Tribute to the pioneers in Fairbanks, Alaska

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There's an easy way to tell that this picture was captured in summer: the water's flowing! In winter the fountains will be ice, and Golden Heart Plaza -- in the heart of Fairbanks, Alaska -- will be white with snow. Its a lovely spot, right beside the Tanana River, a great place to take a packed lunch and watch the world go by, on sunny days from May to September. The statue is a tribute to the pioneers -- fearless colonists and their dogs -- who opened up Alaska. This image was taken in the summer of 1998. The camera would have been a Pentax K-1000 or the Olympus OM-10 ... and most likely the Pentax (there's a subtle difference in shots captured by the Olympus; I preferred the Pentax and traded the Olympus for a second K-1000 later in '98). The lens would have been the standard 49mm Pentax original. The print was recently scanned at 600dpi and color-corrected: the decade-old prints are starting to fade. Photo by Mel, 1998.