This photo started my career and it is still one of my favorites as it was my first cover for a major magazine. Alaska Magazine featured this image on its cover in 1978 while I was a still a junior in college. I shot the image from the roof of a 6-story building on campus. I waited for the moment when the jumper was completely surrounded in the background by the walrus skin. The blanket toss is an Iñupiaq game of celebration.
IT ALL STARTED IN 1978
“As a kid in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to encounter a whale,” says Mark Kelley. Learn more about Mark…