Contributed by Harry Banks
When photographer Harry Banks stood on the rocky shores of Coffman Cove at 5am, the quiet morning was suddenly shattered by the roar of a humpback whale breaking the surface, its tail splashing down as the rising sun turned the cascading ocean water into liquid gold.
Moments like these aren’t planned. They are unscripted gifts from the wild, born from patience, curiosity and a willingness to simply show up.
Now through September 12, visitors can experience these encounters in “Alaska by Banks: Encounters Across Alaska,” a photography exhibition by Harry Banks at Vagabond Blues, 642 S. Alaska St., Palmer. The show combines wildlife photography, dramatic landscapes and cultural history into a journey across the Last Frontier, with special gallery pricing on prints available during the exhibition.
A Lifelong Passion Rekindled: For Harry, the journey to this gallery wall was decades in the making. In the 1960s, he worked as a freelance photographer in the Washington, D.C. area. Life eventually stepped in, cameras were set aside for a long career teaching computer networking, and decades slipped by.
Then, in July 2023 at age 81, Harry traveled to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. Standing along the river, he locked eyes with a young brown bear standing upright in the rushing water.
“To me, he seemed to be asking a simple question: ‘What’s next?’” Harry recalls. “The question lingered long after the encounter ended. In many ways, it was my question too.”
That moment reignited a dormant spark. Now 82, Harry is proving that life’s greatest chapters don’t always happen in our youth. They can begin the second we decide to start again.
Stories Written in Light, Feathers and Cedar: Every photograph in the exhibition is paired with a story, inviting viewers into the moment the shutter clicked.
A Belted Kingfisher perching unfazed in the cold rain at Potter Marsh turns a gray afternoon into a lesson in patience. A bald eagle named Everest launches into flight over weathered pilings in Craig, while a determined gull defends its territory against a towering eagle along the Copper River.
The exhibition also includes personal reflections on Haida and Tlingit heritage across Southeast Alaska, from the haunting faceless MMIW carving in Klawock to quiet moments before ancestral clan houses in Saxman and Totem Bight.
Other images bring humor and joy, including a duck pointing across the water as if saying, “He went that way!” and mirrored water reflections turned on their side to reveal aquatic “dancers.”
Come See the Show: “Alaska by Banks: Encounters Across Alaska” is more than a display of images. It is an invitation to look closer at the world around us, embrace spontaneous wonder and ask what adventures may be waiting just around the corner.
The exhibition runs through September 12 at Vagabond Blues, 642 S. Alaska St., Palmer, during regular café hours.
More info, stories and print options: AlaskaByBanks.com. Contact Harry Banks at HBanks@alaskabybanks.com.
