As a life-long Alaskan, my passion for photography began with the simple click of a shutter at age 6.
I pursued my love of photography with a borrowed 35mm film camera and a wet darkroom in high school. I became a yearbook photographer and was hooked. In college I continued my aspirations by working as a photo editor for the Northern Light Newspaper at University of Alaska/Anchorage before pursuing my BFA, with primary emphasis on photography, at the University of New Mexico. I have been honored to have one of my photographs selected by the Nature’s Best International Awards and displayed in a group show at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. , and included in other juried shows such as Rarefied Light, Alaska Positive, and alaskaWild. I’ve also had my work shown in numerous solo and group shows around Alaska.
As a professional photographer, I’m inspired by the challenge of creating images in diverse situations and environments whether I’m photographing skiers in the backcountry or oil workers on the North Slope.
When I am not working, you will find me enjoying Alaska’s backcountry with my camera strapped to my back.
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for my latest images.
Me on top of Peak 3.
The Adventures of Amber 
Amber, I enjoyed reading about your Katmai trip. My favorite images is the bear head in water with sunlight on its face.
Ike
Hi, Amber. I’d like to talk to you regarding one of your pictures. Please contact me at jorge.pardo(at)treenovum.es
You have a great blog, entertaining and helpful for those looking for data for trip planning. I am planning a trip up the Arrigetch in August 2013. I have seen several references to the bear trail, but no notations as to which side of the creek to be on when searching for it.
Thanks Mark!
The bear trail is on the south side (or the left hand side of the creek as you hike up valley). Down low there are tons of little animal trails, but once you start rising in elevation, one should clearly follow the creek. You might lose it here and there, but it’s definitely worth finding. Makes the hike 10x easier.
Have a great trip! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Hey Amber – cool big blog!
You and I met on that little ice skating trip in the hanging glacier of south fork this past fall. If you get a chance could you drop me an email I have a quick question for you. Thanks!
Amber, Your pictures look great. We are planning an August 13th trip to Brooks Range Arrigetch creek area for 12 days. Any info you could give would be greatly appreciated. Our drop off point is Circle Lake. From there we will head north approx. 15 miles. How easy is the terrain to backpack through? Are the mosquitoes bad? Anything you or anyone else could provide would be of great service to us. Thanks! -Rob Binkley Florida
Hi Rob,
Thanks! We found backpacking is great in that area-but find the game trails. It’ll save a lot of bushwhacking and hiking on tussocks (not fun) If you can find game trails the hiking is ten times easier. You’ll get wet feet on the way up-no way around it. We found a really cool sweet aroma to the trail on the way up. We lucked out and there had been a good freeze right before we came, so we never had an issue with mosquitos-I don’t think we ever broke out the repellant or head nets. That being said, everyone else I know that’s gone to that area said the mosquitos were horrible. August can go either way up there-we had t shirt weather and super chilly weather with a good frost. The mountains above us had recent snow on the top 100 ft or so. At that time in the summer you should find blueberries plentiful. They are small up here, but delicious! It’s an amazing trip, I highly recommend! And everyone in Bettles were so helpful and fun.
Good luck,
Amber
Hi Amber,
Can you provide some info on this area? Did you see the Arrigetch hot springs? Is there an area you would definitely suggest we see (valleys, lakes, or mountain summits)? Do you remember any waterfall locations or points of interest? We will probably set up a base camp on the Awlinyak or Unakserak creek to be centrally located and try and explore all the surrounding creeks & valleys. We plan on staying out 12 days and renting one man floats from Bettles. Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! By the way I enjoyed your photos wish there were more.
Rob
Hi Rob,
We didn’t get to the Arrigetch hot springs, and don’t remember seeing any significant water falls, although there is a nice pool along Arrigetch creek. It poured rain the whole time we were there, with the exception of the first night when it was sunny. We had planned on summiting Mt. Ariel, but again couldn’t because of the rain, slippery rocks, & cloud cover made it impossible to see above mid-mountain. We explored the valley that where Xanadu & Ariel are as much as possible given the weather, hiking over extremely slippery orange colored rocks to get a short momentary glimpse of a glacier, before the weather moved back in. The hike in & out of the peaks along Arrigetch creek was sunny both ways & gorgeous. I’ve heard of other people going over passes between Awlinyak & Arrigetch creek, and it sounds like an amazing experience if the weather cooperates. Hope you have a great trip! Sorry I don’t have anymore images from this area 😦
Amber one final question. I see where you guys had one man rafts, did you rent them in Bettles? Is it possible to raft down Arrigetch, Awlinyak, Unakserak and Kutuk creeks? In other words would you consider it a waste of time to rent rafts if we were only using them on the creeks? They would be no use to us on the Alatna since we would spend most of our time exploring the surrounding creeks and not traversing the Alatna area much for travel. Thanks so much. By the way where are you going next in your travels?
We own Alpacka rafts. I don’t think you can rent any in Bettles, but you can in Anchorage. Arrigetch creek would be sketchy for a beginner (small creek, lots of rocks & tight spots). I’ve heard of a couple of people hiking up Arrigetch creek, over the pass and floating Awlinyak-although I’m not sure of the technical difficulty of the creek I think it was Class 2/3 (but could be wrong). As for the other creeks, I’ve not done any research on them. If all goes well, I’m planning a trip this summer to Aniakchak Caldera this summer!