My name is Mike Gates... Welcome to my online gallery!

I am a longtime resident of Ketchikan, Alaska, in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, and nearly all of the photographs in my gallery were taken there. Ketchikan is in the southern southeast part of Alaska, on an island named Revillagigedo.

I am almost reluctant to admit that I have had a camera in my hand since I was about thirteen years old. To me, this implies that I ought to, after forty years of experience, be a master of this medium--a role which I can hardly say that I play.

I am a great appreciator of the beauty around me, and photographing it is my passion. This rainforest in which I live offers a wealth of subject matter. With more than fourteen feet of annual rainfall, there are streams and lakes, lush greenery, and my favorite of all: clouds. As I've mentioned, Ketchikan is on an island, so I have beaches to explore, a shoreline full of boats and harbors, docks and float planes.

As a youth and as a young man, much of my time was spent in a darkroom, loading film into tanks in total darkness and watching images as they gradually appeared under faint amber lights. I still have piles of old prints and boxes of old negatives, but today my work is all digital, and my darkroom lives in a computer. To overcome the limitations of my equipment, much of my work is High Dynamic Range photography, which blends the tonal range of several exposures. Frequently, I'll stitch multiple images together to get greater resolution, and panoramic work has become a favorite expression of mine.

I revel in landscape work, in clouds and reflections, but I also have a passion for expressive portraits and figure work. My good friend Dave Blick and I operate D&M Studios here in Ketchikan. We are available for portrait sittings by appointment--just drop me an e-mail and we'll see what magic we can work.

If you find some of my work here that you'd like to see on your wall, or that you think would make a nice gift, nearly all photographs here are offered for sale. Just click on the shopping cart in the upper right-hand part of the page. I also offer licensed use, for a fee, if images are desired for publication on the web or in print.

For a full-screen view, I recommend going into each gallery, and clicking on "Slideshow" in the upper right corner... Then kick back and relax. :)

Again--Welcome to my online gallery. I hope that you'll be a regular visitor to see what new work I post, and I hope you'll share my website address with your friends. By all means, drop a note in my guestbook, and let me know you've visited. I look forward to hearing from you.

Humbly yours,

Mike Gates
[email protected]