Cold.

According to Gas Well Test Specialist and photographer Jason Lucas, the best part of the slope is the food.

"The work hours are long, hard, and exhausting...but the food is good. If I had to choose between a platform in the Inlet or the Slope - the Slope wins everytime."

Naturally, I am willing to bet that Jason would prefer his off-time, skiing in the backcountry of the Chugach Mountains.



Either way, we appreciate all the hard working individuals that are employed in the oil fields, and the fact that Big Oil provides so many Alaskans with jobs. Even with today's falling production, Alaska's future looks bright with the arrival of a gas pipeline and the continuance of providing America with energy for the future. Here is a recent collection of images regarding the industrious employees of Alaska's Oil and Gas Fields.

As a digital stock photography librarian, I have the unique opportunity to review thousands upon thousands of new images as they are submitted from photographers all over the world. Sadly, there are times when it is as if I have been all over the state of Alaska without ever leaving my desk :(

That is why it is such a great relief to have a portfolio of work that is both strong and refreshing to review - such as the most recent work from Wayde Carroll. Wayde had spent the summer shooting imagery across the state, and even made it to some more remote destinations - Togiak, Wrangell, and Petersburg to name a few. The images that he brought back from these locations really gave a sense of place and environment. I encourage you to have a look at a few selects from his latest submission here.

Today's requests included a trip into yesteryear, in which we provided an agency with a series of images from the late 1800's. Ken Graham's great-great-grandfather, Charles O. Farciot, had photographed the Schieffelin Brothers Yukon River prospecting trip, spanning through 1882-1883. THis chronicle of adventure took the party up the Yukon on steamer , through the interior villages of the Native Alaskans, and to the Bering Sea Land Bridge - 150 miles of frozen sea. Here is a selection of those photographs kept in our Archives.