Lake Superior Summer Solstice Sunrise

During my  June trip through the upper Midwest I spent several days in Minnesota. The day before the Summer Solstice I arrived at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was a Saturday and the park was absolutely packed with people enjoying the spectacular waterfalls. Because of harsh light and the crowds of people I did very little photography that day, instead I scouted locations along the shore for the following morning’s sunrise.  I woke the next morning at about 4:00 AM and could tell almost immediately that the dawn light and sunrise was going to be spectacular.  I hiked down to the shore to the spots I had scouted the day before and waited for the light show to begin and Summer  officially start. As you can see from the two images below I was not disappointed!

Lake Superior Summer Solstice Dawn Light

Summer Solstice Sunrise Over Lake Superior

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Show at Gallery NRC, Denver

During the Month of September I will be having a show at Gallery NRC in the Tennyson Arts District of Denver, Colorado. The opening will be Friday September 4  as part of the First Friday Art Walk. The gallery is located at 4424 Tennyson Street in Denver, and  I will be present from 5:00-10:00 PM to greet and discuss my work with you. I will have about 15 prints  displayed including some of my new work from this Summer’s travels.

photo: Green River Storm Light

Storm clouds in the Upper Green River Valley, Wyoming

Here is another image from my recent Wyoming trip. After hiking out in the snow and rain from the Deep Lake area in the Wind Rivers  I headed to the upper Green River valley near Green River Lakes. The afternoon of August 15 provided some of the most amazing storm light I have witnessed with rapidly moving clouds punctuated by changing sun light. It was spectacular to watch and photograph. This image is one of several I made throughout the late afternoon. What makes this one standout is the light highlighting  the  colors of the marsh grasses along the river in combination with the incredible sky and clouds.  Sometimes you get lucky!

Another upcoming show: Winter-Helmich Gallery

I will be the featured artist along with sculptor Ruth Burink at the Winter-Helmich Gallery in Monument Colorado for the next month. The show opening will be this Thursday August 20 as part of the  Monument Art Hop held every third Thursday in June-September. Ruth and I will be present  from 5:00 – 8:00 PM to greet and discuss our art with you. The gallery is located at 47 Third Street, in Monument Colorado.

Wind River Range Trip

I returned last night from a trip into the Wind River Range in Wyoming where I backpacked into the Deep Lake area from the Big Sandy Opening trail-head.  As much I like to photograph the prairie, there are times I need to return to the mountains and the alpine environment; places that are close to my heart and I came to love when I first ventured west as an undergraduate geology student at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. Although I have visited and traveled in many  of the mountain ranges in the West over the last 35 years, I have  not really been back to the “Winds” since I was a serious technical mountain climber back in my 20’s and 30’s. It was an immense pleasure to travel once again into what I consider to be some of  the finest  mountains in  the West and I was blessed with interesting weather and some stunning light.  The two images below were made early  in the morning on August 14 in  Deep Lake  cirque with the rugged and magnificent peaks of East Temple and Temple Peak rising over the lake. I was very fortunate to have  fabulous  early morning golden light, along with  perfectly calm conditions that allowed me to make an almost perfect reflection image of Temple Peak in the lake. It was the start of a  wonderful day in the magical environment of the alpine zone of the Wind Rivers.

Temple Peak Reflects in Deep Lake ©Stephen Weaver

Temple and East Temple Peaks, Wind River Range ©Stephen Weaver

Upcoming Exhibitions

Chico Basin Summer Clouds ©Stephen Weaver

I have recently been notified of my work being accepted into two upcoming  exhibitions, The Black and White Exhibition at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins Colorado, and The Fine Arts  Exhibition at the Colorado State Fair.  I am particularly pleased about the Black and White Show selection as my image Chico Basin Summer Clouds was one of 51 images selected from 2200 entries.The Black and White Exhibition will be showing from August 28- September 16

Two images, Crestone Peaks and Sand Dunes, and Iris Meadow Sunset were selected  for the State Fair, which runs from August 27-September 7. I will be attending the opening reception on August 27 from 5-8PM

Year in the Life of a Camera show

In 2004 I participated in a unique photography project which became known as A Year in the Life of a Camera. Basically what this project entailed was one camera, a Canon AE-1  35mm film camera, being provided to one photographer to use for one week to photograph anything that photographer was interested in with the only rule being that the photographs would be Black and White! Fifty-two photographers participated resulting  in images made over a complete calendar year. Each photographer submitted 3 images and we all got together to pick one from each participant. These 52 images became the Year in the Life of a Camera Exhibit. The exhibit has been shown in several venues and for the next month will be shown in Colorado Springs Colorado at Heebee Jeebees located at 318 E. Colorado Ave. The opening reception will be August 7, 2009.

KRCC’s The Big Something has a great slide show and interview with my friend  and one of the main organizers,Heather Oelklaus about the show here:

http://krccnetwork.org/tbs/2009/08/06/diary-of-a-camera-in-pictures/

Photo: Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge Aspen and Ferns

Ferns grow in a grove of Aspen in Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota ©Stephen Weaver

During my Mid-West trip I spent several days in Minnesota including time at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior and Buffalo River State Park  just east of Moorhead. The day I traveled to Buffalo River SP I passed through Tamarac National Wildlife refuge on a  rather rainy afternoon. Tamarac NWR lies just at the western edge of the great northern forests of northern Minnesota and within 15 miles of the refuge  you reach the prairie. The rainy day provided excellent soft light that is perfect for photographing forest environments. Wandering a bit in this forest I found this composition of aspen trees and ferns.

Photo:Lake Superior Pastel Dawn

Continuing on with the sunrise – dawn light theme, I present an image from the UP of Michigan, made in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Of the two sunrises I photographed there, this is my favorite.  I was drawn to the  simple  almost minimalist layered composition and of course the beautiful pastel shades of reds, orange and blues. Of several exposures, this provided the slight wave-ripple on the water that adds strength to the composition. One other composition note: I placed the horizon right in the middle to divide the image into two major layers of water and sky, each of which have subtle layers within them bases on color tones.  Enjoy:

Lake Superior Dawn, Porcupine Mtns State Park, MI ©Stephen Weaver