Freedom

A friend of mine owns a cabin on Lost Lake, located on other side of Knik Arm from Anchorage. It takes 90 minutes to drive there, but only four minutes to fly. One summer afternoon, we’d planned to meet with our aircraft to take photos of his cabin against the sunset. But when I looked at the weather cams, I saw clouds had started moving in. So I raced to the hangar to get the helicopter while he raced to Lake Hood to get his floatplane. By the time we were airborne, the clouds had obscured the horizon, and I was disappointed. But after we landed, I realized the clouds were bathing the lake in a special light. I took off first and positioned the helicopter above and behind him with safe aerial separation. He fired his single-engine plane and hydroplaned across the lake. As he gained speed and slowly got on step, the floats plowed through the water, slicing the glassy surface. The white streak of his wake and the splatter of his spray—captured seconds before he rose into the air—transformed the scene for me. I knew it was the element that made the photo. This image visually expresses what it feels like to fly in Alaska.