it should be an experience. for sure. One of the places you mentioned is one of my favorite places in Alaska is Talkeetna Such a weird little sleepy town like off, you know, take off the highway and you just...

drive down that spur and end up in Talkeetna. Before my wife and I had kids, we actually stayed at a hostel in Talkeetna. ⁓ And there's like a VW van that you can like, that's your bed for the night. And so we like slept there. like, we have pictures of it. That was like our first, this is before we lived here, we were just visiting. Talkeetna is one of those places that I really do, really do enjoy. The lodging, I feel like in Alaska is so unique.

Like even the houses in Alaska are so unique in comparison to like what you'd ever find in the low 48. How many places don't actually have like indoor plumbing? Yeah. You know, stuff like that. Or just the accommodations are very just unique in some way that that is very Alaskan. Just sleep in a bus somewhere. Yup. Yeah. Just a VW. Yeah, it was, it was fun. think my wife was pregnant at the time too, which makes it even.

It's funnier because you have this big old belly sleeping in this van. Super uncomfortable. Do you want to make it up North at all? any, you know, going to like Barrow or Utqiabik? ⁓ I would love to. That would be... The opportunities just haven't really, but yeah, I do want to go up there. ⁓ Even like, I've always wanted to go over to Nome for like the Iditarod. Yeah. You know, stuff like that. It's just hasn't like...

I feel like it needs to be one of those things where I just like eventually plan and like it just, like I haven't had like opportunities come up or like a real push to do it, but it has been something where it's like, I want to do that at some point in time. Even like, I feel like that itself is like a whole other form of Alaska that like most of us don't ever get to see. We see the road system or like.

slightly off the road system or South Central or Southeast. Like I feel like once you get up to like the Arctic, it's. Yeah. It's another world. It's different. Yep. When you came from Oregon, did you guys fly or did you take the Alcan? We drove. Did you drive? Yeah. Okay. Did you take any pictures of that adventure or no? Cause I mean, this was before really you were. Yeah, before like just with an old iPhone. Yeah. Okay. I have yet to do that drive.

I want to someday. I would recommend so.

I did not have an enjoyable experience whatsoever. And we were driving at the time, we had like a 95 F350, had no AC in it and it was hot. Like it gets hot in the interior. It's like 90 degrees. We have no AC. Half the roads were gravel. So you had to like leave the windows up. So it was a very hot truck ride. And...

My husband was trying to do it extremely fast. So we got it done in like four days. So there was no stopping. It wasn't like, feel, if you do the drive, I recommend having AC and stopping and actually enjoying it versus like I was trying to get photos from like a moving, moving truck. know, we were also trying to sleep in the truck, but we packed all of our like camping gear. So I didn't have like any.

We had no blankets, know, stuff like, like if you, if you want to actually drive it and do stuff like that, like just, just plan for it. I'm sure it could be fun. My experience was not fun. yeah. All right. ⁓ I did, I mentioned earlier, I did put it out to, on my social media that I was going to be meeting with you today. And so I asked people if they had any questions for you.

And I did get something from somebody I wanted to ask you. Maybe you have an answer. I'm gonna put you on the spot. gosh. It's not that. It's nothing crazy. This is from aka underscore foxtrot 232. He said, curious as to what her most surreal moment in the wild has been. Is there anything that stands out to you as you're out there in the vast wilderness that is Alaska?

⁓ like the whole camping on a glacier thing, like I would, like how many people are going to actually do that? And it was like beautiful, perfect weather and watching the sunset on like Knik and like it's going over the mountains. It's just looking very.

And it was like one of those moments where it was like, I felt so fortunate. Like I got up there because of a camera. Like I was like, this is insane. ⁓ but there's been a lot of moments where I've just been out in the middle of nowhere and it's like, Holy crap. You know? Yeah. Like this is something incredible that most people won't ever get to experience.

I'm trying to think of like one where...

There's been a lot. ⁓

Knik was definitely one of them.

