Sue Ellis hands a sled down to her husband and musher Mike Ellis in the early hours prior to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race in downtown Anchorage Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Photo (C) Jeff Schultz/IditarodPhotos.com Do not reproduce without permission
Jason Mackey runs down the chute on 4th avenue during ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race Anchorage Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Photo (C) Jeff Schultz/IditarodPhotos.com Do not reproduce without permission
A Newton Marshall’s dog leaps to go while at the start line during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race in downtown Anchorage Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Photo (C) Jeff Schultz/IditarodPhotos.com Do not reproduce without permission
Michelle Phillips leaves the start line on 4th avenue in the fog during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race in downtown Anchorage Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Photo (C) Jeff Schultz/IditarodPhotos.com Do not reproduce without permission
Aliy Zirkle talks to 9 year old Adara Clemons in the staging area prior to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race in downtown Anchorage Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Photo (C) Jeff Schultz/IditarodPhotos.com Do not reproduce without permission
Was quite an Iditarod start today — It began extra early for me as I left the house at 6:30 this morning to help coordinate a group of ExxonMobil poster rollers get set up to distribute 5,000 posters to Iditarod fans at the start. Being down there so early it was a really cool feeling to have very few people on the street (see photos of that and more at www.iditarod.com/photo/ ) and then the people just steadily increased until the street was jammed. Fog rolled in the downtown area while I was down there. I shot about 12 teams at the very start, then walked down 4th avenue shooting various people and all as I went. I am fortunate to have my best friend Ron Halsey as my assistant/driver each year. He carries a ladder I use to get better angles and drives me around the city to certain spots. This year I also have a volunteer assistant, Erin Hooley, who will be traveling the trail with me and doing all the downloading and uploading to the various sites. Having an assistant on the trail is a HUGE help, as SO much of the time now days is spent doing image processing and uploading. I’d much rather be outside and on the trail shooting than inside captioning and uploading. I’m thankful to Erin.
Today is all a blur for me now, I shot 2200 images, and just got done editing those down to 45 to put on Iditarod.com Erin is processing those and then will be uploading them. I’ll be getting ready for a longer day tomorrow as the real start takes place at 2pm from Willow and then if the weather cooperates, will fly to Finger Lake to await the arrival of the mushers early on Monday morning.
What an awesome work Jeff. You have captured the essence of the excitement of the ceremonial start! You have a great job and, I’m sure you’ve worked hard to be where you are now!!! Best!
And thanks to Ron and Erin as well!