David Barthel - North Shore Images PhotographyDavid Barthel North Shore Images Photography
David Barthel

Photo Journal & News

Saturday, December 24, 2016

A Holiday Message





Here we are once again on Christmas Eve, a time when the anticipation of the holiday season transforms into celebration and reflection with family and loved ones. I hope you have the opportunity to spend quality time with those special people or engage in an activity that you enjoy.

With each passing year of life (my birthday was yesterday), the more I understand that the greatest gift at this time of year is not within a package underneath the tree, but rather the opportunity to reflect upon and share the experiences we've enjoyed throughout the past year and anticipate what's to come in the next. As a nature and landscape photographer, I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to witness some of the most beautiful locations and phenomena in the natural world and to share, as best as I can, a small piece of that with you. To continue to do that is truly the best gift I receive every year.

My best wishes to you for a safe, enjoyable holiday season and prosperity in the new year. There is much to look forward to on the trail ahead!

Merry Christmas!

David

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Art at Ramsey and Year-End Display Piece Sale

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have an opportunity to spend some time with the people in your life for which you are thankful and indulge in whatever makes the holiday special for you.

For those of you who'll be in the Twin Cities on Saturday, December 3, there's one more opportunity this year to see my work or pick up a one of my display pieces at a great price (more on that below).

Art at Ramsey

Art at Ramsey is a high-quality juried art and fine craft event that takes place Saturday, December 3 (from 10am – 5pm) inside the Ramsey Middle School gymnasiums and cafeteria at 1700 Summit Avenue in Saint Paul. I will be among about 70 regional artists exhibiting work, so there is plenty to see if you visit.

More info: http://www.artistscircle.org/artfairs.php


Year-End Display Piece Sale

Near the end of the year, I typically offer a selection of my art fair display pieces at discounted prices. These are pieces that have traveled with me and have been displayed at shows for the past 1-3 years. As a result, they may have minor flaws or may not be quite as squeaky clean as a brand new piece. However, most are in excellent condition.

If you are interested in the availability or condition of a particular piece, please feel free to contact me (dbarthel@northshoreimages.com or 320-293-1788). Shipping is free to most locations in the Upper Midwest. Any piece not sold prior to December 3 will be available at Art at Ramsey as noted above.


"Teton Dawn" – 15x60 Ultra Premium-Framed Canvas Print — only $895 ($100 off regular price of $995)


 "Alpine Eruption" – 24x36 Ultra Premium-Framed Canvas Print — only $545 ($120 off regular price of $665)


"Cedar's Rest" – 24x36 Premium-Framed Canvas Gallery Wrap — only $525 ($70 off regular price of $595)



"Gooseberry and the Galaxy" – 24x32 Float-Framed Canvas Gallery Wrap — only $375 ($120 off regular price of $495)


"Magic of the North" – 15x20 Hand-Torn Edge Print, matted and framed to approx. 24x29 — only $325 ($35 off regular price of $360)
"Virgin Oasis" – 24x36 Ultra Premium-Framed Canvas Print — only $595 ($70 off regular price of $665)


 "Kawishiwi Falls" – 24x36 Canvas Gallery Wraponly $345 ($50 off regular price of $395)



"Navajo Dawn" – 20x30 Canvas Gallery Wrap — only $150 ($125 off regular price of $275)


I look forward to sharing new work with you soon!

David

Friday, September 9, 2016

Fall 2016 Art Fair Schedule

Greetings everyone!

I know, I know! It's hard to believe that in less than a month, we will be in the midst of fall color season here in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. For me, it's even harder to believe that I'll be packing up my outdoor art fair canopy, for the last time this year, in just a little over three weeks.

If you haven't had a chance yet this year to check out my newest work, here are some remaining opportunities. These are events I will be exhibiting my work at through the end of the year:
I hope to see you soon!

David

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Upcoming Art Fairs

Greetings everyone!

I hope you all had a refreshing Fourth of July weekend! This is just a brief update on our upcoming art fairs during the next month. Our events so far this summer have been a tremendous success, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has visited my booth and invested in some artwork for their spaces.

The following are events you can find me at during the next month:
My full show schedule (current through September 20) is available on my website at www.northshoreimages.com/Schedule. Feel free to stop by my booth and see my latest work if you are at one of these events!

