Exploring Ketchikan through photography from a local’s perspective with Adam Minshall

Lifelong Ketchikanite and photographer Adam Minshall joins Jennie to share his favorite things to do and places to go in Ketchikan along with photography tips for Alaska travelers.

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

Jennie Flaming: 0:05

Are you thinking about doing a photo tour while you're in Alaska? Or are you curious about Alaska photography? Well, that's what we're talking about today. Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing flamming. My occasional co host at full time husband, Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel, and life in Alaska. Before we start the episode, we would like to thank our Patreon members for making this podcast possible. You can join them at the link in the show notes. We are so grateful for your support of independent podcasts. Enjoy the show. My guest today is Adam Minshall. Adam is a born and raised Alaskan and a photographer since high school. After a few failed attempts to leave Alaska Adam and his wife Emily purchased Ketchikan photo safari in the spring of 2023. And now take visitors out on photography adventures exploring the beautiful Tongass green forest surrounding Ketchikan. Adam, welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here.

Adam: 1:19

Thank you, Jennie. I appreciate the invitation. And I'm looking forward to today's conversation. Yeah, meet

Jennie Flaming: 1:25

you. So I'd love to start by hearing. I know I gave this away slightly into your intro. How did you get to Alaska?

Adam: 1:35

So, you know, I was born in Palmer, Alaska. My parents met in Ketchikan in the early 80s. So anyway, we lived at Palmer for a while, and then we moved to Albany, Oregon, or my dad's grandmother had a family farm. We lived there for about four years and decided that farming wasn't for us. So we moved back to Ketchikan when I was 10. So I've been here for 30 years now. Yep, I grew up my dad was an avid fly fisherman. So steelhead fishing was a big part of our growing up. And if you've watched the movie, A River Runs Through It. That was kind of my brother and I as the show growing up was on foreign fishing. And so my mom, so my mom was my dad's nurse. That's how they got to know each other. We grew up here. My first job was working at showers photo, which was Kodak's oldest operating customer when they closed in 2008. Wow. Yeah. So it was it's been a great. It's been a great existence, I guess. When you think about like, what people will kind of do when they grow up in southeast Alaska, you know, commercial fish. My first you know, as I mentioned, my first job was we're gonna showers photos. So I kind of grew up in tourism already. You know, photography was great selling cameras and lenses. I can remember when digital first started coming onto the scene. Yeah. And then, you know, kind of go from there.

Jennie Flaming: 3:05

Awesome. So I'd love to know. Yeah. So you talked a little bit about how you got started in photography. So you said the plate, the store that you worked at in Ketchikan was Kodak's oldest store when it when it finally closed in 2008? Is that right? Well, maybe that's what it was. Yeah. Wow. That's really cool. Yeah. So we're in 2008. I'm just curious. Were you still processing film? Or were you printing digital photos more? Or like, how were people still buying? When did people kind of stop buying film? So

Adam: 3:45

you know, showers was kind of subjected to, you know, the kind of the dyeing of Main Street, I guess, when Walmart moved in? Yeah. So we were, we were processing film. I know, I was cool. I got to learn how to start doing that. When I was about 16. I kind of did it off and on. But you know what, we're also process film. And, you know, a lot of our customers transition to that. I can remember one day like, they broke down for a week, and just the remembering the revenue that kind of came back to the store was enough to get us back to kind of the winner again. Yeah. Just kind of waned from there. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 4:25

Yeah. And I know there are still I mean, my husband Jay is still does some film photography, but it's definitely like a small, very small, niche kind of thing now.

Adam: 4:37

Yeah, one of our guides, he still shoots film. And obviously the biggest challenge is you take your photos and you have to find someone to develop them and then you get it back and hopefully you took notes on what you're shooting and how you shot it otherwise, because you don't have that instant gratification. Yeah, digital could be lost in the weeds.

Jennie Flaming: 4:58

Yeah, for sure. So photography tours are such a kind of unique way to experience a place when traveling. So tell me a little bit about kind of why you wanted to get into photography guiding and how you've seen that help your, your clients and guests experience Ketchikan.

