I attended another Bryan Hansel workshop- this one devoted to winter photography. We spent the weekend shooting in the area of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Conditions near the Lake Superior shore were extremely icy, requiring spiked crampons so I didn’t break my old bones. We got some tremendous, albeit brief conditions for multiple sunrises and sunsets. This time of year I’m usually on the couch with my dog and a bottle of Scotch, so this was a new experience for me. So glad I did this, and I now have a new appreciation for the possibilities of winter photography.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

The forecast called for a high probability of widespread aurora on November 11th, so I was stoked. Unfortunately one look out the window revealed nothing but clouds. It must be all my clean living, because around 10:00 everything cleared up, revealing a fantastic light show in Duluth. It was more or less over by 11:00, but I was able to capture some images I’m chuffed about.

My trip to Oregon in September 2021 was the first time I’d ever gone on a solo, out-of-state trip specifically to do landscape photography. Had a wonderful time, and it gave me the desire and confidence to do more of it. I recently went back and re-discovered these shots from sunset in Bandon that I hadn’t processed for one reason or another. Thought they turned-out rather well considering I didn’t think they were good enough at the time.

I just posted a some older slideshows going back to 2020 on my YouTube channel. I had to go back and change the soundtracks to avoid any copyright issues. I’ve linked them directly below, or you can always go to my YouTube channel here.

I recently attended another Bryan Hansel photography workshop. This one was Night Skies of the Gunflint Trail. The Gunflint Trail is north of Grand Marais, Minnesota and is home to some of the darkest skies in the country- some of the furthest reaches are even a Bortle 1. We spent 5 days in the area shooting sunsets and night skies. For the most part, we had great shooting conditions. Only one night was clouded-out, and we managed to completely avoid all the wildfire smoke that’s been plaguing Minnesota this summer.

I highly suggest Bryan’s workshops. He lives in the area and knows what spots make for the best photos depending on the time of year and the conditions. His workshops are reasonably priced compared to many other photographers whose rates have gone through the roof in recent years. He also has some crazy stories about things that have gone sideways on some of his prior workshops. :-)

Below is a slideshow of my favorite images from the trip:

The forecast looked promising for a good sunrise in Duluth this morning, so I crawled out of bed early and headed down to Canal Park. I got more than I bargained for when the sky exploded with color. Not only that, but I caught a double rainbow over the harbor. I really wanted to capture it arching above the lift bridge, but by the time I got into position it had faded. I can’t feel too bad though because I’m very happy with the shots I did get.

As I do from time to time, I went rummaging back through some of my older images to see if there’s anything I may have overlooked. Sometimes things look better with a fresh pair of eyes. I originally shot this on Cannon Beach in 2021 and must’ve decided it wasn’t worthy at the time. After a little processing, I’m very happy with how this one cleaned-up. Just too bad there weren’t any clouds to make for a more compelling sky. Nonetheless, I love the mood on this one.

I’ve completed my move from the Twin Cities to Duluth, Minnesota. I ventured out for my first sunrise, but there were a lot more clouds than forecasted. Just as I was about to pack things up, a small break in the clouds appeared and the sky briefly lit up with some beautiful warm rays over the aerial lift bridge.

I haven’t done any shooting in quite a while. I lost my job last year, and have not had any luck in my job search. Seems nobody finds value in a user interface software developer in his 60’s. That has led to some difficult financial decisions, one of which has been to sell my house, pay-off my mortgage, and downsize to a smaller place. Once that decision was made, I needed to do some soul-searching about where I wanted to be for this next stage of life. The kids are out of the house, there’s no longer anything tying me to the Twin Cities, and my true love has always been Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. With all that in mind, I’m happy to report that I will soon be living much closer to the North Shore. Once I’m settled-in, I hope to spend much more time exploring and photographing Minnesota’s Arrowhead region. It is and always has been my happy place. With all the idiocy going on in the country right now, it’s time to concentrate on the only things I have control of for my own well-being.

The second of two Bryan Hansel workshops I attended in 2024 was his Northern Night Skies workshop. Based in Grand Marais, Minnesota, we spent a few July nights photographing the night sky at various locations on Minnesota’s North Shore. We had some great weather, and I came away with many shots that I’m very happy with. Here’s a slideshow I put together of my images from the trip:

I haven’t been very motivated to go out shooting lately, but in 2024 I attended a couple of Bryan Hansel’s workshops in Grand Marais. Bryan is an interesting guy who knows Minnesota’s North Shore like the back of his hand. The April workshop was centered around waterfalls, and I also worked-in some excursions of my own during the down time. Here’s a slideshow I created of my images from the trip:

I was going through some old images, looking for things that might be worthy of a revisit, and found this shot of Yosemite Falls from 1983. My buddy Pete and I took a two week road trip from Minnesota to California in my 1974 Camaro, each of us with $500 in our pockets.

I took this shot with my old Minolta XG-1, scanned it many years ago, and recently ran it through some modern software in an attempt to bring it back to life. It’s not really a portfolio shot, but it’s not too bad for a 21 year old with a new camera, trying to figure out photography. Brings back good memories of a simpler time.

Greetings! I’ve done some substantial upgrades to the site and moved it to a new host. This new platform will allow me to make blog posts as well as share my images. I’ve grown disenchanted with Facebook and other social media, and the thought of moving things to a central location has been attractive. This is a first step in that direction. If you encounter any problems with the site (desktop or mobile), please let me know.

I could have some big life changes coming later this year, and I think that will be a good thing for my photography. Stay tuned.