Kind regards,

David

Monday, May 30, 2016

Art Fair Schedule Update

Greetings!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend! As we celebrate the holiday that marks the unofficial start of summer, let's also not forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedom, peace, and prosperity that we often take for granted in our country. 

This update is simply a quick note regarding the upcoming art fairs during the month of June and a few recent additions to my schedule. My 2016 show season begins this upcoming weekend at the Edina Art Fair, in the 50th & France District in Edina, MN. I've been working (almost) nonstop over the past few weeks to ensure that you will see a bounty of fresh work in my booth. I'm really excited about what I have to offer this year!

You can find my full art fair schedule at www.northshoreimages.com/Schedule, which is now current through September 20.

I look forward to seeing many of you again this summer! Please stop in and visit if you find yourself at or near one of these events.


 June Art Fairs

  • June 3-5 - Edina Art Fair - 50th & France, Edina, MN (Booth #528-529 in Lunds & Byerly's lot)
  • June 11-12 - Art on the Lake - Excelsior Commons on Lake Minnetonka, Excelsior, MN (Booth #32)
  • June 23 - Lemonade Concert & Art Fair - Campus of St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN (Booth #131-132, near the Miller Library)
  • June 25-26 - Park Point Art Fair - End of Park Point, Duluth, MN

 New Art Fairs Recently Added to Schedule

Sunday, April 10, 2016

2016 Art Fair Schedule Announced (First Half of Season)

Spring Greetings!

I hope everyone's year is off to a great start! As you may know, art fair season is just around the corner, and I will once again be exhibiting at a number of great events throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. This list represents the shows I anticipate participating in through September 15, save a few that are still in the application/jury phase. More dates will be added to my show schedule page (www.northshoreimages.com/Schedule) as they are confirmed.

Please stop in and visit if you find yourself at or near one of these events. I just might have something for that blank spot on the wall...


Note: Events marked as **CONTINGENT** indicate that I am on a waiting list to participate, and therefore, it is not yet known whether I will have a booth at the show.

More New Photographs

It's been quite a productive winter this year in getting new work ready for the upcoming art fair season. I intend to have well over two dozen new photographs available by the beginning of June. About half of them are from Lake Superior's North Shore region, with the other half from several locations in the American West.

Here are the eight most recent of these photographs:


"Sol Duc Serenity" – Olympic National Park, Washington, USA

Snowmelt from the high elevations of the Olympic Mountains cascades down the Sol Duc River as it makes its way toward the Pacific Ocean. The temperate rainforests in this area receive around 150 inches of precipitation each year, which contributes to all of the mosses and ferns and other lush vegetation that thrive here.

A little note: Normally, I like to keep stray branches and such outside of the frame of my composition, as they tend to distract from the main subject. Here, there was no way to avoid it (without falling off a ledge and into the river), so I made an exception. I still like the overall mood of the image.



"Quiet Cove" – Temperance River State Park, Minnesota, USA

This is an image from a few autumns ago along Lake Superior that I haven't shown before. This is a location I've photographed before, but each time I go back, the light is a little different.

Every time I visit such quiet and beautiful locations, I feel grateful to the visionary leaders of the past century for preserving these unique parcels of land along Lake Superior and elsewhere for all of us to enjoy.

 


"Virgin Oasis" – Zion National Park, Utah, USA

This is an often photographed view in Zion National Park...and for good reason! The relatively plentiful rainfall in Zion Canyon, for a desert region, keeps the Virgin River flowing and the surrounding plant life thriving. It is like an oasis in the middle of the desert!

Of course, I would have loved to have had dramatic sunset light on the clouds above the Watchman peaks for this image, but I actually kind of like the deep blue of the rain clouds that were slowly moving into the area. The blue color was reflected by the Virgin River's surface, contributing to the feeling of springtime lushness in the valley. Indeed, within a couple of hours after capturing this image, a spring storm moved in and it started raining!


"Rock!" – Olympic National Park, Washington, USA

Here's something a little different from me. I made this image along Washington's Pacific Coast at Rialto Beach during a spring evening with a fantastic cloud display over the ocean. I love the beaches on the Olympic Peninsula and look forward to visiting them again this month!

Yes, this is different than my usual style. I think my "fine art" brain cells must have been firing a little harder that evening! Although the clouds appear more ominous than the atmosphere really was at the time, there is a sort of visual metaphor here with the lone rock facing an incoming storm from the ocean.


