WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

HERON 8112

"Great Blue Heron Family"

Some of you may remember that almost a month ago I posted some pictures from a visit to a Great Blue Heron rookery. Yesterday I visited the rookery again and WOW how the babies have grown! On my last visit we only saw a couple of babies and only their heads stuck out above the nests. This time, the babies were a lot more visible because they were a LOT bigger! As far as I could tell, all but one or two of the nests had 3 babies in it. That means there are about 45 young Herons in this rookery.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/640
Aperture: f/10
ISO: 800

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

HERON 8283

"Hungry Babies"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm
Focal length: 375mm
Shutter speed: 1/800
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 800

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012

RIVERS 7965

"Early summer morning, Two Island River"

Yesterday morning on my way to see the Herons I stopped for some photography along Two Island River just south of Tofte, MN. I've always wanted to stop along this river and after countless times over the years driving right past, I finally took the time to stop. There are some beautiful rapids and gentle cascading waterfalls such as this just above the highway. A little further upstream a nice taller waterfall plunges into a pool at the base of a small cliff. All in all I had a blast photographing this short section of the river and I can't wait to stop there again!

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/5
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 50

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012

RIVERS 7987

"Two Island River Waterfall"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/5
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 50

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

LAKES 8230

"Evening at Esther Lake"

Last Sunday night we went for a drive to a local lake to check on a tip that I had gotten about a Loon nest. We did not find the nest, but we did see the Loons out in the lake. We were also treated to a beautiful sky over Esther Lake. I thought the sunset was going to be spectacular but by the time the sun went down the clouds had moved in too far and the sky was completely gray. Oh well! The pre-sunset show was just as nice :-)

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/13
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 100

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012

RIVERS 8366

"Glen Avon Falls, Beaver River"

Taken last Wednesday on our way home from Duluth. We took a short detour off Highway 61 and headed up to Glen Avon Falls on the Beaver River. This was only my second time visiting this location, and I can't wait to go back and see it when the water is higher. It is a spectacular section of the river with lots of photographic possibilities.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 400

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

AURORA 8527

"Cascade River Aurora - June 17, 2012"

Northern Lights over the Cascade River where it crosses The Grade near Grand Marais, MN. Last night my friend Roger and I were out looking for the Northern Lights and were disappointed by the heavy cloud cover and rainfall that dominated the early part of the evening. Eventually, though, the clouds parted and treated us to some incredible Aurora viewing. A couple of days ago there were a couple of Coronal Mass Ejections that left the sun and were headed straight at Earth. At first spaceweather.com was saying when the CME's hit our atmosphere they did NOT trigger any geomagnetic storms. After the initial impact, however, the arrival of the CME's compressed Earth's magnetic field and lit up Auroras around both poles.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 2500

MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

AURORA 8541

"Fire in the sky - June 17, 2012"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 2500

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

MILKY WAY 8538

"Milky Way over Cascade River"

The other night while we were photographing the Northern Lights, we looked to the south and were treated to another incredible view, the lights of the Milky Way Galaxy stretching up over the river. I'm not sure which was more impressive... the dancing lights of the Aurora to the north, or the glowing ribbon of the Milky Way to the south. Either way, it made for one spectacular sky!

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 40 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 6400

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012

LAKES 0420

"Picture-perfect day for a paddle"

Yesterday Jessica and I spent the morning paddling the shoreline of Esther Lake up the Arrowhead Trail in northeast Minnesota. It was a spectacular morning to be on the water and as we were making our way back to the boat ramp these postcard-perfect clouds were rolling in, making for some beautiful scenes to photograph.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 40mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 800

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012

LAKES 0408

"Tall trees on Esther Lake"

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 800