Adam: 5:23

So the reason why I wanted to get into photography guiding and specifically kind of buying this business, you know, as you know, like, everything is always changing like settings, you know, there could be rain, fog, whatever it may be. For me, I don't like doing kind of the same thing every day. I like a challenge of finding some new and unique stuff. Yeah. So it's a great way for folks that have to come in on a cruise ship that didn't do any research to see a lot of little things and a small amount of time and then get back to the ship, or for those folks that are really into specific, you know, maybe landscape or ocean scapes or whatever it may be, you know, they communicate that with the guide. And, you know, that's kind of what you focus on and kind of go from there. So it's a great way for a person that maybe research or didn't research to kind of get the best of both worlds. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 6:13

for sure. And, you know, one of the things that a lot of my clients are people who listen to the podcast, or people who read my website often ask is like, how to get away from crowds and like, especially on a busy cruise ship day in Ketchikan, you know, it can be pretty bunny. So I imagine that like going on one of your tours is a good way to get kind of a small group super local experience, in addition to just the photography that does that, how big like how big are your groups for years?

Adam: 6:49

So we operate six? Ford f150 transit vans, so it's a driver and no more than nine people. Yeah, so that's what it is. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 7:01

Yeah. Cool. Love it. Okay. Yep. So let's talk a little bit about photography in Alaska. And of course, like, Alaska is a vast place and like Ketchikan and the Arctic are completely different. But what are some of the things that are particularly challenging about photography in southeast Alaska?

Adam: 7:24

So, you know, for Ketchikan? You know, if you kind of look at the map and the geography like Ketchikan is still, you know, more Canada ish, I guess, versus like, once you get north of Petersburg, you start getting into huge, like peak mountain tops of Sitka. You know that, you know, you're right on the bottom of the mountain. So Ketchikan, especially if you're first getting into it, and you kind of have this grandiose version of what you think Alaska shouldn't be, sometimes almost doesn't live up to that standard. So the challenge, you know, especially if you get a person who really wants to big landscapes is, you know, there's only a couple spots that's not cluttered with like power lines, or like islands or just right, or, you know, if the channel our channel is really long without a lot of big mountains or anything. Yeah. So if that's if you're not into the ocean, and whatever, like it's kind of challenged to build that grandiose photo. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 8:24

Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, that kind of leads into my next question, which was what are your favorite photography subjects in Ketchikan?

Adam: 8:37

So I'm, you know, I'm a sucker for a boat. So I like escapes, the harbor is a great place to go. One of my favorite places to take people is kind of, you know, it's still kind of downtown, but at some of the last kind of old boardwalk where it still wouldn't planking? Yeah, there's buildings with some false fronts on it. And then you have the harbor so they're, you know, some bright black and white photos. And sometimes you get some seals in there. So that that for me like I'm a big fan of the ocean, and boats, huh?

Jennie Flaming: 9:12

What Are there any other things that you want to talk about? For folks, specifically about photography in Ketchikan before we move on to some other things?

Adam: 9:24

Yeah, so I think you know, especially for I always tell those people especially as they're heading north, like Alaska is very fast. It's very easy to kind of get the deer in the headlights look where you're just like, Oh, it's so amazing. A lot of people forget to look small. So, you know, as a fly fisherman, I have to think you know, tread lightly because there's so much the you know, you maybe bump into like the forget Lena or state flower is very small. So a lot of people may miss that experience because they're just continuously looking for like the eagle or the whale, you know, whatever it may be. There's a A lot of small intimate things that get maybe a little bit overlooked.

Jennie Flaming: 10:04

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's one of the really wonderful things. I think about focusing on photography when you're especially outside because it kind of helps you slow down and notice things that you might miss otherwise. Yeah, yeah. And

Adam: 10:25

another great thing that helps you kind of slow down is the rain. So what are we going to see when it's pouring four inches today? Well, you know, there's a lot of little waterfalls that you'll see or like it kind of slow motion stuff for the flowers haven't been like, trampled to death. You know, like foxgloves are always cool. Or, you know, like said, The Forget me not. So there's a lot of, there's a lot that you could do in the rain.

Jennie Flaming: 10:50

Yeah, you know, that's also something I wanted to ask you about Adam, since you live in a legendary rainy place. And I know sometimes travelers are like, stressed out about if it's gonna be raining, and it's raining a lot, right? So what are what are some, like piece of advice you have for folks about kind of embracing a rainy day, anywhere in Alaska, but especially in Ketchikan.