"Golden Dawn" – Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, USA

How about a little sunshine for your Sunday (or whatever day you read this)!

I was digging really deep into my archives this winter and found this gem from way back in 2010! The detail-oriented observers may notice the still-intact arch at the end of the rock outcropping just left of center. Just a few weeks after I made this photograph, the span of the arch collapsed into Lake Superior, changing this landscape forever.



"Shamrock's Nest" – Hoh Rainforest, Washington, USA

If you've ever tried to photograph in a rainforest, you know how chaotic the scenes can be with plant life seemingly growing everywhere! Sometimes luck strikes, and you find some order among all of the randomness!

I made this image in the Hoh Rainforest area of Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington. As one of the nation's finest temperate rainforests, over 150 inches of precipitation falls here in a typical year.

"Heart of the Earth Falls" – Superior National Forest, Minnesota, USA

Tucked deep within the Kadunce River Gorge, northeast of Grand Marais, MN, are several waterfalls that require an upriver hike/climb/wade to experience in person. Possibly the most beautiful of them, pictured here, can be accessed by either the aforementioned upriver hike or by scrambling down a steep rocky slope after walking the trail above the river canyon. Neither approach is for the faint of heart and requires extra caution.

For the adventurous waterfall (and slot canyon) enthusiast, this is a river worth exploring!


"Liquid Gold" – Death Valley National Park, California, USA

The sand dunes in Death Valley are some of the most beautiful in the world, and despite frequent windy conditions, the sand stays in the same general area and is not blown away.

I was at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes on a spring evening and witnessed the last glow of sunlight on the dunes. Due to the sun's low angle at that time of day, large shadows were cast and gave the dunes a dreamy, ribbon-like appearance. To top it all off, a big, somewhat stormy-looking cloud positioned itself right above the dune peaks! Also, do you see the dust devil in the upper-right?

Monday, February 15, 2016

Solo Exhibit at St. Cloud Hospital

Greetings everyone!

This update is packed with new images that I have completed over the winter so far. Grab your favorite beverage and begin scrolling down!

I also wanted to mention to those of you in central Minnesota that my photography is currently on exhibit at St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, MN through the month of February. The 18-piece display is located on the first floor near the chapel and can be visited anytime during regular hours. (It looks even better in person—I promise!)

New Photographs from Minnesota and the American West

As a photographer who participates in numerous art festivals during the summer and fall, I often find winter to be the quieter and slower-paced time of the year. The hustle of hours on the road and setting up a big white tent is traded for the comparatively relaxed and deliberate pace of culling and processing new work from some of the best photographs I have made over the past few years. It's a balance that I've come to enjoy.

This winter, I have been a bit more diligent in completing new work than I have been in past winters. Below are thirteen new images, in no particular order, that I've completed since my last update in December. I hope to have at least that many more ready to go before the 2016 art fair season begins in May.

"Kawishiwi Falls" – Superior National Forest, Minnesota, USA

Last summer, I visited the town of Ely, MN for the first time to participate in the Blueberry Arts Festival. On two consecutive evenings while I was there, I visited these falls at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. On the first evening, the conditions did not cooperate for the image I had in mind, but it was good scouting opportunity for the second evening...when I was able to make this image!

I really liked how the curving cloud boundary in the western sky matched the curvature of the falls, albeit in an inverse fashion.




"Twists of Time" – Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, California, USA

The bristlecone pine is considered to be among the oldest living trees on Earth, with some specimens believed to be over 5,000 years old. It is a humbling experience to walk among these ancient, weathered trees which thrive in some of the harshest environments, at about 10,000 feet in elevation in the White Mountains of California.

I had also anticipated doing some night photography in this location, but a couple of circumstances hindered that plan. First, clouds obscured the night sky for most of the time while I was in the area. Also, not long after making this image, I fell ill with what seemed to be a digestive bug and was pretty much confined to my motel for 24 hours. Despite my short visit to this grove, I was happy to bring this image back.


"Hidden Oasis" – Kanarra Creek Canyon, Utah, USA

The Virgin River Narrows in Zion National Park gets most of the attention from photographers and visitors seeking a slot canyon experience in southwestern Utah. Kanarra Creek Canyon, while not inside Zion, is a hidden gem that is often referred to as a miniature version of The Narrows in Zion.

