Way back when, nearly 60 years ago, I entered the Fourth Estate, otherwise known as professional journalism. About this time of year the editors, perhaps in need of filling space with the shrinking of the newsy tidbits that seemed to ebb with the holiday season, would ask us to select our favorite stories or photographs they would then feature in the paper.
Long retired from the grind of my former profession, about a dozen years ago I began to fully focus on the last one percent of the prairie pothole ecosystem with my camera. Since then my work has been featured in various galleries, art shows, a few magazines and here at my home studio especially during the annual Upper Minnesota River Arts Meander. For the past several years I’ve gone back to that old newspaper gig of selecting what I considered my favorite 12 images of the year.
My selection process began the day after Christmas and my selections were chosen in typical brainstorming fashion … by gleaning through my monthly files of images to place in a desktop file. At that point there were a few favorites, yet that wasn’t the point of this annual review. Later would come the judgement. I wanted a dozen, but another five were so close that I found myself continually adding and subtracting … so here are my 12 plus a few others, for whatever it’s worth. By the way, thanks for your continued engagement and support of my work.
Years ago my Art of Erosion was part of a Smithsonian traveling water exhibit, and I’ve still found myself still searching for imagery of dirt captured in the snow … like this image that I call the “Monks of Dirt.”The past couple of years we’ve been blessed with Northern Lights, and this was among my favorites … lights framed by a grove of trees at a wetland not far from here.So far I’ve made four trips to the annual Sandhill Crane migration in central Nebraska, although this time I didn’t rent a blind. This image was captured at dusk in a stalk field on our last night there.Nearby is the Big Stone NWR, consisting of backwater sloughs, shoulders of granite and gneiss outcrops and a beautiful prairie … where this tree was captured within the bloom of June.Another nearby “must” is the Bonanza Education Center of Big Stone Lake State Park, where I caught this “Sumac Feast.”When I visited the Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park, a few years ago, time restraints convinced me to skip a hike down to the falls. I made it back in October, and this was made just below the falls where oak leaves caught droplets from the falls.A late afternoon image of an oak in the Bonanza prairie. The lines. The colors. The blessings of light on the prairie grasses. The craginess!Swans are almost always a part of Maplewood State Park, and I loved the feel of this one caught through the twinning of underbrush. A feel of stained glass … Thanks to my good friend, Chris Ingebretsen, manager of Bluemounds State Park, I’ve been able to capture various images of the extremely rare White Fringed Prairie Orchid. Yes, it is on the Endangered Species List.An array of autumn color in the hills of Nerstrand Big Woods SP.Another Bonanza image, of the aftermath of a strong storm system that rocked the prairie for a long summer afternoon.The last of my 12, a double rainbow blessed with the help of a crow.
Here are the ones that were close, so my apologies …
Since my retirement I’ve mostly avoided making images involving human involvement, yet this image from Lake Superior grabs me. This was the first night after an aborted effort to do the Lake Superior Circle Tour, when we were able to secure the last available camping spot in a commercial campground, one on a rise overlooking the lake. This, during the “blue hour,” was the highlight of our trip.Following the election I was in search of calm waters … the East Pool of the Refuge. A “fan” of prairie color from the Big Stone NWR … Captured as we were leaving Frontenac State Park, just because I love trees and beautiful colors.And this one, just because I love the color and feel.
Thanks for hanging in there with me. And, here’s to a healthy, peaceful and engaging New Year!
Listening Stones Farm 
Very well done, sir. Beautiful images.
Your Pictures are beautiful. I wish you a happy New Year