Robert Arrington Photography

Nome, Alaska: Last Train Home on Flickr.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold." -Robert W. Service A few miles down the Bering Sea from Nome lies a vivid memory of her Gold Rush journey boom to bust. Scattered across the Tundra is a graveyard of locomotive engines that the locals call the "Last Train to Nowhere." The trains were built from 1881 to 1886 and were retired engines from the New York Elevated rail system. They arrived in Nome by Steamer in 1903 and were intended for a railway to connect newly sprouted gold mining camps. But as the gold rush faded debts crushed the fledgling railroad and construction soon came to a halt. Today the rusted locomotives lean heavily in the tundra just a few yards from the icy Bering Sea. If you lean into the wind at just the right time you can almost hear the train's whistle cutting through the air.

The landscape surrounding Nome Alaska is littered with the wreckage of its gold rush past. 19th Century Gold Dredges lie in ruins throughout the vast arctic wilderness and tell a silent story of boom to bust. The dredges are so well preserved because they lie in a frozen state for most of the year, revealing their secrets slowly and briefly in a land forgotten by time. This photo is an HDR shot of 12 images taken in Solomon, Alaska.

This is a second image of the fishing hut on Safety Sound as the midnight sun touches the horizon. This HDR photo was taken just before midnight on Wednesday July 27, 2011. Nome is located in Northwestern Alaska and lies just below the Arctic Circle so the summer days are long and lingering and summer sunsets last for hours. The image is an HDR composite of 3 bracketed shots. Safety Sound is a little-known, accessible part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and hugs the coast of the Bering Sea.

A rustic weathered fishing hut greets the midnight sun on Safety Sound, 20 miles east of Nome, Alaska. This photo was taken at exactly 12am Midnight on Wednesday July 27, 2011. Nome is located in Northwestern Alaska and lies just below the Arctic Circle so the summer days are long and lingering and summer sunsets last for hours. The image is an HDR composite of 3 bracketed shots. Safety Sound is a little-known, accessible part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and hugs the coast of the Bering Sea.

Grove of the Giants: Redwood National Park, California March 30, 2011 by Robert Arrington This photo was taken as we walked among the giant sequoias in the Ladybird Johnson Grove. A part of the Redwoods National Park, these Sequoias have been here since before the time of Christ and are among the oldest living beings on this planet. We humans are finite creatures and nothing reveals our fragility more than these towering sentinels. "God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools." John Muir

I took this shot of a very content Alaska Brown Bear snacking on the green grass of a happy summer in South Central Alaska.

Prince William Sound Alaska: Above Surprise Glacier, by Robert Arrington Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. I am not quite sure how the glacier got its name but surprise is certainly what was felt when our boat pulled up to the ice to watch the tidewater glacier groan forward and calve icebergs the size of skyscrapers. As we were excitedly watching the drama unfolding before us we heard another sound over our heads. An alpine glacier high up on the mountain above us suddenly broke loose and a massive shelf of ice came crashing down the mountain creating a niagara falls of awesome power and beauty. The boat captain told us that seeing an alpine glacier calve is one of the rarest- and most surprising - sights of all. This is a photo of the glacier just before she broke loose. See the next few photos in my gallery for the rest!

Surprise Glacier, Alaska: White Thunder, by Robert Arrington Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. This is a highly active glacier that moves upwards of 30 feet per day in the summer, which creates a huge amount of calving. The photo above is a shot of Surprise Glacier as a massive shelf of ice broke loose and blocks of ice the size of houses came crashing down. The boat was actually 1 mile away from the glacier so perspective is difficult to see. Quite a lot of calving takes place behind the wall of the glacier and it sounds like gunshots firing or the crack of a whip. When a piece of ice crashes into the water it sounds exactly like thunder and the native Alaskans actually call it "White Thunder."

Surprise Glacier, Alaska: White Thunder II, by Robert Arrington Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. This is a highly active glacier that moves upwards of 30 feet per day in the summer, which creates a huge amount of calving. The photo above is a shot of Surprise Glacier as a massive shelf of ice broke loose and blocks of ice the size of houses came crashing down. The boat was actually 1 mile away from the glacier so perspective is difficult to see. Quite a lot of calving takes place behind the wall of the glacier and it sounds like gunshots firing or the crack of a whip. When a piece of ice crashes into the water it sounds exactly like thunder and the native Alaskans actually call it "White Thunder."

Prince William Sound, Alaska: Surprise Glacier, by Robert Arrington Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. This is a highly active glacier that moves upwards of 30 feet per day in the summer, which creates a huge amount of calving. The boat was actually 1 mile away from the glacier so perspective is difficult to see. Quite a lot of calving takes place behind the wall of the glacier and it sounds like gunshots firing or the crack of a whip. When a piece of ice crashes into the water it sounds exactly like thunder and the native Alaskans actually call it "White Thunder." It is one of the most breathtaking sights on earth.

Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. I am not quite sure how the glacier got its name but surprise is certainly what was felt when our boat pulled up to the ice to watch the tidewater glacier groan forward and calve icebergs the size of skyscrapers. As we were excitedly watching the drama unfolding before us we heard another sound over our heads. An alpine glacier high up on the mountain above us suddenly broke loose and a massive shelf of ice came crashing down the mountain creating a niagara falls of awesome power and beauty. The boat captain told us that seeing an alpine glacier calve is one of the rarest- and most surprising - sights of all.

Deep inside the heart of Alaska's Prince William Sound and tucked away inside the maze of inlets lies the Harriman Fjord. The early settlers who first explored these fjords must have been surprised when they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with the heaving blue splendor that is today known as Surprise Glacier. I am not quite sure how the glacier got its name but surprise is certainly what was felt when our boat pulled up to the ice to watch the tidewater glacier groan forward and calve icebergs the size of skyscrapers. As we were excitedly watching the drama unfolding before us we heard another sound over our heads. An alpine glacier high up on the mountain above us suddenly broke loose and a massive shelf of ice came crashing down the mountain creating a niagara falls of awesome power and beauty. The boat captain told us that seeing an alpine glacier calve is one of the rarest- and most surprising - sights of all.

Vancouver, BC: Science World, by Robert Arrington Every once in a while you get lucky with a photograph and this is one shot that reflects that luck. It was pouring with rain when I visited the Olympic Village in Vancouver to photograph the lights of the Science World dome and the waters of the bay were a muddled mess. But a few minutes later the rain stopped and the water settled just long enough to allow me to photograph this perfect calm reflection. Minutes later it started to rain again and the mirror was gone. This captures the true essence of photography - savoring life one precious moment at a time.

Vancouver, BC: Olympic Village, by Robert Arrington This photo is taken from Athlete's Way at Vancouver's Olympic Village. The neighborhood looks out out across a giant steel cable bridge and beyond that the BC Place Stadium and the Plaza of Nations. The roller coaster style steel bridge was magnificently suspended above the water it cast a perfect reflection. Another enjoyable night scene taken as an HDR using 6 images to create this final result.

You are looking at what is probably the most famous movie star on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. This is the Morton Bay Fig Tree who starred in Jurassic Park. It is the very tree whose roots circled the raptor's eggs found by Dr. Grant and the tree that the jeep fell into when the T-Rex unsuccessfully tried for an early supper. The Morton Bay Fig tree is one of three similar trees at Allerton Gardens, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Lawa'i Valley on the south shore of Kauai. Allerton Gardens is, in my opinion, one of the most breathtaking botanical gardens in the world, a fantastical stroll through a paradise of waterscapes, sculptures, fountains, palms, haliconias, ginger and a bamboo forest that you can actually "hear" growing. The gardens began as a private retreat for a Hawaiian Queen and later became a paradise for a sugar plantation magnate followed by a visionary artist and architect. Claude Monet remarked that Allerton Gardens was one of his favorite places on earth. The trouble with photographing Allerton Gardens is their "no tripods" rule which makes it difficult because most of the garden is shadowed under extensive canopies of tropical foliage. A fast lens and a high ISO are usually the key to success here (unless you have a tripod hiding in your trenchcoat as some do!). The garden also requires that tours be conducted in groups so no individual sightseeing is allowed. But if you are non-chalant about it, you can "accidentally" become separated from your group. This happened to me and I took this shot during one of those "accidental" strolls. It was only when I got home that I noticed the four stones in the foreground, giving it a really nice composition. Nice location scouting, Mr. Spielberg!

This photograph has a great deal of personal significance for me as it was taken on December 21, Winter's Solstice, the shortest day of the year. That may not be a major event if you live in the lower 48 but for Alaskans it marks the point in the year where the daylight begins to increase. I call this day the "first day of summer" and for the first few weeks we gain only a handful of seconds or minutes in a day, but by April the days are so long that at 10pm it is still twilight in Anchorage. This photo also has a symbolic significance for me, hence the title, "Journey's End." The photo symbolizes the end of a long journey across the flatirons of winter with little warmth or sunlight. For me it was the journey of going through cancer and surviving that ordeal and finding myself awakening to the "first day of the rest of my life." Many people have told me that they are drawn to this image emotionally but they are not quite sure why, but by reading this you will hopefully understand why. The journey of a cold dark night ends on winter's solstice with the rising sun gaining in power and strength. It is time to look ahead and not behind you, to move forward and not backward and to be grateful for the present moment. Remember two steps forward and one step back is still one step at a time.