Discover when and where to see the northern lights in Alaska, plus expert photography tips from Mary Jacquel. Learn how to photograph the aurora with confidence.
Capturing the Northern Lights: Photography Tips and Best Viewing Times
Secret Places to Visit in Juneau Alaska
This article may be especially helpful if you're docking in Juneau, Alaska for just a day and you want to make the most of your time in this vibrant capital city.
Here’s your insider's guide tailored specifically for cruise passengers—whether you're exploring on foot from the port or have transportation and a few extra hours to venture beyond downtown.
What to Pack for an Alaska Cruise: A Local’s Guide from Juneau
When people ask me what to pack for an Alaska cruise, I always smile — because as someone who lives in Juneau, I know just how wildly the weather and experiences can change from hour to hour. Whether you're photographing glaciers, exploring charming coastal towns, or spotting whales from your balcony, the right gear can make all the difference. If you want to travel Alaska prepared — and capture it beautifully — here’s your ultimate packing list straight from a local who lives it every day.
What to Do in Ketchikan in One Day: A Cruise Passenger’s Guide with Stunning Photo Spots
Make the most of your cruise stop in Ketchikan, Alaska with this one-day guide! Discover local culture, top excursions, hidden gems, and the best photo spots for capturing Alaska's natural beauty.
Ketchikan, known as Alaska’s First City and the Salmon Capital of the World, is a vibrant coastal town brimming with native culture, rich history, and breathtaking scenery. Nestled in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, it’s one of the most photogenic towns along the Inside Passage — making it a dream destination for travelers and photographers alike.
Whether you're here for a few hours or a full day, this guide will help you experience the best of Ketchikan — and bring home frame-worthy photos of your Alaska adventure.
What Locals Wish Tourists Knew Before Visiting Alaska
During the summer months especially, Alaska receives thousands of tourists. Over the years and after talking with many tourists, this article lists some of the things that locals have learned that would be helpful for future tourists. This article passes the wisdom and learnings of tourists onto the future tourist and reader.
Alaska’s Must-See Destinations: A First-Timer’s Guide
We’re all first time travelers to a destination once! I wanted to share a few items to help provide structure to areas a first time visitor may have when thinking about their trip to Alaska.
Alaska is a land of breathtaking landscapes, abundant wildlife, and rich cultural history. For first-time visitors, the state offers an incredible variety of destinations, from bustling coastal cities to remote national parks. Quite honestly, it can be overwhelming - so much to see, do, taste and experience (and in a short amount of time!).
Whether you’re arriving by Alaska cruise, plane to Alaska, or planning an Alaska road trip, here are the must-see places to add to your Alaska travel itinerary. I’ve also provided some thought-provoking itinerary planning questions for you to ponder as you plan.
Ultimate Packing List for Your Summer Alaska Vacation
Alaska is a land of breathtaking scenery, adventure, and exploration. However, the weather can be unpredictable, with temperatures shifting throughout the day and frequent rain, especially in Southeast Alaska. To make the most of your trip, here’s a comprehensive packing guide to ensure you stay comfortable and prepared.
How To Travel Around Juneau Alaska | Ground Transportation
The good news, during the summer when most visitors pile into the area, most services are functional. You can walk outside the airport and there are generally 3-4 cabs out front. IF you are one of the last people to get outside after an incoming flight, and there is a shortage of cabs, try to catch a cab driver and let them know that you’ll wait for a pick up. Most cab drivers will circle back around after their initial drop off. The good news, since Juneau is not too big (40 miles of a road system give or take), often times the drop off and return back to the airport is not too long of a wait.
6 things to do in Alaska during the Winter
Whenever I tell people I live in Juneau, Alaska full-time, one of the questions that I get is: even during the winter? I can imagine their minds are filled with images of sled dogs, sub-zero degree temperatures and ice fishing. Ironically, the winter temperatures in Juneau often do not feel as cold as the winters that I experienced in Chicago, sitting right next to Lake Michigan and the frozen breeze that rolled from the lake to on-land.
Alaska remains one of the best destinations for winter discovery, adventure and fun! While temperatures are frigid and the darkness can make the season feel long, the state boasts incredible opportunities. Here are 6 activities for you to experience during the Winter in Alaska.
The Story Behind the Moody Orca
This orca was chasing after a salmon against a rocky background ✨
📝I was so excited to see an orca breach.. a rare occurrence for me. However, when I reviewed the photo in post, I was a bit disheartened by the background.