There are a couple of waterfalls within the canyon that can navigated by well-placed ladders and ropes. I wanted to venture further up the narrows when I was here last April, but the light was quickly fading. So, my journey that time ended at the base of the first waterfall where I made a few photographs.

Hiking this canyon was an awesome experience and is definitely on my list of places to return.



"Stone Wash" – Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA

Yes, nature's beauty and design can be found on the floor of a narrow canyon in the desert! I found this beautiful arrangement of stone while exploring the southern Nevada desert. When it rains here, which isn't very often, lots of water rushes through this narrow chasm. The patterns you see are sculpted by thousands of years of sediment-carrying flash floods.




"Til Death Do Us Part" – Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Glacier NP is renown for its stunning mountainous landscape, of which I enjoy photographing. But, sometimes an interesting subject, soft ethereal light, and deep meaning converge at an unexpected place and moment.




"Triple Falls" – Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

The area around Logan Pass could easily be considered the crown jewel of Glacier N.P. During the summer, snowmelt from the upper elevations cascades down innumerable slopes and into streams and rivers. In this spot, three small creeks cascade together into a large crevice before continuing downstream.



"Clements Mountain & Wildflowers" – Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

This image doesn't have the stunning sky like the falls image above, but I like how the early morning light highlights the towering Clements Mountain.

During the months of July and August, while much of the country is sweltering in heat, it is springtime at Glacier NP's Logan Pass. Numerous wildflowers can be found blooming in the alpine meadows. The yellow and violet flowers seen here are known, respectively, as Broadleaf Arnica and Monkey Flower (yes, I had to look those up! :)).




"Ice & Surf"
– Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Minnesota, USA

I made the trek to Split Rock Lighthouse last month with hopes of once again seeing and photographing the annual moonrise behind the iconic Lake Superior lighthouse. The clouds did not part enough, for the 100+ eager photographers present, to get a glimpse of the glowing lunar orb, but there was still plenty to photograph, including a rare winter beacon lighting!

I found much beauty in the ice formations along the shore. There is a lot to take in within this image, but if you know some of the basic compositional guidelines, it really is an organized chaos.

For the photography nerds among us: the shore ice and incoming waves form a "leading line" that guides the viewer toward the somewhat distant cliff-perched lighthouse. "Counterpoint" is another technique used here to balance the composition. The subject of interest is the lighthouse, and the bottom-right cutout shape in the ice serves as a counterpoint. Finally, did you notice the similarity between the cutout shape in the near ice and the shape of the opening in the clouds above the lighthouse?



"Catalyst" – Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA

Light, color, and form converge in a unique place on the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona. What more is there to say...it is a sandstone paradise!


"Surf & Sunrise" – Grand Marais, Minnesota, USA

I enjoy walking along Lake Superior and watching incoming waves wash over the ancient basalt shore. For thousands of years, the tempestuous lake has sculpted the volcanic rock into some of the interesting shapes we see today. This images is from Artists' Point in Grand Marais.




"Blazing Roof Ruins" – Cedar Mesa, Utah, USA

Scattered throughout the canyons of Cedar Mesa are several ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings that have survived for hundreds of years. This particular dwelling is colloquially known as "House on Fire" for reasons that should be obvious by viewing the photo. I have another shot from a slightly different vantage point that I'll show in the future that will make the name even more evident.

I chose this composition for how the pattern in the roof and the slickrock "steps" at the bottom left draw the viewer toward the ruins.

"Morning Rainbow" – Grand Marais, Minnesota, USA

How would you like to wake up to this?

As I was photographing the sunrise image at Artists' Point (two images up), I turned around to discover a brilliant rainbow over the Grand Marais harbor! I quickly repositioned myself and snapped a few frames before the rainbow quickly faded along with the delicate morning light.

Here's an interesting rainbow tidbit: if you imagine a rainbow completing the full circle below the horizon, the center point of that circle is exactly opposite, or 180 degrees from, the sun. That's why we don't see rainbows in the sky during the middle of the day. And yes, rainbows really are complete circles—we only see about half of a rainbow because of our usual vantage point in relation to the geography.




"Mobius by Moonlight" – Alabama Hills, California, USA

For this image, I used a combination of moonlight and light from my headlamp to illuminate this scene featuring California's iconic Mobius Arch in the Owens Valley, just east of the Sierra Nevada range.

I love looking up at the starry night sky, especially in a location like this where it is not only warm, but the landscape holds intriguing features!