Adam: 11:19

Just that embrace the rain, like no matter what kind of gear you're gonna buy, as far as trying to stay dry, you're probably gonna get wet, if you're actually out there, enjoying where you're at? Because, you know, I think a lot of people could let the rain kind of hold them back. But sometimes some of your best adventures kind of comes from the rain and just, especially if you get a good group, you know, not everyone knows everyone, you build that camaraderie. Yeah. And then, you know, it's kind of like we did this together. The rain band a little bit more fun. Sometimes it kind of, you know, a running joke, or whatever it may be. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 11:56

Yes, totally. And you know, it's funny, you were talking about foxglove flowers. And I think that they are one of the prettiest flowers in the rain, because of the way those like water droplets kind of hang on them. I don't I don't know how to explain it. But it's like, it's so beautiful. And they get this really cool, like little reflection in the water droplets. I don't know. I just think they're really pretty. I

Adam: 12:24

completely agree. It's like this little kind of upside down bell. And if you imagine like that one water droplet maybe being within what used to be the rigor inside or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 12:36

What what months are best for flowers in Ketchikan?

Adam: 12:41

Mmm hmm. That's a good question. I would think. You know, I was honestly everything really starts to pop out mid June. Yeah, July. Yeah. But because we don't have a huge temperature influx or flux or whatever it may be. You know, we had it foxgloves all the way up through, personally to October. Oh, that's awesome. It was great. Especially, you know, we have one of the total ballparks that we go to like it has a lot of Fox loves in the area. But aside from that kind of everything else at that point is kind of dying off. So if you're here to see like, fireweed, like, the mid June through kind of middle of August. Yeah, it's a good time to see that. You know, your Forgive me Nasir kind of in the same era. Yeah. And then, you know, obviously, if you get higher elevation, your windows a little bit more limited at that point, too.

Jennie Flaming: 13:36

Yeah. Yep. That makes sense. Cool. Okay, so Adam, what is something that you wish visitors knew before they got to Ketchikan?

Adam: 13:47

Um, so that's a great question. I think what's important for what I would hope that a lot of people would maybe understand or whatever is, people that live in Alaska, love to share Alaska, and people that are taking you know, especially smaller tours. They, you know, they want the Small tour vibe, because it's a small business. Yeah. So everyone's getting prepared. Maybe in the wintertime, you know, I'm, I'm one of these people that when I'm thinking about going to San Diego, I've started booking stuff in August. Yeah. So be patient. If someone doesn't get back to you in like a week or two, because they may be, you know, the boat with no internet connection or whatever it may be. And they're the only person running the background because everyone comes in April. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 14:35

Yep. That's really, really good advice. Yeah, you're and I think sometimes people miss that, especially if they're traveling on a cruise because they know the cruise line is a big, you know, International Corporation. But a lot of the people operating tours, like you said, are super tiny businesses like yours. Yeah,

Adam: 14:59

yeah. Yeah, so And yes, I was, I was good, you know, kind of few things this morning, I kind of ran into that. I went to Bandon, Oregon for a few weeks to help my father with some stuff. Yeah, it wasn't, you know, as tentative as I probably could have been, even though I had the internet, but there was still like some family stuff to help out with. Yep. Get caught up like yesterday today. It was like, oh, there's something I missed. Yeah, just just be patient. Like, everyone cares deeply about making sure everything's good. Yeah. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 15:31

that's really good advice. Okay, we're gonna take a short break. And when we come back, we're gonna talk with Adam a bit more about Ketchikan specifically, so we'll be right back. Hi, everyone. Jennie here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. I wanted to take a moment to share a few ways I can help you make your dream Alaska trip happen beyond the podcast. First of all, if you're traveling in 2024, don't miss out on getting the Alaska 2024 stickers we have in our shop designed by Jay. They're super unique and beautiful. If you're planning a trip in the future, there are lots of other ways I can help as well. For starters, you can take my free quiz to give you the best Alaska itinerary for your travel style. Second, I've got done for you itineraries as well as digital planners for your trip, including specific ones for cruising for driving to Alaska, and any other kind of Alaska trip you can imagine. My planners will help you make it a reality. Finally, if you want some personalized travel advice from me, I offer 30 minute planning sessions on Zoom. Dates are limited during the summer since I'm on the road quite a bit, but there are still some dates available. In the fall, I will again offer custom itinerary planning and cruise bookings for the 2025 season, as well as Alaska winter trips. I'd love to work with you to make your dream trip happen to Alaska, and I hope I get to meet you links for all of these different ways I can help art in the show notes below below our patreon link. Now back to the show. And we're back with Adam Minshall from Ketchikan, photo Safaris in Ketchikan. So Adam, before we get into like a few of our wrap up questions about Ketchikan I would love to know so for your for Ketchikan, photo safaris, do people book do you sell your tours on the ships? Or on the dock? Do people need to book like, how far ahead? Are you booked up? or can people just kind of show up on the dock and find you with your clipboard? Um, what are the kinds of different ways people can do that if they want to go out with you guys.

