Root River Photography’s Year in Review

January found me still riding the wave of an Amazing Aurora Exhibit at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota.

That is the month teaching Night Sky Photography Workshops also began. The wolf center staff encouraged and taught me how to create a great learning platform for students wanting to acquire a skill from someone with years of field experience. The classes filled up quickly and often had a waiting list. The initial group was filled with friendly faces who did nothing but encourage me as I stumbled a bit trying to find my way.

January Class: Image courtesy of Tom Pinkerton via Judy Hunter’s camera.

February workshop demonstration: Image courtesy Jackie Runions.

February brought the Great Nordic BeardFest! Not doing much event photography, I will admit that capturing images of this lively group was a highlight of my winter. A special thank you to Shaun Chosa of Wicked Son Designs for all of the time and effort he puts into great events like this. The 2nd Annual BeardFest is February 5th & 6th. Have you signed up yet?

Me, taking a break!

The deep freeze of winter proved to be perfect for working on projects. When Alanna Dore, executive director of The Listening Point Foundation, asked me to pair a dozen of my images with Sigurd Olson’s writings for their 2016 calendar, I simply couldn’t say no. Humbled to follow in the footsteps of Jim Brandenburg, whose images graced the pages of the current year’s calendar, I scoured thousands of my own images as I reread through passages of Sigurd Olson’s books The Singing Wilderness & Listening Point.

One of my personal favorites turned out to be July’s Pileated Woodpeckers.

“There would always be lesser types on the point, the diminutive downy, the sapsucker, and the hairy. These I could take for granted, and I enjoyed them none the less, but it was the pileated that really put the stamp of wilderness on the area.”

Listening Point Chapter 23, page197

Photographer’s Field Notes: For a week and a half I returned to this spot, watching the adults tend to the nest cavity and the presumed offspring. Just days before this image was made, I could hear the meep, meep sounds of two chicks. I can only presume they were conversing about the crazy lady sitting in her car on those hot summer days trying not to make a peep herself.

This image is not in the calendar, but I thought you might enjoy it just the same.

Take a moment to read any passage from Sigurd Olson’s books and you will be drawn into the beauty that fills our wilderness. I have a handful of Listening Point calendars still in stock, if you’re interested. Here is a quick link to the store.

With a new Exhibition on the horizon, I worked with Scott Mehus at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota during late February and into March. He taught me how to find both the national bird of the United States, the American Bald Eagle, along with the Golden Eagle which is known as one of the best birds of prey in the northern hemisphere. The opportunity to spend weeks watching these birds in their natural habitat helped me gain an understanding of how they thrive in our ever changing environment. Most of the images I gathered of the Golden Eagles were simply at a distance too far for my equipment to make a proper image. Yes, one day I do hope to own an 800mm lens! If you want a good look at live Golden and Bald Eagles, make sure to visit the National Eagle Center. Winter is a fantastic time to learn more about them.

Layers of winter wear kept me warm as I waited for action. Image courtesy of my assistant for the trip, Kristen Williams.

“Landing Gear”
Bald eagle just about to set foot on some ice floating down the Mississippi River. While photographing 6 other eagles doing acrobatics at a distance, Kristen kept a keen eye out for the “wings spread position – flying into the light”! After working with me for a week, we became quite good at reading each other’s signals. Within a minute of making this image a train rolled in between us and the river. Needless to say, the birds did not stick around!

Springtime did not disappoint where the auroras are concerned. As in previous years, around the solstice and equinox we are often graced with amazing displays of the northern lights dancing overhead. Here are some of my favorites!

“Edge of Night”
There really is nothing better than photographing the night sky alongside of my husband, Tom.

“Singing in the Rain”
It surprises me how often our eyes pick out common shapes in the movement of the colorful curtains that make their way across the horizon.

“Infinite Bliss”
Not able to capture the entire display with the 16-35mm lens, I quickly swapped it out for a fisheye allowing for a clean shot of the entire swirl!

As May brought the Aurora exhibit to an end at the International Wolf Center, a new collection of my images became the subject of the current exhibition in that gallery: Raptors – Predators from the Sky. If you have not yet seen this display, it is still up for another few months! The Center is open on the weekends during the winter. Besides the display, it is amazing to see the ambassador wolves in their full winter coats!

The final few weeks of the month took me out to Montana and Wyoming where I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to photograph grizzlies in the wild with their young! Special thanks to my colleagues for pointing me in the right direction at the right times!

Making it back to Minnesota just in time for the Grand Opening of the Raptor Exhibition in June, along with setting up shops and shooting a yearly event along the shores of Lake Michigan, I was lured back to the Rocky Mountains for a chance to photograph a very light colored grizzly cub of the year along with its littermate & mom.

The remainder of July, August and September kept me in the midwest. It provided time to not only catch up on office work, but gave the chance to spend time with family and friends!

Making an image of a bull elk in the mist is on my radar every time I am in the habitat where these magnificent creatures live! Often seeing them separately, October provided me with the ultimate opportunity. I still remember photographing the “big boy” next to the road with dozens of other tourists, then out of the corner of my eye I saw this elk make his way along the tree line and head toward the river. The filtered morning light was perfect as I hightailed it away from the full frame subject to take a chance on making the landscape image I had envisioned for years.

Driving through Canada may seem like taking the long way home from Wyoming, but with good friends and the allure of auroras, it turned out to be the perfect thing to do!

The end of the month brought the Great Lakes Aurora Hunters Gathering along Lake Superior where I was a guest speaker. Ninety-nine people had signed up for the session, and as nervous as I was, many of those initial students from the first workshop back in January were there giving the support I needed to make it through an hour plus presentation. It’s their commitment that’s instrumental in helping me realize my full potential. A true gift, and I am beyond grateful for their friendship!

With a high-speed stream of solar wind reaching Earth at the beginning of November, I headed out shortly before moonrise. Positioning myself at an angle that would allow me to capture the color of the moon cresting over the horizon (it was surprisingly bright orange!) and picking up the glow of the northern lights, I created the scene with stark trees bordering the landscape under a star-filled sky.

“Moonlight Glow” • November 2, 2015 • Babbitt, Minnesota

Frankly, December was filled with fun! Christmas parties, cookie and ornament exchanges, judging a lighting contest and of course learning the new game Pie Face! If you have not tried this one, I guarantee it is fun for the whole family!

Thanks for following along on another year of crazy adventures!