Nature in Focus: Aerial Alaska ❄️ In the era of the drone, aerial photography from an airplane has taken a bit of a backseat, however in a place as vast as Alaska, for me it still reigns king. Ever since Alaska became our 49th state, the best way to appreciate the magnitude of the beauty contained within has been from a small plane, and it's still by far my first choice. From the ground, all sense of scale is lost, but from a plane you can start to comprehend the scale of what you are looking at, such as the image of Tustumena glacier (pictured with the rainbow), which disappears into the Harding Icefield 20 miles up canyon, or where the width of the glacier (near the rainbow) is a mile and a half across. Aerial photography also allows us to truly appreciate the interconnectedness of a place. It allows us to understand how a single glacier can shape a canyon, or feed life into a lake, or for everyone downstream, provide freshwater and recreational opportunities. It takes an extra bit o...