Adam: 17:57

So we have the biggest six sales agreements with the cruise ships, so Princess, Holland America, celebrity Royal Caribbean Disney World with canards of the Queen Elizabeth. Atia match Kelly, brown American cruise lines, so they offer an opportunity for us. So those are service agreements on the ships. And then we also work with about six or seven online vendors like Viator, get your guide. Through this group, we have our own website that you can book through. And then kind of I was fortunate enough to, you know, reach out and a friend of mine recommended using fair harbor to kind of integrate all that together. Yeah. What's great about fair harbor is you can you know, once you have that all set up that manages kind of your calendar. So, you know, I already have a booking for next year already. So you can play in kind of as far as you want. Yeah. Or, generally, you know, for me, it's important to make sure the guides are have a really nice kind of set out schedule, but they don't have to worry about kind of last minute bookings. So don't take bookings later than you know, you can only book no earlier than 24 hours or No, however that works. You can't book within 24 hours. Yeah, that makes sense. Because I want everyone to have their schedule for the day that have to worry about like, hey, so let's say it was on the dock and they sold five and maybe only have room for four. So good. For me, like I want everyone to be happy. Yeah. When it's really important, happy. Yeah, everyone, you know, so that's my goal.

Jennie Flaming: 19:36

Got it. Okay, so it sounds like by the way, I will just mention for those of you listening that many small businesses in Alaska and across the world, use fare harbor they they are really great with small tour companies. Um, so that is, that is very cool. Um, so it sounds like basically People can book with you can you know if they want to book through the ship, they can do that if they want to book on their own, and they like to use get your guide or via tour, they can do that, or they can go straight to your website. Okay, cool. And I'll put that in the show notes. So if you're wanting to book through that, you can do that from the show notes sweep. So a piece of advice that I would give everybody for every tour in Alaska, is if it's something you want to do book it ahead of time, so that the guides know what they're doing, you know what you're doing, and you're not disappointed?

Adam: 20:34

Yeah. Because there are vendors on the docks that, you know, they paid handsomely for their dock space. And that's their gig like they still for walkup tours. And that's great for them. And like that's their business model and works for me. That's, that's good. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 20:53

And every, every port has kind of a different arrangement around that. Yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. Awesome. All right. So Adam, a few things that I always ask people towards the end of the episode about their place. So for you catch a Qian. So what is your favorite month in Ketchikan?

Adam: 21:18

So I don't know if it's fair, but I have to February is one of my favorite months, because you get you get this tremendous stretch, a really cold and clear weather. Awesome. So when you're out on the water, or if there's no snow on the road, or whatever, there's like you get this glimpse where it almost looks like it's summertime. It's just so yes. Yeah. So it's easy to get out and kind of do some stuff like as long as you don't have like a fuel issue because it's, you know, old enough that there's that that's a problem. It's a really fun time to enjoy Ketchikan, Alaska. Looks just like it would be summertime and then my second would be kind of made just because like now you're into summertime, you get those really nice clear days. And I get excited because the fishermen are showing up the cruise ships are showing up like all these people are excited to be in town. And the weather is fantastic. So those those are kind of my two plans. Love

Jennie Flaming: 22:20

it. I'm gonna just add for those of you listening, if you can, if you're doing an Alaska cruise, and you can do it in May. It is fantastic. Like that is like less rainy weather in southeast Alaska than later in the summer. But the fares are less expensive people aren't burned out yet. It's pretty awesome. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Cool. Yeah.

Adam: 22:48

One of my favorite kind of experiences. So I hadn't really been involved in Buddhism since kind of when I left high school, I came back I had my 100 ton license when I was 25. So I ran a little I've worked with for last excursions running the tour. But I didn't really have a lot of experience on the on the dock. So this year on the dock come on almost every single day, seeing the excitement, and then kind of like a rags to riches for like the college students where they showed up and some of their older clothes. And then you can see where they have some money. So they had some new clothes, by the way. And then like second week of September, where you saw everyone kind of hit the wall and it was burnt out. And it's like wow, we have three more weeks of rain and let's just rent this out.

