From the Archives: A Once in a Lifetime Photo

Hans Gatt mushes past a welcome sign as he is about to transition from the Bering Sea to Front Street in Nome during Iditarod 2009.

About 1 mile into the run Melissa saw a lone musk ox standing on the left side of the road. She braked the truck and stopped her dogs so the animal could cross to the other side. “Then all of a sudden the bushes came alive, and I think, ohhh, this can’t be good,” Owens says. “There’s more musk ox in there, isn’t there?” There were 16 more muskoxen and they came out of the brush. The two young lead dogs were excited and curious and off they went toward the big group. Heather snapped a couple of photos out the window at what I would call the decisive moment. What a once-in-a-lifetime photo!!

Aerial view of a crowd gathered around Matt Calore in the finish chute Nome’s Front Street on Friday afternoon during Iditarod 2008.

Melissa put the truck in park and with the muskox still there, Melissa and Heather began to reel in the dogs. First, 4 wheel dogs were put in the truck and then the two walked into the dogs, got tangled in the gangline, but managed to move the dogs around to the opposite side of the truck, out of sight of the muskox. They turned around and went back. Melissa says;  “While that was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope to never repeat it.”

A couple of weeks later, Melissa contacted me and sent me the photo and asked “what do you think of this? Is there a market for this?” I was running the stock agency, AlaskaStock at the time. I immediately called her and asked, “Are you sure this is a real photo?” She assured me it was VERY real. If it was real, then I knew there would be interest in it. I showed the image to the photo editor at the then, Anchorage Daily News and he said to me: “Are you sure this is a real photo?”. I assured him it was. A couple of days later it was published in the Daily News— we immediately began selling prints of the image from our website. The photo was a hit with many dog lovers, mushing fans, and mushers themselves. Heather enjoyed the checks we sent her way.

Today, Melissa owns and operates Owl Creek Kennel in Knik, AK with her husband, Jason. Check out their kennel and meet their dog team here.

The images were made during pre-race activities as well as all along the 1,049 miles of trail from Anchorage to Nome. Both outdoors and indoors with a studio background and light. They are all on equal footing here. Our hope is that from the images here, which take the subject out of the “Iditarod elements”, combined with their stories (audio & written) and personal info, will show what this thing we call the IDITAROD® really is — an Alaska event of real-life humans and superstar canines that is simply like no other event in the world. Check out the project here, click on any photo, and listen or read their story.