Every year, Alaskans eagerly await our summer frenzy. June brings (hopefully) warm temps and (undoubtedly) a fever that is postmarked by blooms of backyard rhubarb, sunburnt faces and the promise of abundance.
It’s 4 a.m. as I finish writing this and we’re less than a day from this year’s summer solstice. Although I don’t love summer — a statement that has always brought me shock and repulse from Alaskans — I do adore this time in June and thought it would make for a fun photo essay to explore what 24 hours in Anchorage looked like.
After moving to Alaska, I slowly began saving special moments for June 21 — marked throughout the years by milestone backcountry trips, midnight paddles, and one year I even got a tattoo of the first ridgeline in Alaska that changed me.
Alaskans love having a reason to celebrate and that’s something I’ll always be on board with. We have a plethora of solstice festivals to attend throughout the state and it feels like this shared point of pride that we’ve all made it this far, together with nature.
The sky outside my curtains gets brighter as I read about biophilia, a term I’d never heard before.
German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm defined this natural affinity for life in his book, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973). He says biophilia is, “the passionate love of life and of all that is alive; it is the wish to further growth, whether in a person, a plant, an idea, or a social group.”
American biologist Edward O. Wilson popularized and expanded by saying that this is the very essence of our humanity and what binds us to all other living species. He hypothesized that humans evolved with a deep connection to nature and that this affinity is ingrained in our genotype.
Although there hasn’t been an identified gene that influences biophilia, according to Britannica it is suspected that the increased dependence of the human species on technology has led to a weakening in the human drive to connect with nature.
Summer solstice is more than just our silly traditions, like bringing an entire trampoline up a mountain and playing midnight baseball. It’s one of the strongest ways we say “thank you” to our natural world — we love and honor this season of endless growth and possibility by stepping outside and breathing her in.
Thanks to Stewart’s Photo Shop for local film supplies and Young Kim with The Stoop PRC for film developing and scanning.