Jennie Flaming: 23:32

Yeah, that's so true. I remember in when I lived in Skagway, it was like like the September dock scene was it was hard. It was

Unknown: 23:44

yes. And

Jennie Flaming: 23:45

Skagway is so windy like it isn't as wet as Ketchikan, it's still very wet. It's slightly less wet than Ketchikan, but that winds like with the September temperatures just like really like I just remember going like getting everybody off on their tours and then going back and putting like everything I was wearing in the dryer

Adam: 24:08

I guess the only the only the only difference maybe or advantage of a September dock worker versus may in like September their battle hardened and they know where everything is to get you where you need to be. may still like roses and sunshine and like I think it's over there and

Jennie Flaming: 24:29

a little less competence but more excitement in May. Yeah. Whereas in September, everybody knows what they're doing, but they might be feeling a little sad.

Unknown: 24:39

Yes, exactly. Oh,

Jennie Flaming: 24:41

we're just tired. It's really. Oh, okay, Adam, what's your favorite restaurant in Ketchikan?

Adam: 24:48

Hello, man. It was up until recently it was Garcia's galley. It was a little kind of side of the road place where you could get some Mexican food and they did like five things and it didn't really well. For me, like, I don't like restaurants where they have 100 different things and it's kind of generic. Right so Garcia's was great. I think they're gonna operate again in the summer. But a great backup if you're looking for a nice kind of sit down, please for the great view. Kate Fox is next because I'm hoping they'll have the tram operating this year. You go up the hillside. Yeah, you can, you know, there's kind of a little bit of everything for everyone as far as like affordable versus like, I'm gonna get a bucket and king crab.

Jennie Flaming: 25:36

Yeah. Could kind of run the whole the whole thing. Yeah, cool.

Unknown: 25:42

Sweet. Okay.

Jennie Flaming: 25:45

Last but not least, what's your favorite thing to do in Ketchikan? Oh,

Adam: 25:51

so I tell this to everyone. As I mentioned earlier, there's a boat that we like to shoot, it's kind of old broken down, whatever. So anything boat related, I would say that I have a bit of a boat problem. I've got you know kayaks, canoe, I've got a 16 foot skiff, I have a 24 foot Bay liner that sank that I like floated it and repowered it with an outboard and then wow, that's amazing. It was a fun project. And then recently, my wife and I just bought a 42 foot trawler kind of liveaboard. So it's got a state room, front state room and the aft and then kind of the middle section. So you know, the wheel and the galley. And we're slowly kind of restoring that. I've got kind of a big project coming up after the season where maybe I'll take it up to wrangle get the kind of the engine finally like dialed in. I might put a new mast on it. So yeah, anything related to a boat on there?

Jennie Flaming: 26:52

Yes, love it, then you are literally living in the perfect place before. Obsessed. And I love that you have boats of all sizes from the like, tiny human powered craft up to the liveaboard. That's awesome.

Adam: 27:08

When Emily asked me like, What is the perfect boat? It's the definition to me is a boat that you put in put all your other boats on?

Jennie Flaming: 27:15

Yes, yes. I love that. That is a great definition. Okay, one more thing I want to ask you, Adam, that about fishing because I know you've done commercial fishing and fishing as a guide. Ketchikan is obviously a great place for fishing also, um, do you have any advice for people who who want to do fishing and catch up on what like type of fishing trip would you recommend? Well,

Adam: 27:42

I mean, it really does start with like, what kind of fishing are you really getting into? Because the great thing about catch Ken is you are 20 minutes from everything. So if you're into trout fishing, you know you can charter and you can charter and playing like sea wind aviation was the academy, they will take you, you know, there's orchard Lake, where I caught a tremendous cutthroat. If you're into salmon fishing, you know, depending on even the species of what you're into. That's all extremely close out fishing. So just you know, narrow it down to kind of what kind of fishing you're into, and then research that and then go from there.

Jennie Flaming: 28:21

Yeah, that's really good advice. And I'm just going to take this opportunity to tell you if you're listening, and you're going to Alaska and you're into fishing, you got to try halibut fishing, it's so fun. It's my Yeah, yeah. It's like a very industrial like heart like, not industrial but like you are working to collect food and health but it

Adam: 28:48

really Yeah, it's you feel accomplished by the time you're all said and done. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 28:55

Yeah, yes. Yes, exactly. Well, Adam, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing about Ketchikan sharing about photography. And thank you so much for being here. Ya

Adam: 29:08

know, thanks for the opportunity, and I hope maybe we get to do it again sometime. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 29:14

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Adam. We love bringing new stories and insider knowledge for interesting Alaskans who are excited to share their place with you. That's what keeps us going here at Alaska uncovered. Before you go please consider Subscribing to our Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Thank you for listening and for your support.