Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Paradise Bend, Chignik River, Alaska Peninsula, May 17, 2019
May and June of 2019 became somewhat of a turning point both in terms of photography and our relationship with the Chignik. The school at Chignik Lake had failed to meet the state’s requirement for a minimum enrollment of 10 students from kindergarten through grade 12 and was therefore to be closed at the end of May. Barbra was reassigned to the school at Newhalen, 278 miles Northeast up the peninsula, above where the ball of the hip joint might be, on the mainland. We were heartbroken about the move. Artistically, I felt as though I was just beginning to figure out my relationship with the river. Emotionally, we were both deeply attached to the people and the landscape at The Lake.
With the move scheduled for late June (we flew ourselves and everything we owned out on a small plane chartered for us by the school district), I was doing my best to take advantage of good days… good light… and reimagining what our experience at The Lake had meant… what the essence of it had been. And so I began breaking away from strictly representational documentary, looking for images that captured not merely what things looked like, but how we would remember them. JD
CutterLight 
I had wondered why you no longer lived near Chignik Lake and its glorious biodiversity.Thanks for explaining.If I was a millionaire I would have paid you to stay.Peace.
Good Morning, Bruce. The story is a bit more complex. Chignik Lake School reopened the following school year. So at the end of the 2019-2020 school year at Newhalen, we returned to The Lake. For the next three years, till the spring of 2023, Barbra was head teacher. The year away was good for us… perspective-shifting in the best possible way. I resumed photography and writing projects. Then, one evening in February 2023, over our usual game of Scrabble, one of us looked up and said, “I’m ready to go.” The other replied, “Yeah. It’s been a good life here, but I think I’m ready, too.” We still had mixed feelings about leaving… there was an unlimited amount of work out there… I still want to go back and get more photographs and also to record soundscapes. We have friends there… but it was time to go. For one thing, I had to get away from the field work and begin putting together the stories. They were amazing, fulfilling years. But it’s been good to reconnect with the broader world.
I understand.As far as soundscapes go you probably know about Bernie Krause and his work in field recordings over the decades.He was one half of the duo Beaver and Krause in the good old 70’s and were pioneers of Bob Moogs synthesizers.Check out Ghandarva and especially All Good Men which is actually my top 5 albums of all time over 50 years of collecting vinyl and cd’s.A sonic headtrip through Native America and the Universe.Peace