I began to ask the questions we all mull over when something doesn’t turn out exactly the way we want: Couldn’t the orca have breached somewhere in the middle of the ocean so that its beauty would have been highlighted by a clear background? Why didn’t I have the boat at a different angle right at the exact moment it would breach? You know… all of those ridiculous questions that are rhetorical in nature 😏
I refocused on what I did love about this photo and it came down to this: the moment that the orca breached was an unexpected gift that I had been incredibly lucky to have witnessed.
So I highlighted what I loved about the moment showcasing the orcas speed with the moving water and darkening the area around the orca so that you could feel present in the moment and not distracted by the background noise.
How about you? Have you ever had a photograph not turn out exactly the way you wanted?
Love to you & hope you have an amazing week ❤️
Best Places for Landscape Photography
What are the best places for landscape photography?
You’re ready to go. You know which camera you would like to try, you have your lenses packed and you’ve researched what should be in your camera bag. But now what?! You know that you want to create a landscape photograph but your backyard seems dull and boring and you want to go somewhere exciting but you’re not sure where.
Often times, we’re limited by the amount of travel time we have or by the funds we have to get some place. In this blog post, I’ll focus on a few places within the continental USA.
Where to take landscape photographs
To be honest, you can take landscape photographs from almost anywhere. Given enough creativity, you can make even the most mundane and dull places seem Instagram worthy. However, if you get the itch to travel within the USA, below are the top 5 locations I would recommend.
Best states to shoot photographs
Alaska: An exquisite location filled with varying terrain, wildlife, and beautiful natural elements such as glaciers and wildflowers. Depending on how much time you have, consider jumping on an Alaskan cruise for a week or so. Most cruises traverse through Southeast Alaska allowing you to disembark at various cities. It’s a great way to see a lot of places in Alaska, get a few great landscape shots from the water and not worry about the travel logistics. There are also smaller boat cruises to consider if you prefer a more intimate setting.
Washington: If you are looking for a great outdoorsy landscape photograph with a lot of lush greenery, Washington state should be high on your list. No matter where you turn, you will be able to find coastline, mountains and/or a state park just waiting to be photographed. Make sure to do your research ahead of time as seasonal weather patterns can alter your travel plans.
Maine: If you’re anything like me and prefer to be by the ocean when you’re photographing landscapes, Maine is a great state to head to! Filled with wildlife and various coastal scenes, you’ll also find quite a few lighthouses. Make sure to take your tripod so you can capture the rolling waves and if you have a minute, stop by one of the boutique lobster shops that you’ll inevitably find along your way and try a ‘lobstah roll’.
Florida: If the heat doesn’t bother you, head to Florida during the summer months to catch one of the incredible sunsets (and/or sunrises) in your landscape photographs. If you’re not sure where to start out, consider heading to the Everglades or Key West. Both locations are further south and provide beautiful flora.
Hawaii: Hawaii is on my bucket list in terms of where to photograph next. The rugged, lush mountains, incredible ocean views and beautiful sunsets are among the richest in the world. If you happen to get there before me, please let me know where you recommend to photograph landscapes!
Great Places to Take Landscape Photos
As you know, there are millions of places to take incredible landscape photographs and to practice photography. Have you been somewhere special that you’d like to share with everyone? If so, please comment below and let others know of fantastic places to try photographing.
Interior Design and Wall Decor Tips from Sigrid & Co. - Part 2
What considerations should I have in mind when selecting new room décor pieces?
Fair Trade Interior Decor
Sigrid: Quite often, I see home decor stores focus on cost and large production. Big box stores and midsize retailers offer their customers a large volume of artwork and home décor at reasonable rates. I decided to take a different approach. At Sigrid & Co., we source home décor products with the underlying principle that home décor is a gateway for global connectivity and fair trade.
This means that we source our products from talented artisans from around the world and believe that by providing our partners a channel to reach buyers, we help enable a globally connected economy.
You may be wondering why we decided to focus on Fair Trade (we get this question a lot!). By implementing conscious fair-trade practices, we are holding ourselves accountable to helping the world fight against poverty, gender inequality, child labor and migration. As a company, we believe that we can do well AND do good – all at the same time.
Selecting Interior Decor Through the Lens of Fair Trade
We provide our customers the opportunity to purchase home décor that makes a difference in people’s lives. We encourage our customers to research their products and select pieces that are unique and also do some good in our world. Often times, because we source our products from global artisans, we have more unique products than big box retailers.
