DaveEnglund.Name/DBlog

First Picture From Grand Marais Trip

Yes, I'm back from "Da Nort Country, don't ya know" ;-)

 

And, as always, it is God's special blessing in the Midwest - the great Lake Superior and Grand Marais go together like two peas in a pod. There will of course be many more pics to come, but this is my first shared image after a cursory review of the whole lot.

 

Hope you enjoy!

For the technical among us:

Date Take: Saturday, September 27, 2008, 6:29:27 AM
Exposure time: 30s
Exposure program: Aperture priority
F-Number: F18.0
Focal length (mm): 28
ISO value: 1250

 

Yes, as those of you who are photography buffs have already surmised, this is a high-grain picture due to shooting at an ISO of 1250 (and exposing for 30 seconds!). Even so, it seems quite dramatic and moody. I do not mind the grain in this case. This is a copied and tweaked jpg (no manipulation), so there is some loss of detail I suspect. I'll soon work with the RAW file (digital negative) and see how that turns out in comparison. But, it so captured my attention tonight that I just thought I'd do a quick post-process and post it online for your enjoyment.

 

Grand Marais harbor was my special study this trip. This is looking Eastward from the West side of the harbor. I spent both Saturday and Sunday mornings shooting this particular outcrop of rocks as a foreground subject for the harbor study. That means I was there in the dark on the rocks at 6 AM until the sun had come up around 6:30 AM, still shooting some time past that.  There are more "keepers" to come, which I will post in my online gallery when time permits.

 

I am thankful for the Lord's blessing and leading throughout this trip. He sweetly placed me in Grand Marais Saturday night. I didn't know why at first, only that I felt I was supposed to hang out there in town in the late afternoon instead of heading off on other adventures. I actually pulled out a book and started reading on a park bench, when after a few pages I noticed the enjoyable warmth of the evening light, and the Lord's Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Remember that evening light you wanted for shooting in town? This is it. Go shoot!" I did, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sunday night the light was in no way comparable. If I hadn't hung out in town Saturday that light would have been missed. Those pictures will be online soon as well.

 

Blessings ya'll :-)

Grand Marais bound

Its that time of year again - time for my annual Fall trip to Grand Marais Minnesota (and untold parts of the Northern Minnesota Lake Superior "North Shore").

View Larger Map

Just 268 miles from my home, and 110 miles Northeast of Duluth Minnesota, Grand Marais is the quintessential North Shore port town on the Minnesota stretch of Lake Superior. While not a shipping port, Grand Marais provides a small town seaside-like ambiance that can't be beat. And, its a great jumping off point for exploring some of Minnesota's best "North country."

I am hoping to do some serious nature and landscape photography. And, I may perhaps catch some of this year's Fall colors, but it looks like I planned this one about a week early. Last year I went up the North Shore the first weekend in October, and I was about a week past the prime colors. On that occasion, I stayed in the town of Silver Bay so I could explore Splitrock State Park and Gooseberry Falls State Park. It rained most of my trip and put a real damper on my hopes for photography, until God surprised me the last morning of my trip with this little scene...

I had just finished breakfast at a cafe in Beaver Bay Minnesota and was ready to "hit the road" for home. The Beaver River was right across the road and I thought, "I might as well walk over and see if I can get a decent shot of it." Standing on the bridge to capture an image of the Beaver River falls was just too provincial however. It's the shot everyone has. So, I decided to try and find a path down to the river itself and see if I could get a more creative shot.

On the way down I found myself descending a steep hillside. Since it had been raining for the past two days the ground was very slippery, and I lay old of every tree branch in reach to prevent myself from falling headlong with all my camera gear (camera, tripod, and equipment backpack). Suddenly, my attentions were attracted by a small runoff stream that was meandering steeply through the woods down to the Beaver River. The more I looked it over, the more I liked it for a photographic subject. I found a vantage point I liked, and then proceeded to spend the next hour taking images at various focal lengths and f/stops and with different lenses. Once I got home and began post-processing my images from the weekend I realized this was a very special image. And, it has grown on me more and more over the course of this past year. This particular presentation ( or, crop) of the image calls to mind Jesus' words, "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

It's certainly a "rumours of glory" shot (Ref. Bruce Cockburn). This, and other landscape & nature images of mine can be viewed at my online gallery: www.davidenglundphotography.com. Look for new shots there in a week or two ;-)

Keeping the flame alive

This is my latest digital image capture of a specimen from my rock & gem collection...

This is a Lake Superior Agate to be sure. It has a natural smooth appearance that is called "water polished." That is, the surface was polished over time as water flowed over it. This particular rock is 2.5-oz, and is about the size of a chestnut. I especially enjoy the natural design in the banding that looks like a lit flame - it's really uncanny.