About Kevin McCarthy.................

     I always liked electronics.  CB sets, amateur radio, building projects from Popular Electronics are things I remember as a teen.  After 26 years with the US Coast Guard doing industrial electronics - working with new technology is still fun.  The Coast Guard electronics school on Governor’s Island in New York City had a well equipped dark room where I learned all my early photo lessons in 35mm.  New York City was a great photo opportunity.

     Photography is a passive activity – you literally watch somebody doing something you are not a part of.  I had a 36 foot sloop built in the 1940’s I sailed all around New England, always a member of 2-3 pistol teams, scuba diver with lots of open ocean experience diving from Newfoundland to Puerto Rico and 10+ years as an Advanced EMT in Alaska .. I’m not passive.  I don’t live, breath, and eat photography – I have a life.

     When you are in the military, moving every 3-4 years - finding an apartment that sported a bathroom with no window and no window facing the bathroom door was a constant challenge.  Such was the life of a photographer and the portable darkroom.  Like a vampire selecting a proper home.  In 1982 I was stationed on St Paul Island in the middle of the Alaskan Phriblof Islands – they had a wonderful darkroom at the LORAN station – just not much to take photos of on a treeless island. 

    From the 1980’s to 2000 I swapped working with video and 35mm.  My first exposure to an auto focus lens was a disaster and I stuck it out with my old trusty 35mm Fujica STX-1n until it passed away while taking shots at the 2002 Ice Carving Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska.  I adopted the Canon ElanIIe and took a shine to the all the quick attaching EF lenses.  Although shooting in 35mm I found myself relying more and more on the CD disk that came with the negatives.  At first, the scans were 400kb in size and worked out just fine for me – but – in just a few months all the local developers started giving 100kb or less, and, these scans frequently had noise issues and required re-scanning.  I had to move to digital.

     In 2002 I adopted the Canon 10D as my main camera with the ElanIIe backup.  I had a 512mb CF card, shot using the large .jpg format, and learned to constantly carry a laptop to download into.  This camera having the higher extended ISO was a natural for capturing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and I was out in the dark the first available night.  Years later prints from that very first night are my best sellers – I used all my 35mm knowledge and experience taking them as a film photographer would expecting the roll to end at 36.

     From 2002 to 2004 I spent summers capturing images of Alaska and winters working with Ice Art and Auroras.

     Spring 2004 I had orthogantic surgery for sleep apnea – this is where they break the upper jaw, lower jaw and move it all forward so you don’t snore like a derailed freight train and die in your sleep.  The surgery went well, but, I developed an unexpected post surgical infection called Guillian Barre Syndrome – French Polio – the body’s white blood cells pick on the nerve linings disrupting nerve communications.  Much like wasted deer syndrome only for people.  Within a few days I was confined to wheel chair – and flown down to Seattle for advanced treatment.  Nobody knows what causes GBS, it used to be fatal or a person stuck in an iron lung for 3-6 months, nowadays most people recover 95-98% percent in a few years.

     Wheelchair – not much fun.  Lasted less than 4 weeks.  I was up and walking with a cane before the paperwork could be processed for my wheelchair physical therapy.  I shed the cane a few weeks after that, back to work in 2.5 months and working full time again in 5 months.  My recovery was ‘out of the envelope’ - doctors credited my previous training as an Olympic Class shooter and active lifestyle for the quick response to therapy.  It helps that I have wonderful and supportive people at work – and the doctors and staff at FT Wainwright Bassett Army Hospital are top notch.  My fingers and toes still feel the electric twinge from the GBS – probably be that way for a long time – and I gotta be careful in the cold.. But I’m  B A C K!!!!

     Summer 2004 I entered photos in the local Alaskan State Fair.  I had a chance to visit Las Vegas for a few days – spent them in the Valley of Fire National Park 70 miles north of Vegas in 112F temperatures in July.  Talk about a climate change from Alaska to desert!   I came home happily to ribbons from the fair and submitted a letter with ideas and new ways to promote photography at the fair.  Six months later I was asked to take over the fair’s photography department.  My wife used to run the Photography Division at the huge Evergreen State Fair in Washington several years – so we had a good idea of what we were getting into.  (Having a live in photo critics got it’s up and down sides!)   This has been allot of work, but, it’s very rewarding seeing people push their skills and especially the photos Junior Class exhibitors are doing with their new digital cameras and dad’s computer.  This Photography Division is now ‘up to speed’ with the latest technology and includes categories and lots never seen in any other state fair.  It takes more work to do this – but – it’s worth it. 

    2004 to 2006 I invested in some really high quality Canon EF lenses suitable to capturing the best of Alaska and upgraded to the 8.2mp Canon 30D.  I still spend allot of time doing Ice Art photography – but – mostly it’s photos of the Aurora I like best in winter.  I keep putting in for the McNeil River drawing permits to photography the brown bears.  Although I lived on Kodiak Island for 6 years – I only have a handful of good brown bear shots - those bears were a ‘tough go’ to get a good picture of the facing directly at you.  Unfortunately, if they were looking straight at you – they were looking at you like a 7 year old looks at a Big Mac.

     http://www.northpolegallery.com/ has been a real help in sharing my photographs and knowledge.  It’s the unofficial web site for the Tanana Valley State Fair and a visit to the ‘News Section’ each June/July is sure to be full of the Photography Division rules, hints, and tricks.  I didn’t name it Kevin’s Photography because it’s my hope to display the works of other Alaskan photographers here in the future.  Hence the gallery name.  Ribbons and awards are great, but, the best recognition a photographer can receive is someone buying their work and enjoying it day in, and, day out.

     I receive email me at Kevin@northpolegallery.com and the below address.  And yes, I really do live in North Pole, Alaska.  If you send me your stamped, addressed, and sealed Christmas cards in a large envelope the last week of November I will see they receive the special North Pole, Alaska Christmas hand cancellation.  It’s something our local post office does and is a real hoot!

Kevin McCarthy

PO Box 56185

North Pole, Alaska 99705