It also means that we help enable artisans in third world countries to make money to help pay for their own necessities such as food, housing, and education. Artwork and home décor is a language that everyone can speak. It transcends language barriers, cultural divide and borders. By supporting our artisans, you’re supporting a world of positive change with true impact, changing lives one product at a time.
NYC Interior Design - Sigrid & Co
Look out for our third and final blog post from Sigrid & Co. coming soon!
Landscape Photography in Washington
Photographing Throughout the State of Washington
Landscape Photography of Mount Rainier and Tulips
For those of you who do not follow me on Instagram, I wanted to share a few brief video clips from a recent trip to Washington. A lot of my photography work was done in the early mornings and the evenings - around sunrise and sunset. There were a few mornings and evening when I thought I would capture the perfect photograph but the clouds moved in or the rain started pouring. I wanted to share these videos with you so you could hear the quietness of nature around me and envision what I was seeing while I was crafting my artwork.
On a side note - from a travel standpoint, one week is not nearly long enough in this beautiful state! There’s so much to see, so many trails to hike and such beautiful land to soak up. I had the chance to witness beautiful tulips blooming, hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, and see Mount Rainier poking out of the clouds.
Landscape Photography of Mount Rainier and Tulips in Washington
Landscape Photography Equipment
For this landscape photography adventure, I decided to take 2 camera lenses, 1 camera body, 1 tripod and 1 camera bag. When I first started packing for this trip, I wasn’t sure if I would be taking wildlife photographs or more landscape photographs. I decided on taking just 2 lenses but these two cover a fairly wide spectrum of distances. Here they are below:
Landscape Photography Video of Gig Harbor
Quick video showing behind-the-scenes when I'm photographing the San Juan Islands from the mainland. Beautiful sunset! Check out the final piece of artwork at: https://bit.ly/2XwF5a2
Landscape Photography Video of Skagit Valley Tulip Festival at Sunrise
Quick video showing behind-the-scenes when I'm photographing tulips at the Skagit tulip festival from as the sun comes up. Check out the final piece of artwork at: https://bit.ly/2XwF5a2
Landscape Photography Video of Rattlesnake Ledge
Quick video showing behind-the-scenes when I'm photographing from the top of Rattlesnake Ledge in Washington. Check out a few pieces of my artwork at: https://bit.ly/2XwF5a2
Landscape Photography Video of Sunset at San Juan Islands
Quick video showing behind-the-scenes when I'm photographing the San Juan Islands from the mainland. Beautiful sunset! Check out the final piece of artwork at: https://bit.ly/2XwF5a2
Landsape Photographer Mary Parkhill
Mary Parkhill, Photographer
Photography Inspiration - Providing clients with more than just photographs
As a photographer, I meet quite a few incredible people. Whether I’m photographing a family session or providing artwork for someone’s home, for a moment in time I get to see into the golden hearts of my clients.
This is such an important part of the job because it reminds me that I’m providing more to my clients than just a transaction - more than just a photoshoot or more than just a photograph for their wall. It’s a reminder that I’m sharing in something greater with them: capturing family memories or shaping how someone’s living room looks for their children to make fond memories in.
A treasure chest of stories
Over the last couple of years, I have collected a treasure chest of stories and today, I’d love to share one of them with you. It’s from a photoshoot that I provided to a client while I was working in Florida.
I met my clients on the beach to take photographs of a family. The weather was fantastic, the clients were excited and throughout the shoot, we shared quite a few laughs. It was a picture perfect family photoshoot - I couldn’t have asked for better clients or better photography conditions.
After wrapping up our session and editing their photos, I reached out to the client to share their images. The client’s response took my breath away.
In addition to thanking me for my time and the photos, my client told me that she had terminal cancer. Her family had insisted on getting family photos with her but she was initially hesitant to do so because she had scars from radiation and surgeries. She thanked me for making her feel comfortable throughout her photoshoot.
It was such an incredible reminder that life is short and that we should embrace every moment of our lives, living purposefully and with positive intentions. These photographs would serve as a reminder to her family of the incredible times that they shared together while on vacation.
To my client: Thank you so much for being brave and for letting me see into your golden heart. You continue to provide me inspiration even years after we met.
Have you had a breathtaking story happen to you lately? I would love to hear about it if so. Comment below or reach out to me here.