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Tracy Arm is an Alaskan fjord about 45 miles south of Juneau. It is a popular all day tour destination for visitors on cruise ships stopping in Juneau on the Inside Passage. Along with the steep vertical cliffs fjords are known for, there are many waterfalls. Skilled boat captains will maneuver their vessels right alongside them for their passengers to photograph. At the end of Tracy Arm are the twin Sawyer Glaciers. They are quite impressive. If conditions are right, the water will be filled with small and medium size icebergs, the larger ones still that beautiful glacier blue.
The boat we were on had a reinforced steel hull, so the captain was able to maneuver us fairly close to the glaciers. Even so, when one of the relatively small icebergs bumped up against the boat, the impact was pretty pronounced. When the captain was as close as he could get, he cut back on the engine. The reduced vibration made photography a bit easier. Wanting to get a variety of compositions from including the bay to closeups of the glaciers themselves, I worked with my 70-200mm with a 1.4X extender attached. Because the boat drifted only a bit, I was able to capture a couple of handheld panoramas. But my favorite images were ones that included some of the water and calved ice in front of the glaciers. In this one, the large iceberg is about 100 feet from our boat.
Mendenhall Glacier is a competing attraction for visitors to Juneau, and it is a shame that cruise ships stop for only a day here. But of the two, I think Tracy Arm offers photographers a great deal more.
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