Your Bio

Hi! I'm Marcie. That's my kayak. My most prized possession besides my D90. I live in Sitka, Alaska and have only recently gotten somewhat serious about taking photos. I chose Seastar as my handle because I feel the sea is so integral to my life and loves. The starfish also makes a nice graphic statement, don't you think? This is one of my favorite early photos, taken with a Cannon Powershot A710. Please enjoy my photographs, because I sure enjoy taking them and sharing them!

Featured Galleries

Grizzly Bears : Grizzlies.... No words can describe the feeling of being in the presence of these animals. You are NOT the apex predator by any stretch when one of these finds you. The ultimate.

Grizzly Bears

Grizzlies.... No words can describe the feeling of being in the prese ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 11:39am PST

New Adventures and Friends : This is my all purpose gallery for the things I love, but don't fit exactly in one or the other of my galleries. Pictures of my adventures, large or small, and the new friends (be they people or animals)that find their way in fromt of my lens.

New Adventures and Friends

This is my all purpose gallery for the things I love, but don't fit ex ...

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 9:39am PST

password protected gallery

Paden Family Reunion 2009

The Paden clan gathering! The majority of the Paden family descended ...

Updated: Aug 16, 2009 3:40pm PST

Fish! : The 2009 Pink Salmon run.... Upriver they go, jostling and cramming up beneath waterfall after waterfall. I get exhausted just watching them trying to complete their epic journey. We are roughly half a mile from the ocean where these photos were taken, and already the salmon are changed dramatically from the sleek, silver, oceangoing versions of themselves. Their fins become technicolor, the males grow large humps, (thus the name Humpy) and the both males and females jaws and teeth seem to grow more jagged and fierce looking. Fearsome looking they are. If one didn't know they are completely harmless.......

Fish!

The 2009 Pink Salmon run.... Upriver they go, jostling and cramming u ...

Updated: Aug 26, 2009 11:30pm PST

Galleries

Fungi Fever! : The cool, permanently damp environment of Sitka and surrounds makes for excellent, sometimes spectacular fungus growth. The variety of mushrooms, fungus and lichen that thrive in this temperate rain forest means that someone like me (a fungus fan) will always find a suitable subject to photograph. I am going to try to identify as many of these as I can and have procured two books so far to that end. One is "Alaska's Mushrooms, A Practical Guide" by Harriette Parker, the other is a Falcon Guide- "North American Mushrooms, A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi" by Dr. Orson K Miller Jr. and Hope H. Miller. Both have good photos and information to help a newbie mushroom enthusiast like me. I thought I ought to identify my sources... If anyone sees a mis-identification, please comment so I can correct my captions! Note: I am in no way, shape or form an expert on mushrooms. These photos are strictly to show local mushrooms in their respective environments in an artistic way. My feeble attempts to identify them are amateur at best and should NOT be taken as in any way accurate. I am interested in mushrooms and photographing and trying to identify them is a hobby. Because many mushrooms may at least cause a bad bellyache, and in the worst case cause organ failure or death, please consider this a disclaimer and statement that any information listed in this gallery is probably inaccurate. I only eat mushrooms purchased at the grocery store.

Fungi Fever!

The cool, permanently damp environment of Sitka and surrounds makes fo ...

Updated: Oct 23, 2009 7:30pm PST

Yaks! : Kayaking... What can I say. I have only a few photos here as I am relatively new to the art of kayaking and did not yet have my awesome camera to capture the wonderful experiences I've had already. You will see this gallery grow with the coming of spring and summer for sure!

Yaks!

Kayaking... What can I say. I have only a few photos here as I am re ...

Updated: Oct 22, 2009 3:41pm PST

Travel, Or Something Like It :

Travel, Or Something Like It

Updated: Oct 11, 2009 12:45pm PST

Little Birds : These little birds are visitors to the birdfeeder. I have identified them by their common names to the best of my ability, however feel free to correct me with a comment if I am way off with a name! It's tougher than I imagined photographing these little guys. They seem to elude focus every time!

Little Birds

These little birds are visitors to the birdfeeder. I have identified ...

Updated: Oct 10, 2009 5:02pm PST

Portraits : My kayaking, photography, and everything else I love to do partner had me model for him. He is a great photographer, so I was so happy that he wanted to use me for his first portrait model. I think he did a wonderful job. He is letting me modify a set of the RAW images myself and post them as a gallery. Some of the same images processed by him can be seen on his website at http://saltwaterroad.smugmug.com.

Portraits

My kayaking, photography, and everything else I love to do partner had ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2009 9:53pm PST

Flowers, trees,and other plant life. : My ever expanding galleries have made it necessary to reorganize. What was once just roses is now all flowers and plants of all kinds.

Flowers, trees,and other plant life.

