Amy Kropp Photography

Alaska outdoor photographer Amy Kropp

Welcome to my blog!

I live in Anchorage, Alaska and have lived here since 2003. I relocated here with my husband and kids from Indiana, where my husband and I grew up. Moving here was a bit of a culture shock for us, but in a very, very good way. We have immersed ourselves in the Alaskan lifestyle and now can't imagine living anywhere else.

Except maybe Indiana. But only in the winter.

The photos you see on this site represent my view, my perspective on life in Alaska. I take my camera everywhere, and try to document as much as possible of what we see and do here. My photos reflect my journalistic background (I have a degree in broadcast journalism), and could be described as a mash-up of documentary/photojournalistic/candid styles. I don't liked staged or posed photos, or overly processed photos. I like to capture life the way it is, as it's happening.

My philosophy: Real life is awesome.

Aside from taking photos of my family's adventures, I also specialize in family, children, portrait, pet and events photography.

All photos on this site were taken by me, unless otherwise noted. Please contact me if you'd like to use one (or more) of them.

Stepping up the skills on Prince William Sound

Monday, July 26, 2010 Posted in Adventure, People

I know you’ve seen this before: Michael baiting shrimp pots. But this time, he’s baiting the pots while the boat is moving. Which is easier said than done, let me tell you.

Not only does he have to put the bait into the bait bucket, but he has to keep his balance while he does it.

He’s learning, with lots of supervision, to drive the boat. Here, he’s just pretending, while the boat is anchored up.

And here, Michael and his dad discuss things. Boating things, fishing things, ocean-y things. Michael says he’d like to catch a shark. Dad says, okay, but what would we do with it once we’ve caught it? Michael says we could stuff it and hang it up in his room.

He’s learning more every time we go out. He’s stepping it up, a little bit at a time.

But I hope he doesn’t catch a shark anytime soon. Because we are definitely not stuffing it and hanging it in his room.

by Amy Kropp

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Harriman Fjord

Thursday, July 22, 2010 Posted in Alaska, Landscape

In 1899, railroad magnate Edward Harriman became exhausted, and was told by his doctor that he needed to take a long vacation. Harriman decided to arrange a trip to Alaska to hunt Kodiak bears.

Which I totally understand, because when I get exhausted, I hunt bears, too.

No, I don’t actually. I get on our boat and head out on Prince William Sound to relax and get away from my hectic, “big city” life. As it turns out, Harriman Fjord is the perfect place to anchor the boat, relax, and take in spectacular scenery.

Because bear hunting alone wasn’t enough for Harriman, he brought a team of scientists along to study the area and document the trip. They traveled from Seattle, around the coast of Alaska, to Siberia and back. The trip was called the Harriman Alaska Expedition, and members of Harriman team named this pristine area of the Sound (which was, at the time, undocumented) Harriman’s Fjord. The 8-mile glacier at the head of the Fjord was named Harriman Glacier.

The fjord is home to black bears, Sitka black tail deer, seals, otters, oyster catchers, murrelets, sandpipers, and many other shore birds. We saw many otters and a few seals the day we were there, although they were all extremely camera shy, and they dove into the water as soon as we got close.

The scenery was amazing, the weather, not so much. It was cold near the glacier, with temps hovering somewhere in the 40s. It was also cloudy and drizzly.

Harriman left the fjord to find bears on Kodiak Island. We left to get warm and to collect our crab pots before heading home. I’m hoping to go back soon, on a sunnier, less freezing day. Harriman Fjord is definitely worth seeing more than once.

by Amy Kropp

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Commercial fishing boats on Prince William Sound

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 Posted in Alaska

The commercial salmon season is underway in Prince William Sound, and I love watching (and photographing) the commercial boats. When these photos were taken, nobody was fishing – they were waiting for Fish and Game to announce the next open time (which is usually a period of 48-60 hours). We would not have been able to get so close to the boats if they had been fishing, because there would have been nets everywhere, which are difficult to see and avoid.

Some of the boats (like the Early Times, above) were there to catch fish, others (like the Polar Prince and Buccaneer, above) were there to tender. The tender boats collect the fish from the fishing boats and transport them to the processing plants, so that the fishing boats can stay on the fishing grounds. The tenders are usually crab boats – the Northwestern, the Time Bandit, the Maverick and the Lucky Lady (from the show “Deadliest Catch”) tender during the summer months. (So far, I haven’t seen any of these boats, although I’ve heard that the Northwestern tenders somewhere in Prince William Sound).

There was very little movement on the boats as we went by. Except on the Polar Prince, where one of the fishermen climbed up to fix something, and another fisherman waved to me from inside the boat.

The boat in the very bottom photo is anchored in front of the Wally H. Noerenberg Fish Hatchery, which is prime real estate while fishing is open. The salmon that were born at the hatchery return to spawn, so during the run, it’s an excellent place to lay nets.

We anchored up next to the hatchery to eat lunch, and to try to catch a few salmon ourselves. Despite the fact that there was a crazy-huge number of salmon jumping out of the water (one actually hit the side of our boat), we didn’t catch any.

I’m sure the commercial guys had better luck than we did. But then, they have giant nets, and we have poles. Also, they’re really, really good at what they do.

by Amy Kropp

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