"October Gale"

When I am making photographs on the North Shore in early October, my usual and primary concern is capturing the ephemeral beauty of the northern autumn.

On the afternoon of October 4th, my attention was abruptly shifted to Lake Superior's rapidly changing mood. In a matter of hours, calm waters were transformed into a fury of several-foot rollers brought on by gale-force winds in the range of 40-50 miles per hour. Winds from the southwest meant areas near Grand Marais were experiencing the brunt of this force due to the southerly-facing shoreline. Standing on the rocky shore and pummeled by spray from the violent breakers crashing ashore, I felt an incredible amount of exhilaration, being so close to Superior's wrath, as I made several exposures with my mostly plastic bag-wrapped camera.

"Lighthouse Breaker"

A few of the breakers even reached heights above Grand Marais' breakwall lighthouse. On a typical day, people can be found standing next to this lighthouse. That was not an option that afternoon.

"Stormy Evening" - Artist's Point

The stormy conditions continued that evening and into the night. As evening approached, a bit of sunshine filtered through the clouds in the distance, making for one of the most memorable scenes of the day.

The Rocky Mountains traverse much of the western interior of North America, but few of its peaks match the beauty of the Grand Tetons. The highest of the distinctly sharp peaks of the Tetons exceed an elevation of 14,000 feet, or 7000 feet above the valley of Jackson Hole. While this mountain range alone is magnificent, icons of the Old West, including near-century-old barns, chapels, and buckrail fence dot the valley landscape.

One of the most iconic of these landmarks is the historic Thomas A. Moulton Barn. This barn is part of the Mormon Row Historic District, a cluster of homesteads, including barns, corrals, and drainage ditches, built by Mormon settlers during the early part of the 20th century. The barn is all that remains of Moulton's homestead.

One day this past spring, as the early morning light from the rising sun first struck the Teton peaks and barn, I made this panorama by taking eight consecutive vertical exposures and later blending them digitally to create a very high resolution image. I could print this image on canvas to a length of 14 feet with little loss of detail. If you look very closely, you'll see a couple of horses in the far distance drinking from the stream on the left.

Another morning at Grand Teton National Park brought me to the banks of the Snake River at Schwabacher Landing. This particular location along the river is basically a beaver pond and typically calm, offering nice reflections of the Cathedral group of the Tetons. Again, I was rewarded with the best light just as the first rays of sunlight hit the peaks of the mountains.

I was drawn to this composition due to the many forms of symmetry present. The most obvious element of symmetry is due to the reflection in the river. There is also an approximate symmetry vertically down the center involving the peaks of the Cathedral group as well as the arrangement of the trees on the opposite bank of the river. Particularly interesting is the inverse relationship of the apparent size of these trees to the distant peaks moving from the center of the image to the side edges.

I captured many more photographs of this majestic national park this past spring and look forward to sharing more in the near future . . .

It's been some time since I last posted here as summer art festivals have kept me quite busy. I have been fortunate to meet a number of wonderful people over the past several weeks, some of whom are now readers of this photo journal. Thank you and welcome! I look forward to sharing my photographic journey with you.

It was during the weekend of the Grand Marais Art Festival in mid-July that something wonderful happened. A few days prior to the festival, the sun unleashed a powerful coronal mass ejection directed toward Earth. The consequence was a potential for a nice display of northern lights that Saturday night.

I had seen aurora borealis only twice in my life prior to this occasion and neither were great displays, so I was really excited to be in far-northern Minnesota for a potentially-stunning auroral spectacle. So, Saturday evening, after sunset, I drove inland from Grand Marais to a location along the Cascade River just a couple of miles south of the BWCA wilderness. Being a lifelong suburban dweller, my journey to this location seemed to nearly stretch the boundaries of what I consider "the middle of nowhere." As the sky fully darkened, the faint light of the aurora became visible and a bow in the northern sky. It was a pleasure to see, but it was far from extraordinary. With little more to see and thoughts of a long day Sunday with the art festival, subsequent tear down, and a five-hour drive home, I decided I would depart at midnight.

Suddenly, at about 11:58 pm, the sky exploded with northern lights with an intensity and shapes unlike I had ever seen. They were everywhere in the northern sky and even directly overhead. The lights were bright enough to slightly illuminate the landscape around me. Needless to say, I abandoned my midnight departure plans and put extra effort into capturing this amazing display. The lights danced and flickered long after I finally left this spot at 1:00 am in seek of a few hours well-needed sleep.

I often find it a treat if I can include more than one level of interest in my photographs. Here, I included the Big Dipper (part of the constellation Ursa Major) with the aurora display.



Overall, it was a wonderful couple of hours as a spectator of the northern sky. I wish I could have stayed out all night and enjoyed the auroral display. As with many of life's joys, it is both exquisite and ephemeral.

• June 1-3, 2012 - Edina Art Fair - 50th & France, Edina, MN
• June 9-10, 2012 - Excelsior Art on the Lake - Excelsior Commons on Lake Minnetonka, Excelsior, MN
• June 21, 2012 - Lemonade Art Fair - Atwood Mall, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN
• June 23-24, 2012 - Park Point Art Fair - End of Park Point, Duluth, MN
• July 1, 2012 - Brainerd Arts in the Park - Gregory Park, Brainerd, MN
• July 14-15, 2012 - Grand Marais Art Festival - Grand Marais, MN
• July 19, 2012 - Art Fair in the Gardens - Munsinger-Clemens Gardens, St. Cloud, MN
• July 28-29, 2012 - Alexandria Art in the Park - Alexandria, MN
• August 18, 2012 - Northwoods Art Festival - Hackensack, MN
• September 8-9, 2012 - Little Falls Arts and Crafts Fair - Little Falls, MN
• September 15-16, 2012 - Marine Art Fair - Marine on St. Croix, MN
• September 30, 2012 - Millstream Arts Festival - Downtown, St. Joseph, MN
• December 1, 2012 - Art at Ramsey - Ramsey Junior High School, Saint Paul, MN