Sunrise in the Frozen Forest

This photo was made at Tettegouche State Park in Northeast Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior. Parts of the shoreline at Tettegouche are a wonderland of ice right now. Thanks to high winds and waves that hit the shoreline just over a week ago, the trees at Tettegouche are covered in ice. Some of the cliffs at the park angle back as they drop down towards the lake, so when the waves come in just right they literally EXPLODE back out from the cliff and if the wind is strong enough it will catch the spray and fling it up over the cliff and into the trees. This only happens once in a great while, maybe only once or twice every 10 years (or so I'm told). I've shared this ice experience with a few different friends of mine, and no matter how long you've lived along the shores of Lake Superior, this incredible ice makes you stare in amazement. Truly one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen in my life on the lake. This image was made with my Canon EF 24-105mm lens, shutter speed 1/60, aperture f16, ISO 100.

Below: Here is another photo of the same ice formation, taken later in the day after the sun had risen high into the sky.

First Light, Frozen Forest

After a couple of failed attempts at capturing nice early morning light on the ice at Tettegouche State Park (due to cloudy skies), I finally had success this morning. I had to leave the house just before 5:00 AM in order to make it here for sunrise, but it sure was worth it. The other day when I drove down to try and capture this scene, the sky was clear when I left home. By the time I arrived at Tettegouche, however, the clouds had moved in and covered the entire sky, effectively ruining sunrise. So.... this morning as I drove towards Tettegouche, I was a bit tense thinking I was going to run into a cloudy sky again. But, luck was on my side and the clouds stayed away. Once the sun broke above the horizon and started to illuminate the ice, I was awestruck by the beauty.

Here are a few more photos of me enjoying and photographing the Frozen Forest (taken by my friend and fellow photographer Paul Sundberg):







And one taken by my friend and fellow photographer Roger Nordstrom:

Snowshoe hike with Wolves

I went for a snowshoe hike with a couple of friends today and at one point during our hike I was looking further up the trail when, several hundred feet in front of us, I saw two Wolves run across the trail. All I had with me was my little Canon G11, so not a very good zoom but nonetheless I got the camera ready just in case we saw them again. I kept my eyes on the trail where I had seen them cross, and after only a few seconds one of them walked back out onto the trail and looked at us, then ran back into the woods. Just after that, the second one came out and gave us a look as well. Both of these photos were taken during their second pass across the trail. Due to the distance and not having a good zoom, I had to crop waaaaaay in on the photos in order to see the Wolves decently, so the image quality here isn't the greatest but it's still a nice account of our experience!

Icy Canopy

Ice-encrusted trees bend over and touch the ground, unable to bear the weight of ice that has accumulated from the freezing spray of Lake Superior. Taken at Tettegouche State Park near Silver Bay, MN.

Mr. Nosey

A very curious squirrel checking me out with an intense look as I made this photograph of him.

Moon Ring

There's a fantastic ring around the moon right now! Taken from my back yard at 10:30 p.m. on February 16, 2011.

Ice Crystal Sunrise at Hollow Rock

A recent sunrise image from Hollow Rock in Grand Portage, MN. The next several days are calling for temperatures in the mid to upper 30's... hopefully all this wonderful ice we've had along the shoreline lately won't fall prey to the warm temperatures!