Northern Minnesota is beautiful. I had an awesome time hanging out with a good friend and we were lucky to have free lodging on his uncle’s land. I went to Squaw Lake (A town name the Native American population there abhors) to shoot the night time sky and with any luck some wildlife during the day. I’d say we were at least somewhat successful on both accounts and had a few surprises along the way.
I have several star trail compositions in the works, but so far the results are a bit lackluster. We had intermittent cloud cover most nights, and on the night that would have been very clear (for summertime air anyway) a mysterious fog rolled in. We woke in the morning to learn that Canada was on fire and sending her smoke south. This caused air quality issues for the rest of the trip. Consequently, my night time photography looks grungy. We’ll see… (I was in Canada last summer to shoot Banff, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake and on that trip the US was on fire and sending her smoke north. I just can’t win.)
We had a bit more luck with wildlife during the day. I saw pelicans, osprey, eagles, hawks, and more than a few deer. (My friend Jason also caught a bunch of fish - does that count?) I caught a few great images of the pelicans and a Bald Eagle.
We also (quite by accident) saw a lumberjack skills demonstration on a day trip to Bemidji. It was pretty entertaining.
The bugs of northern Minnesota are nearly unbearable. Mosquitoes are relentless and abundant. So are the ticks. Add to the mix deer and horse flies and you have a situation that can only be made better with copious amounts of bug spray and beer. I applied both.