There was like a moment up on, I was out of Girdwood and I guess I have gotten into goats, not sheep in the mountains with a camera. Where I was probably like, I was watching all these goats and I got up actually eye level with one and it wasn't far away. It was on like a little cliff outing and so was I elsewhere. And I was probably like 20 feet away from it.

staring like me and this goat were just hanging out, making eye contact. And I was like, I'm just hanging out right now on the top of this mountain with a goat right now. And it's just like looking, and I had my dog with me too and he did just a great job of sitting there and then like took a nap. And I was just hanging out with this, with this goat. On a random Tuesday. Yeah, on a random Tuesday. But that was one where,

No one wanted to go with me because the weather was, it was bad. It was raining. It called for maybe some snow. It was windy. Weather was moving really fast. It was just one of those like, no, I think I'm going to stay home today sort of things. And I just, oh, okay. And I randomly find myself on this mountain with this goat just hanging out. And it was, it was cool. It was a cool experience. Yeah.

Do you ever experience anything out there that you can't explain? Any like weird supernatural alien kind of stuff? I know like we're supposed to live in that like that Alaska triangles or thing. I haven't really experienced anything too weird. ⁓ yet. Yeah. Yeah. Knock on wood. Like if I ever go missing guys, hopefully it's just a bear. ⁓

There was one where like I was exploring this old mine and I swear there was ghosts out there. like I was, it was really steep. It was extremely steep terrain and I was trying to get up and over where they're, they had like a mine shaft and I was trying to get up and over cause I had seen on like a map that there was probably what looked like old settling ponds. ⁓ and I was curious to go check that out and I, in the middle of trying to hike up this, my lens cap,

came off and I saw it was rolling, like this is a very steep grade, like 45%. And I was like, shoot, I'm never going to find that again. And I was like, no, no, no. And I was watching it and then like out of nowhere it just stopped. And I was like, weird, okay. Like I've had like weird moments where things have just happened so.

perfectly like where it was like, felt like there was like a ghost that just like stopped it or something, but not anything like supernatural. Like I know. I've watched those. I think it's like Bailey's Sarian or something like they talk about like the Alaska Bermuda triangle, but the Alaska triangle, you know, it's like, I've never experienced aliens or Bigfoot that I know of yet.

Weird things have happened though at like old abandoned mines, but Yeah, don't know things were was like hard to explain but yeah Do you ever is it like therapeutic when you go out like sometimes I? Notice at least for me when I'm if I go on What I'm thinking of right now. I was training for like a long like 20

there was like 18 mile ruck march for the military and just going outside and just like no earbuds, no music, nothing. It's just you in your own head. Sometimes it can be great. And sometimes it's just like your mind is just on like on overdrive when you have no way to communicate. Do you find that like it's mostly therapeutic when you go and you're out by yourself and it's just you and nature?

I would say so. I feel like, especially like in our daily lives, there's so much going on. Like your phone, your laptop, the TV's on, kids are screaming. Like there's so much stimulation everywhere that when you are like truly out in nature and it's, it's, it's very like you're in the moment versus being dragged and pulled and

multiple different directions, you're just there and you get to listen to birds or the wind, or you get to notice the little things like flowers or things where we experience those same things in our daily lives, but there's so much more going on that you just kind of ignore that to where when you are out and like just by yourself, like those are the things where you start to notice, they become more present. ⁓

And so I would say like in a sense, like it's therapeutic, it's very recharging. ⁓

it like kind of settles you down a little bit, like grounds you. At least for me, like some people might hate the outdoors and they might think that I'm just like crazy for saying that, but. ⁓

Yeah, it is very like, grounding, I would say.

Like a lot of times in my life, I'll be looking for a direction, I have like decisions to make or stuff like that and I find direction in those quiet times, like that's where it usually hits me, is when I am like doing something that is away from people and all of a sudden it like kind of clicks like, oh, I think I probably should do this or make a decision. Have you found that? Whether in your own family life or with.

you know, the business side of photography at all. Have you ever experienced that? To a sense? Yeah. I don't want to say that I'm not out there thinking, but I get so hung up on like.

trying to think of other things. Like it is, it does clear your mind. Usually where I experience that is the drive to and from. Sounds weird. Like I should probably be focused on the road. It's kind of the anticipation of and almost the decompression of what you just went and did. Like I get my big thoughts when I'm driving. Usually to and from. Like when I'm by myself, the car's quiet or like there's emo music playing.

