There are photographs that capture a memory, and then there are photographs created with the intention of capturing every possible detail. My panoramic photograph of Dawes Glacier in Alaska was definitely the latter.
Although I’m a South Florida-based photographer best known for photographing weddings, corporate events and other special events, photography has never been limited to my professional assignments. When I travel, I’m still looking at the world as a photographer—watching the light, studying composition and thinking about how I can translate what I'm seeing into an extraordinary finished image.
Dawes Glacier presented exactly that kind of opportunity.
For this image, I used my Fujifilm GFX 50S II medium-format camera with an adapter that allowed me to use my Canon 70–200mm f/2.8 lens.
But simply using a high-resolution medium-format camera wasn't enough for what I wanted to accomplish.
Rather than photographing the scene as a single frame and cropping it into a panoramic format, I photographed the glacier as three separate, carefully overlapping images. I later combined those photographs in Adobe Photoshop to create one extremely high-resolution panoramic photograph.
The purpose wasn't simply to create a wider photograph. It was to retain an extraordinary amount of information throughout the image—from the texture and blue coloration of the glacier to the enormous rock formations surrounding it.
The resulting original file contains enough detail to be reproduced at an exceptionally large scale. This is the type of photograph that could become a very large fine-art print, wall installation or potentially even a billboard-sized reproduction while retaining remarkable detail.
Creating an image like this requires more than owning an expensive camera.
Photography has always been a combination of artistic vision and technical knowledge.
Before establishing my photography business, I spent years working at one of Los Angeles' premier professional photographic labs. That experience gave me an education in image quality that has stayed with me throughout my career. I learned what separates an image that merely looks good on a screen from one capable of surviving demanding professional reproduction.
Resolution matters. Lens quality matters. Exposure matters. Color matters. Post-production matters. And understanding how all of those pieces work together matters even more.
Today, digital technology has changed the tools dramatically, but the underlying principle hasn't changed: the quality of the final photograph begins with the decisions made by the photographer.
Beyond Wedding and Event Photography
Most people who know my work know me as a South Florida wedding and event photographer. Weddings, corporate events, mitzvahs, celebrations and other assignments are an important part of what I photograph.
But they aren't the limits of my photography.
I've spent my career photographing people, places, landscapes, architecture and extraordinary scenes around the world. Whether I'm photographing a fleeting moment during a wedding or standing in front of an enormous Alaskan glacier, I'm applying the same fundamental skills: composition, anticipation, lighting, technical precision and an understanding of what the finished photograph should become.
For me, this photograph of Dawes Glacier represents both sides of photography—the artistic experience of witnessing an extraordinary landscape and the technical challenge of creating an image capable of conveying its incredible scale and detail.
And sometimes that's the reason to make a photograph in the first place.
Location: Dawes Glacier, Endicott Arm, Alaska, USA.