My ever expanding galleries have made it necessary to reorganize. Wha ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2009 9:49pm PST

Enter the Inter-Tidal Zone :

Enter the Inter-Tidal Zone

Updated: Sep 27, 2009 9:45pm PST

Urban Legends : This gallery has become eagles only, so I think I'll stick with the theme. I call them urban legends because these handsome dudes were all photographed right in or around Sitka, Alaska. The legend part comes from the eagle figuring so prominently in local Tlingit culture. I, in fact, belong to the Eagle moiety. So they're kind of special for me in particular. Interestingly, Raven plays the bigger role in Tlingit legends. Raven came first, then everything else, including Eagle. I am still hoping to capture that "Wow" eagle picture. You'll see it here when I do!

Urban Legends

This gallery has become eagles only, so I think I'll stick with the th ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2009 10:05am PST

password protected gallery

The Guthries

Updated: Sep 25, 2009 11:10pm PST

Sitka Scenes : I live in a paradise. That is until the next squall blows through or it's been raining for a month... straight.

Sitka Scenes

I live in a paradise. That is until the next squall blows through or ...

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 11:16am PST

Sitka Boats and Harbor Scenes : Sitka is a fishing town. Commercial, recreational, and subsistance fishing are a part of every citizens life in some way here in Sitka. We are inexorably tied to the sea. The mighty Pacific laps at our doorsteps and whispers promises of adventure and fortune. I can say with confidence that if someone isn't out on the water, they wish they were, or would be if something didn't need fixing.

Sitka Boats and Harbor Scenes

Sitka is a fishing town. Commercial, recreational, and subsistance fi ...

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 11:10am PST

Ducks, Crows, and Seagulls :

Ducks, Crows, and Seagulls

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 11:05am PST

New Adventures and Friends : This is my all purpose gallery for the things I love, but don't fit exactly in one or the other of my galleries. Pictures of my adventures, large or small, and the new friends (be they people or animals)that find their way in fromt of my lens.

New Adventures and Friends

This is my all purpose gallery for the things I love, but don't fit ex ...

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 9:39am PST

The Causeway, Sitka AK : The Causeway is a series of small islands that were used during WWII as a defense against Japanese invasion. The islands were joined by the construction of a road and formed a barrier to attack by sea and air. The army built numerous pill boxes, gun emplacements, storage bunkers and a pretty extensive underground headquarters. All are constructed of very thick concrete. It's amazing when you think that all these things were built in a very short period of time, of course under threat of attack from the West by Japanese forces. All of this is literally attached to Japonski Island, but is now inaccessible by land because the airport blocks access by foot traffic. We kayak to and around the causeway quite often, but have only really just discovered all these buildings, bunkers, and other constructions.

The Causeway, Sitka AK

The Causeway is a series of small islands that were used during WWII a ...

Updated: Sep 03, 2009 11:38am PST

Cool Stuff : Photos that have been altered or of things I think are "cool".

Cool Stuff

Photos that have been altered or of things I think are "cool".

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 11:27pm PST

Up Close and Personal : These shots were taken on various expeditions around our small, Southeast Alaska community. They were taken with the lens that came with my new camera, not a macro... But very soon I will have a macro lens. This gallery will probably get much bigger once the new lens comes. Stay tuned for new additions! The bee pictures were taken with my little point and shoot.

Up Close and Personal

These shots were taken on various expeditions around our small, Southe ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 10:54pm PST

Grizzly Bears : Grizzlies.... No words can describe the feeling of being in the presence of these animals. You are NOT the apex predator by any stretch when one of these finds you. The ultimate.

Grizzly Bears

Grizzlies.... No words can describe the feeling of being in the prese ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 11:39am PST

Fish! : The 2009 Pink Salmon run.... Upriver they go, jostling and cramming up beneath waterfall after waterfall. I get exhausted just watching them trying to complete their epic journey. We are roughly half a mile from the ocean where these photos were taken, and already the salmon are changed dramatically from the sleek, silver, oceangoing versions of themselves. Their fins become technicolor, the males grow large humps, (thus the name Humpy) and the both males and females jaws and teeth seem to grow more jagged and fierce looking. Fearsome looking they are. If one didn't know they are completely harmless.......

Fish!

The 2009 Pink Salmon run.... Upriver they go, jostling and cramming u ...

Updated: Aug 26, 2009 11:30pm PST

password protected gallery

Paden Family Reunion 2009

The Paden clan gathering! The majority of the Paden family descended ...

Updated: Aug 16, 2009 3:40pm PST

Totems : Totem poles and perhaps more Tlingit related photos in the future.

Totems

Totem poles and perhaps more Tlingit related photos in the future.

Updated: Apr 25, 2009 2:22pm PST

On the mountain : These photos were taken from the top of Harbor Mountain and Gavan Hill. While there is a road to the top of Harbor Mountain, Gavan Hill is a hike. A wonderful, challenging hike if you aren't used to walking uphill for miles! I hope to spend more time this summer in the backcountry around Sitka and explore my environment as I have never explored it before. I'm ashamed to say, the day the photo of Gavin Hill trail was taken, was the very first time I'd been up there. Shameful because the trail head was less than a half mile from my front door! Duh.

On the mountain

These photos were taken from the top of Harbor Mountain and Gavan Hill ...

Updated: Mar 11, 2009 1:12am PST

Home for the Holidays :

Home for the Holidays

Updated: Mar 03, 2009 1:31pm PST