Water is my element, where I feel most at home. Kayaking is my passion, bringing out the best in me and challenging me to be better. Bringing a camera on my watery sojourns helps me share this passion in a colorful, soulful reality.
In spring 2010, with my world scaled down to an eighteen-foot sea kayak and a 1,200 mile ribbon of water known as the Inside Passage, I launched a journey of the sea and soul that took me both north to Alaska and inward, as I discovered the depths of my own strength and courage. Along the way I managed to snap over 4,000 images: magical moments captured both on and off the water. I was awestruck by the beauty and the power of the places I visited and feel honored to be able to share them here with you. Enjoy!
Susan Conrad is a writer and photographer whose tenacious exploration by sea kayak has fueled her stories and images of the natural world for decades. She’s written a memoir about her 1,200-mile solo sea kayak expedition to Alaska. Read an excerpt here. Visit her website here.
Author halfway across the Strait of Georgia
One of a dozen rusting World War II ships chained in shallow water north of Powell River, BC
Wood – stone – feather and bone – Spirit of the Ocean going to carry you home; Native saying shared on launch day
Pummeling pandemonium of Butedale Falls, BC
Repurposing in Prince Rupert, BC
Size 9 versus the big good wolf
First Nations’ longhouse at the mouth of the Koeye River, Fitz Hugh Sound, BC
Author’s first Alaska sunset
One delicious night spent in the woodshed of an unoccupied cabin 30 miles south of Wrangell
Company in the potent silence of Zimovia Strait, AK
Entering Ketchikan in style via “Creek Street”
Totem poles near Ketchikan, AK
Immersed in the art of lingering on the last few days of the journey
Looking north into Portland Canal, North America’s longest fjord
Nature’s tapestry reflected in unusually calm mirror-like conditions
Ethereal blue ice of Sumdum Glacier hangs over camp
Fog settling in over Sumdum Glacier, AK
Icebergs flaunting their beauty during the last few weeks of the expedition
The author’s hands: pruned, pale, and perpetually pickled in salt brine
Iceberg calved off from North America’s southernmost tidewater glacier
Lost in my lens
Chamellia resting while a gargantuan cruise ship heads toward Juneau
AdventuresNW
Susan Conrad is a writer and photographer whose tenacious exploration by sea kayak has fueled her stories and images of the natural world for decades. She’s written a memoir about her 1,200-mile solo sea kayak expedition to Alaska. Read an excerpt here. Visit her website here.
