Mike Houge

The above image is from my recent trip up north. The fall color this year was very hard to find and we had to go inland to find this image. There is a long stretch of road (several miles) northwest of Tofte that is lined with maples and the foggy conditions really add to the mood.

Some years when the sun is shining the colors are so bright- it almost hurts the eyes. If some year you should go north for fall colors- there are several maps available for self guided tours. The above area is always a fun trip and the Carlton Peak area is also beautiful- if you can time it right.

As always- thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Here's a couple more images from my recent trip up north. I missed the best fall colors by at least two weeks but I was still able to find pockets of color. It seems I'm on a mission to capture as many birch trees as possible, before they're all gone. It's really sad how few are left compared to ten years ago.

The above image was something I've been working on for a few days. My friend Dan Ruf (www.danielruf.typepad.com ) mentioned a new software he found from JixiPix and I've really fallen in love with it. The above is a woodcut look and I thought it worked well with the birch.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a great week.

New techniques:

I've been having fun working with some new software from JixiPix. My wife wanted me to come up with a woodcut look for the Grand Marais light. It took some work to get the feel of what I had in mind and of course the colors had to blend with our living room ;-) . I hope you like the above image, it was fun doing something different.

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Grand Marais revisited:

My wife and I were able to go north for our birthdays last week and spent 4 nights in Grand Marais. For the first time this year the weather was fantastic, cool days and evenings. I wanted to find time to photograph items outside my comfort zone - due to the fact that I've been in a bit of a rut.

The bay there was full of sail boats but we only had one morning with calm winds so luckly I was up early to capture this scene. I filled up a memory card with a lot of new images but it remains to be seen if I let anyone else see them ;-) .

That's it for now- as always thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

The Lady:

I've been going up north long enough to have some favorite spots and the home of these lady slippers is one of them. This year finding these little beauties was tough and I walked by this one at least three times before I spotted it.

This single flower was perched on a hillside above a roaring stream, so I had to hang onto a small tree as I captured its beauty. The yellow in the background are bluebeads which I tried to capture for a little extra color.

Every year it's the same story, I forget just what to look for when the spring flowers start. It's like your eyes have to spend some time in the woods or prairie before they adapt to the location. I remember one year I was in a spot that should have lots of Jack-In-The-Pulpets and I just couldn't find them. I finally just stopped and stood still for a few moments- and there they were- hiding in plain view.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Foggy day at Two Harbors:

The above image is of a 1000 foot ore ship slowly emerging from the fog at Two Harbors, MN on Lake Superior. I had heard the fog horn go off while I was in the art gallery a few blocks away and raced to the harbor just in time to watch the behemoth pull in.

If you haven't experienced this - it's really hard to put into words- but it is awesome. My wife, Pam and I watched the ship until it had pulled around and into the docks. I suspect the ship was unloading ore- as it's riding rather low in the water.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week.

 

The Fishing Shed:

One of the things I enjoy about photography - is the unlimited possibilities once you click the shutter. Many times I have a vision of what the image should look like before I even capture it, knowing it won't look a lot like it did in real time.

We just got back from a quick trip up north and it not only rained but it was very foggy the whole time we were there. This old fishing shack on Stoney Point Road is a favorite of mine and I have captured it's image more times than I'd like to admit. This time I did a first- I pulled over in the truck and shut off the windsheild wipers and clicked away thru the rain on the windshield.

I knew at the time that I was going to turn it into a painterly effect and I feel real good about the final result. I love trying new things- especially when they turn out well :-) . Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Saying goodbye to fall?

Another fall season has passed way to quickly and I'm feeling rather cheated. In an effort to ease my pain and possibly yours, I have a few more fall images to post from previous years.

I hope you enjoy this set of images as much as I enjoyed taking them. These images always remind me of those warm dry days with a mild breeze and the sound of crunching leaves under foot.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have a great harvest season.

Northern MinnesotaColors:

My wife, Pam and I were able to get a way for a long weekend last week and this year we hit the fall colors around Grand Marais just right. It's always a risk picking a date months in advance and hoping the colors will wait around for you but occasionally mother nature takes pity. The above image was taken from the side of Carlton Peak near Tofte, and it was drop dead gorgeous.

We stayed in the beautiful little village of Grand Marais and I was taken back by the gorgeous sky Friday morning. I spent a lot of time there on the beach capturing the sail boats in the harbor and enjoying the calm morning ( it didn't hurt that the Java Moose coffee shop was across the street).

The above image was captured at another of my favorite haunts- Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. The weather was wonderful but the colors had reached their peak the week before we arrived but I thought this view over the old bridge still showed some promise.

Thanks for taking the time to let me share some of my northern images. The weather is turning cold and windy and I'm afraid we are about to lose the little color we have here in Iowa, so I hope you've had time to enjoy this years fall. Have a great week.

A quick trip to the Arrowhead Region:

My wife and I were able to escape to northern Minnesota a while back before the hustle of the Clay County Fair begins. We were greeted by rain and cooler weather while we were visiting, which was really appreciated. It's surprising - but there were signs of the leaf color changing. I figured with all the rain they've received it might hold off. I'm planning on a late month fall trip and I'm hoping there are still leaves on the trees.

The first image is from down in Canal Park at Duluth just at sunrise, it was one of those beautiful Lake Superior mornings. The second image is as you might guess- from Gooseberry Falls State Park north of Two Harbors. In both locations I wasn't the first one on the scene- which I found amusing, as that isn't common. Normally I have these spots to myself, I'm not used to sharing.

Thanks for stopping by and for the locals-maybe I'll see you at the Clay County Fair. By the way, there were aprx 2200 photos entries at the fair this year- not a record but close. I hope you can find time to stop and see all the beautiful images on display, I think it'll be worth your time. have a great week.