December Dawn over the Grand Marais Lighthouse

I went out this morning with the hopes of capturing the Lunar eclipse, but heavy cloud cover put a stop to that plan. There was, however, a small break in the clouds to the East where the sun was soon to rise. This photo was made about half an hour before sunrise when there was a nice, soft glow of color coming from behind the clouds.

Something New

This evening I tried out a "new" (to me) location along the Lake Superior shoreline North of Grand Marais, MN. It turned out to be a wonderful spot and I had great fun spending the evening shooting here. I still can't believe I've never been down to this spot before! It is just a short walk from Highway 61, and is actually part of the Superior Hiking Trail. Many thanks to my friend Bryan Hansel (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanhansel/) for letting me know about this amazing little slice of Lake Superior's shore.



Most of the beach in this area consists of small pebbles, but there is also a small rocky outcrop that juts out into the lake. On the tip of this rocky outcrop is a small island that is only a few feet from shore. It just so happens that the moon was rising over this small island during my visit. Also along the rocky outcrop were several types of plants that were coated in ice from recent waves and spray coming off the lake. As many of you know, winter is a favorite time of mine for photography mostly because I loooooove photographing ice!



After shooting for about an hour and a half along the Lake Superior shore, I headed home for a bite to eat. As soon as my stomach was full I headed back out to do some more shooting. It was a beautiful moonlit night and I wasn't about to let that go to waste! So, I headed up along the Pigeon River and made some photos of Partridge Falls bathed in moonlight. What a great day for some early winter photography!

Starry Night in the Maple Forest

This photo was made last night when there was supposed to be a pretty good chance of seeing some Northern Lights. While the Aurora was a no-show, the stars last night were incredibly vivid, so much so that it felt like you could reach up and pluck them from the sky.

The magic of the night reminded me of my favorite quote from Vincent van Gogh:

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."

Tower Galaxy

I haven't been doing much shooting so far this November, so lately I've been working on more photos that were taken earlier this fall. This particular photo was made on the night of September 4, 2011 at about 1:00 in the morning. The Milky Way was so bright that night it looked like it was jumping out of the sky at us. This was a 40 second exposure taken with a Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 17-40mm lens. The lens aperture was set at f4 and the camera's ISO was set to 6400.

Grand Marais Sunset

This was the scene tonight at sunset in Grand Marais, Minnesota. It was cloudy all day, but as sometimes happens during this gray time of year, the day ended with a splash of color!

Northern Photography exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post in Grand Marais, MN

On display at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery in Grand Marais, MN through December 4th are several prints from my Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) collection. All the prints are also for sale! The display includes 5 of my new "metal" prints, which are made on sheets of aluminum, as well as 3 more traditional matted and framed prints. There is also a small collection of matted (but unframed) prints available. Be sure to stop by and check them out if you happen to be in Grand Marais between now and December 4th! Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Last color at Partridge Falls

Here's one of my favorite fall color shots from this year. Taken the weekend of October 1st and 2nd.