SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2017

PIGEON RIVER 04881

"High Falls Flow"

Grand Portage State Park, MN

Compare the water flow of this photo of High Falls (taken June 30th) to the one I posted yesterday (taken June 23rd). Quite a bit more water running over the falls now, thanks to several inches of rain in the past week!

Camera: Sony DSC-RX10M3
Focal Length: 31mm
Exposure Time: 1/500
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 200

FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017

ANIMALS BY LAND 04513

"Backyard Chipmunk"

Somehow I forgot to post this picture back when I took it in late May. This is the resident chipmunk that lives in our backyard. One day when I was doing some chores out by the shed he was hanging around in a patch of dandelions which made for some nice photos. Sure is a cute little bugger!

Camera: Sony DSC-RX10M3
Focal Length: 412mm
Exposure Time: 1/640
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200

SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2017

INSECTS 04792

"Polyphemus Moth"

Grand Portage State Park, MN

It's that time of year again when all the beautiful moths show up on the side of our building at work! Almost every day there are at least a couple of beauties out there. So far we've seen a few of these Polyphemus Moths, a few Luna Moths and several Sphynx Moths. Even with a concrete backdrop these creatures are incredibly beautiful!

Camera: Sony DSC-RX10M3
Focal Length: 77mm
Exposure Time: 1/30
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 400

SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2017

ANIMALS BY LAND 04818

"Snapping Turtle"

Grand Portage State Park, MN

It's that time of year again where the Snapping Turtles are coming out of the Pigeon River to lay their eggs. I saw this one as I was leaving work last night. Every year they lay eggs in the ground right on the lawn near our visitor center. They are always such fascinating creatures to see.

Camera: Sony DSC-RX10M3
Focal Length: 600mm
Exposure Time: 1/200
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 400

MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017

FOREST 2892

"Sunset Storm, Hollow Rock Creek"

Last night I was hoping to get some work done on our plot at the community garden but just as I arrived at the garden it started pouring rain. Rather than get soaking wet gardening in the rain, I decided to take a short drive. I only went about a mile and was passing the Hollow Rock Creek meadow on Old Highway 61 when I saw this incredible sky. It had mostly quit raining but the mosquitoes were quite bad. Luckily I only needed a few moments to make this photograph before continuing on down the road.

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 1/30
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 400

MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017

SUPERIOR SUMMER 2900

"Rain Squall at Sunset, Red Rock Point"

After making the photograph of the storm over Hollow Rock Creek, I drove down to the Lake Superior shoreline to catch the storm clouds out over the lake. Red Rock Point ended up being the perfect location for some really cool clouds and some fog floating over the horizon.

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 1/25
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 200

SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2017

MILKY WAY 2939

"Firefly Night"

I was out driving around last night between 10 P.M. and Midnight when I stopped at this meadow on Hollow Rock Creek and noticed all the lightning bugs flying around! Seems like there have been a lot of them out in the past week or two. I stood in this location for over an hour watching the fireflies moving around the meadow and the clouds moving across the sky. Frogs were croaking the entire time down along the creek as well. So many interesting and beautiful things in this world!

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 12,800

MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017

AURORA 3025

"North Woods Aurora"

Well, the aurora forecast didn't really pan out to the extent they were forecasting last night. That being said, the lights were out but they were faint and were just above the northern horizon. As we stood and stared at the glow in the northern sky we were serenaded by the chorus of several frogs croaking around the edges of the lake. The fog was intriguing as well as it slowly but steadily drifted in and out of the area where we standing along the edge of the water. It was another unforgettable night in the north woods of Minnesota!

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Time: 25 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 2500

SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2017

BIKING 06095

"Riding Lower Burner of Stovetop"

For my days off this week I headed down to Duluth to visit my brother and hopefully get some riding in with him on the Mission Creek trails. Unfortunately it rained the night I got down there as well as the following morning. The trails at Mission Creek are mostly clay surface, so they take awhile to dry out. Consequently those trails were not open at all while I was in Duluth.

Piedmont, however, opened up earlier than anything else so that's where we went. A significant portion of the trails we rode were very rocky and rough going. But, after a while we popped out onto the Duluth Traverse, and this section of trail looked new! I find the singletrack trails to be incredibly photogenic especially when they are in a beautiful forest such as this. Looking at this photo it's hard to believe that you're right in the middle of the city!

Camera: Sony DSC-RX100M3
Focal Length: 33mm
Exposure Time: 1/100
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 800

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017

MILKY WAY 8745

"Outback, Ice Cream Truck and The Milky Way"

Just a quiet night under the stars with my bike and my car :-)

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 15mm
Exposure Time: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 6400

SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2017

AURORA 6420

"Lake Superior Lights"

I'm working on some photos for a northern lights book project, so I've been going through photos from past aurora events that I never worked on. This one is from June 23, 2015 and is overlooking Lake Superior at Hollow Rock Resort in Grand Portage, MN.

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 10 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 1600

SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2017

AURORA 6385

"Hollow Rock, Aurora Explosion"

Here's another previously unreleased photo of the unforgettable night of aurora that occurred on June 23, 2015.

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 10 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 800

JULY 31, 2017

MILKY WAY 5997

"Milky Way over Esther Lake"

Grand Portage State Forest, MN

There are few pleasures in this world greater than standing under a sky filled with the stars of the Milky Way. Do yourself a favor, find a dark sky and bask in the glow of the stars. Star glow is good for the soul.

Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 14mm
Exposure Time: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 6400