⁓ Usually when I'm out there though, it is very like I'm in tuned with what's going on around me. ⁓ Whether that's like listening for wildlife or just enjoying looking for compositions for photography or. Okay. Yeah. What's your advice for the mom that follows you on Instagram, loves your work, loves what you.

share with the world and she desperately wants to experience that but she hasn't yet because of the because of her job or because of her kids or because of the mom stuff that you know she's doing stuff you know taking kids to school or sports or you know doing the shopping or whatever what's your advice ⁓ to that person it doesn't have to be a mom but you know that person that's like i want to get out there but they feel like there's some

obstacle preventing them from doing it. What's your advice to them? Like you just like I don't want to say you just got to do it but that's that's the thing you have to make time for it and it doesn't have to be anything super like big like there's a lot of times where I'm just like walking around Skilak you know or walking around the beach or ⁓ I think if you start off small

then it doesn't seem to be like you're taking too much time for yourself. Although you should at some point take time for yourself, but... ⁓

I think my husband said it great the other day. He had, we were trying to figure out, I think it was like on a Sunday, either he was going to be able to go flying or I was going to be able to go out. I can't remember if it was ice fishing. It could have been ice fishing at this point. Probably was ice fishing. But we were trying to line up his schedule and his friend's schedule and my schedule and my friend's schedule and...

Sunday was gonna be the one day where it was gonna be like good and that I had available with my friend and that he had available with his friend and he was like, well, you just take it. Because sometimes you have to also be the main character. You gotta realize that you're not just like a mom or like a parent, like you're also a person. And if you wait to experience life like after kids are gone, it's just not gonna happen. You might as well just start.

and start small. It'll be okay. The laundry will be there when you get back. If there's no food in the house, there's ramen probably, you know? It's not ideal. ⁓ But it doesn't have to be perfect. There's plenty of times where I come home and my house looks like a mess. And I'm like, well, at least I had fun today.

You know, that's going to headline this episode. That's I mean, that's advice. And I think that many a parent, mom, dad, whatever ⁓ has felt that for sure. And I think that's that's solid. ⁓ Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Well, Carly, this has been fun. I enjoyed talking to you, getting a chance to kind of hear a little bit more. said you don't like being in front of the camera.

You like being behind it, but ⁓ it's been fun to be able to just hear a little bit more about you as a person. And it adds to what you do show the world, know, through your photography and things that you get to experience. You've been showing Alaska, you know, through your, from your viewpoint for what? What do we say, seven years? Yeah. long. ⁓ And I know a lot of people enjoy it. Some live.

living vicariously through your adventures. I'm glad that you gave some solid advice for the people out there that are hesitant to make the jump for themselves. And you taught us a little bit about kind of your approach and from equipment to your mindset going out there. think people will get a lot out of this for a variety of different reasons. Cool. I hope so. Yeah, I think so.

Thanks for coming out and ⁓ Carly on Kenai Carly Padrta Correct. Good job. Thanks for coming out. Thank you. Yeah. Best of luck to you with the next chapter.

Manny (1:42:47)
If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider supporting the show by joining me on social Each week I share the most thought provoking, jaw dropping, or just interesting moments from conversations just like you heard today.

I'm currently on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @thestateiaminpodcast

Engaging with me on social media by liking, sharing, reposting, and commenting what you think is a simple and cost-free way to help other Alaskans and people everywhere find these conversations.

You can also subscribe on YouTube and wherever you're listening to podcasts, whether that's Spotify, Apple, or iHeartRadio, wherever, be sure to leave a review.

These small actions really do make a huge difference.

Manny (1:43:30)
committed to growing the state I'm in by sharing thoughtful, honest conversations and voices from all across Alaska. And if you or someone you know has a story that reflects Alaska beyond the postcards, gift shops, and tourist traps, I'd love to hear from you.

Now, more than ever, I believe sharing the voices of our fellow Alaskans truly matters, and I will continue to do this work for as long as there are people willing to sit down and share meaningful conversations. Keep North Alaska, and thank you for joining me on the state I am in.