Hey Folks,

It’s that crazy time of the year again – Iditarod 2009. The ceremonial start of the race was held this morning, downtown Anchorage, and the weather was perfect – perfect for me, not so perfect for the dogs. The dogs like it colder than I do, strangely enough – but they’re probably working harder. This photo is Lance Mackey, winner of the last 2 Iditarod races, and a favorite for this year as well. Unfortunately I’ll be in the backcountry and not following the race too closely, but I’ll try to check in and see how the race shape up. It’d be way cool if Lance makes it 3 in a row.

Cheers

Carl

hey Folks,

Here’s another from the start of the Iditarod in Anchorage, March 1, 2008. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, and here the month has flown by. I wanted to get a shot or 2 of some interaction between the dogs and heir handlers, but they were typically not in decent light. Finally got a few that I was happy with. This one, the handler knelt down to check the dog’s booties, and he got a face full of tongue for his trouble. Seconds later the starter said “Go”, and the dogs were gone!

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Well, just as I was winding down and about to go to bed, the news comes in. Lance Mackey wins the 2008 Iditarod. What an amazing achievement! He won the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod last year, and repeated both wins this year. 1100 miles down the frozen Yukon River, and virtually the same set of dogs wins the 1000 mile Iditarod. They said nobody could ever win both. He won both in 2007 and just won’ em again. Congrats Lance.

Jeff King, 4-time winner, is about an hour behind, and looks set to take 2nd place.

Cheers

Carl

PS - Here’s a Photo of Lance in the 2009 Race.

Hey Folks,

Another, possibly the last for now, from the Iditarod last weekend. The dogs can’t wait to get started, I swear its as if they count down with the starter, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and they leap into the traces. It’s amazing to me to think that the leaders are over halfway to Nome already. A few years back I was fortunate enough to spend some more time with the race, a few days out on the trail, which was a blast. Maybe one year I’ll get out to Nome for the finish. Until then, I’ll suffice with the excitement of the start of the Iditarod in Anchorage.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I know, I know, another photo from 4th street, downtown Anchorage. This was one of the later dog teams of the morning, towards the end of the teams, and they seemed mighty keen to make up for the late start. Right now they’re making their way across the frozen tundra of the Alaskan wilderness, and I bet they’re not quite pushing it as hard as they are here.

Anyway, rather than go on about the race, I want to get back to a subject I briefly mentioned the other day. Customer Service. Whilst a good rant about some lame-a** company who fails at every turn to offer reasonable support is good for the soul, it’s probably more important to throw a word out for those companies we do enjoy doing business with. For me, there are a few, and I’ll try to give a shout out to each as time goes by, but the first one I would like to mention is My Photo Pipe. The good people at this Atlanta, Georgia, store, formerly called Color Genesis, offer the best service around for prints and printing. I used to have them do my larger prints, while I did everything under 12″ x 18″ at home. After a lot of experimenting, and talking to Pete from My Photo Pipe, I figured it best to simply have them do all my prints. Their service is second to none. They’ve replaced prints for me that UPS lost, at no charge, they’ll redo any print I ask them to if it doesn’t pass my inspection (I’ve only had 1 print I’ve ever needed them to redo and it was for a very minor color adjustment), their service is always extremely prompt, personable, and helpful. The ship everything packed safely and securely so I don’t have to worry about prints being damaged. Recently I received an order for a few prints the day before I was heading to the woods for a couple of weeks. The print wasn’t paid for, but the lady assured me she would send the payment in a couple of days. I processed the images, uploaded the prints to their website and added a note, asking could they hold the order until I emailed them confirming they should go ahead with it, because I hadn’t been paid yet, but wanted to get the order online before I went in to the woods. Not a problem, they held the order what ended up being nearly 3 weeks before I got an electronic payment, and they shipped the order out on receiving an email from me. They checked in with me several times during the 3 weeks to make sure the order was still ‘on hold’.

Last year I was in Chile, and was able to sell prints via their service. I would never do this with a company whom I couldn’t trust, and didn’t have a personal relationship with. Because I’ve worked with the folks their for many years now, and because, being local to where I was living, I’d been in to their store numerous times, and worked hands on with them in getting my prints ‘just right’, I felt completely comfortable emailing them, uploading some files for printing, and knowing they’d deliver class prints to my clients. I’ve had them print images as large as 30″ x 40″ and the results are fantastic – they really do a killer job.

They’ve never let me down, and I’m so glad to have them on my side when I have to do any printing. Their prices are fantastic, and the quality of their work unsurpassed. But mostly, they’re just excellent to work with, and I really value how much trust they’ve created in our relationship over the years – I can send them a file and I know they’ll take care of it. I wish more businesses were like that.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from the Iditarod start in Anchorage on the weekend. You can see this leg is all in good fun by the costume. There’s no way that frog could make it all the way to Nome this time of year. About the same chance as my van making it to McCarthy and back.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks

Another image from yesterday’s start of the 2008 Iditarod sled dog race. With over 1000 miles ahead of them, these pups seem to be starting out pretty hard, to me.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Run little doggie, run!!!

This morning I went downtown here in Anchorage and watched a little of the start of the Iditarod. The sled dog race, known as mushing, runs from Anchorage to nome – well, pretty much. they actually do the “proper” start tomorrow, Sunday, in Wasilla, just north of Anchorage. They race all the way to Nome, over 1000 miles away. Crazy, I say.

It’s a treat to watch the dogs take-off — they’re so super-woundup, eager to run, the energy level is amazing. The din is pretty amazing down on 4th street too, with hundreds of dogs barking, howling, whining and generally causing mayhem. but once they hear “mush”, they’re all business, and off they go. Shooting photos of them as they race down main street is tons of fun.

Cheers

Carl