It's Been Awhile...

[mrod]

I ran across this old picture a few weeks ago, and thought I'd try to do something with it in PSE.

This image is one I took while working as a tour guide in Alaska while in college. There is a small town called Whittier (really small. When I was there, they had a motel connected to a bar, an apartment building, and a few houses, and that's it), which is about 50 miles outside of Anchorage. At the time, our company's cruise ships came into Whittier, and we would drive our tour buses to the town to pick up the passengers and take them back to Anchorage. The one little problem was that there was no road from the "highway" to the town. The only way to get there in our buses was to drive the bus onto a flatbed train, which took us through the mountains and into Whittier (about 8 miles). The buses were about 96 inches wide, and the train was about 103 inches wide. If you look close, you can see the rails of the train car running alongside the bus. It was great fun.

Anyway, I was sitting on my my bus, on the train one cloudy day, and happened to look in the rearview mirror. I noticed the mountain framed in the mirror and liked the way it looked, so I grabbed my old, manual-focus Minolta 35 mm, and snapped a shot. After getting the film developed, I saw I was also included in the image.

It's not the best quality picture in the world, but I've always thought it was sort of a cool look.

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=6655

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi Mike ...

Oh that is a great shot ... it rather reminds me of those train shots you see in old cowboy films. ... :)

Wendy

[mrod]

Oh, intersting thought, Wendy...I wonder what it would look like in b/w or sepia...hmm...a little experiment for tomorrow...:)

Mike

[Len]

That's a great photo. It's really interesting.

[lindajay]

The one little problem was that there was no road from the "highway" to the town. The only way to get there in our buses was to drive the bus onto a flatbed train, which took us through the mountains and into Whittier (about 8 miles).

Mike, I've been there! In the summer of 2001 we went to Whittier. We got to drive through the tunnel, which they have now opened for cars. It's really scary to go through there -- there are pull-overs where you have to go in case a train comes through! AND it cost us, if I remember right, $17 a car to go through. By the way -- still nothing more than what you were describing there. Originally Whittier was actually built as a military compound. Back in the 50s and 60s it was a ghost town. Finally they convinced a few people to come in and start using the buildings that were there. The apartment building you mention was military housing during WWII.

--Linda

[Grant]

Oh that is a very creative shot ... well done!

.

[NMarti]

That is a very creative shot - great eye for the Possible!

[kayser]

I love those kinds of pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[jo]

I wondered how you managed that little bit of a curve. Just a rearview mirror? cool!

[mrod]

Linda- Really, you've been there? Wow. Go figure. So, cars can drive through the tunnel? Interesting. Do they have a road alongside the track or something? And you're right. It is VERY dark. We used to turn out all the lights on the buses, and the passengers loved that. And, yes, you're exactly right on the history of the town--I probably learned more about Whittier than I ever thought possible that summer. :)

Grant, Nancy, Len, and others: Thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot, coming from the likes of yourselves!

Jo-Now, nothing special there. Just the rearview mirror. The only things I did in PSE was to blur and darken the area behind the mirror, & play with the levels a bit. I also added a slight warming filter, and, of courses, the frame and lettering.

Glad you liked it!

Mike

[lindajay]

Yes, Mike. It was a grossly expensive project, widening the tunnel to allow cars to go through. Most Alaskans wondered WHY? Anyway -- traffic can only go through in one direction at a time. It's an experience, to say the least, and worth the ticket at least once. Thanks for posting your unique picture and bringing back memories :)

--Linda

[billz]

Mike -

Great shot!

My wife and I were on a cruise in 1989 that ended in Whittier ... and we got on a train to ANC. The ship was the Explorer Starship of (I think) Exploration Cruise Lines.

Sound familiar??

Bill

[mrod]

Thanks Bill! And indeed it does! I worked for Holland America, but lots of differnet ships came in to Whittier, since it's a very deep-water port. That was the drill, though. Dead-head to Whittier the night before, get up REALLY early, pick up folks off the boats in the morning, take them back to Anchorage to catch flights home or trains to the Interior, and then pick up people in ANC and take them to the ship to begin their cruise to Southeast AK, then dead-head home.

Those drives home empty were my favorite times. A winding road at dusk (dusk being a relative term in the Alaskan summers) along Turnagain Arm, possibly seeing a moose, some Dall Sheep, or the occasional pod of Beluga Whales...ahhh:rolleyes:.

If I remember correctly,they stopped using Whittier during my 2nd year, and started using Seward as their port. That was a nice drive, too. Longer, though, so it made for a longer day. More hours, though. And back then, as a poor college student (as opposed to a poor middle school teacher with a family;)) the goal was to earn as much as you could.

Mike