Hooray, I'm finally done with the Iditarod galleries.

[Blue_In_AK]

It's been chaos around here, what with my new duties as District 19 party chair, our Recall Lindsey Holmes efforts (our district's state representative who switched parties from Democrat to Republican after the election but before being sworn in, thus giving the R's a supermajority), and the complete destruction and rebuild of our living room and kitchen, replacing paneling and ceiling tiles with real drywall, which I can hear upstairs being screwed in as we speak.

But, anyway, somehow around all that I finally got these pictures together. I may have mentioned that I lost about 450 photos when transferring from card to PicturePorter. I had filled up the 40 gigs on the Picture Porter and thought I had saved those photos on one of my 8 GB cards, but when I got home they were gone. Of course, they were some of my favorite shots. But I'm probably not the first photographer that this has happened to.

So here are the photos from Anchorage and Willow, the ceremonial start and restart: http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Sports/Iditarod-XLI-The-Beginning/28889719_zCRTS3#!i=2454539925&k=PJv42Qk

And here are the ones from the finish in Nome: http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Sports/Iditarod-XLI/28886982_MDPfbP#!i=2454379561&k=QvVRPJ8

[barbtries]

1. wow you have been busy!

i'll go check these out right away. thank you for sharing them.

[barbtries]

2. ok, first question (probably not the last)

what is DeeDee Jonrowe's hat made out of?

i have to go to school now but will definitely be back for more

[Blue_In_AK]

4. That's a good question.

You sometimes see her wearing one of the dog fur hats like I have (which is made from wool/dog hair blend yarn, dog hair from groomed sled dogs), but I don't know what fur the hat is that she's wearing in these pictures. It looks pretty warm, whatever it is.

I have to just mention here, since this is a safe place, that the very first reply to my Iditarod post in the Lounge was a PETA diatribe, even though I specifically asked that comments not devolve into philosophic discussion of the pros and cons of sled dog racing. I guess some people just can't help themselves.

[hobbit709]

5. Blue, there's always at least one idiot in a crowd.

Great pictures.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Thanks, Hobbit.

I appreciate your comments. It's just annoying when I specifically asked them to keep their opinions to themselves. Not much you can do about zealots, though.

[barbtries]

7. i'm sure they can't.

i personally am quite liberal with the ignore feature, though for me it usually has to do with guns.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. They said when I was portraying animal cruelty

it wasn't my decision to make whether or not they could discuss it.

Whatever....

[barbtries]

14. i just don't see it that way,

the dogs are what the race is all about. seeing them take off all jumping and barking i could swear they're happy to be there.

[CC]

13. Just remind them that

PETA would rather kill a dog (or cat) than find new homes for them.

added link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-worthington/peta-kills-animals_b_1296370.html?just_reloaded=1

[Solly Mack]

3. Sorry you lost so many. :(

Yay! for the ones we get to see.

"Scott Janssen's enthusiastic team" <~ Love it!

So many wonderful photos!

Still looking.

Thank you, Blue!!

ETA:

Photo 98 of 227 (The Beginning) AWESOME!!!!!

[alfredo]

9. Terrific collection. Thanks for all the work. The dogs were wonderful.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Thanks, Alfredo.

The dogs ARE wonderful, and I just love them. I really, really wish I hadn't lost the photos of Mikhail Telpin's dogs at the finish line. They were amazing, absolutely the most gorgeous dogs I've ever seen. And with the golden light and blowing snow -- it was spectacular. Now that memory only lives in my head. Sad...

[alfredo]

11. What survived is so good. You really captured the spirit of the event.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I like Mikhail Telpin's dogs so much I'm going to post them here.

These are from the start of the race in Willow. The dogs' fur was so thick it felt like wool.

[justiceischeap]

15. Don't shoot me for jacking your photo but I love this one.

That's a pretty good representation of the golden hour lighting.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. No, no shooting.

I'm a pacifist and don't own a gun.

The morning sunlight out there in March is simply fantastic. I'm always kind of disoriented when we're in Nome because everything is an hour later than in Anchorage, even though the clock says it's the same time. Alaska decided some time ago to have the entire state (except maybe some of the outer Aleutians) all in one time zone, so even though the state stretches basically the distance from Florida to California there's just one time zone. So out in Nome, the sun rises in March around 10:00 or so and doesn't set until after 9:00 p.m. The time stamp on this one is 10:09 a.m. In Anchorage, the sun would be fully up at 10:09.

[Celebration]

16. Great photos!

I hope you sell a ton of them. I really, really appreciate all the hard work AND fun that you put into these. The results show it!

[ManiacJoe]

18. Well done!

I love the close-ups of the dogs.

My favorite from the "start":
http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Sports/Iditarod-XLI-The-Beginning/28889719_zCRTS3#!i=2454558273&k=4vGF69b

My favorite from the "end":
http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Sports/Iditarod-XLI/28886982_MDPfbP#!i=2454451731&k=pfztpN2

[CC]

19. By now you should know I always look forward

to these as do many FB friends. I already started sharing them there. Love the direct link on Smugmug now. I also need to start sharing them on the twitter machine. Doing my small part to spread the beauty you create worldwide.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Thank you so much, CC

I really appreciate the "exposure."