Mike Houge

Backbone revisited:

Backbone State Park, Iowa's oldest- is like an old friend. I first visited this beautiful park over 25 years ago. The limestone bluffs, lake and trout streams are worth visiting over and over again. A couple of years ago, good friend Dan Ruf  (www.danielruf.typepad.com ) visited here and found some perfect weater- foggy, frosty and calm. Needless to say we had a blast for hours- capturing images- not only of the boathouse but in the valley around the trout streams.

This year, I wasn't lucky enough to catch the fog and the leaf colors weren't in their prime but I sure had a good time. The boathouse and several other building were built by the CCC in the 30's and they have a large campground also available.

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.

 

Christmas is in the air:

It's been a busy time around the Hedge household and also for many of the folks I've visited with. Dan Ruf and I had our "Throught The Lens" reception last Thursday evening at Arts On Grand and I would like to thank all of you that were so kind to stop by and see our work. For those of you that had conflicts and would like to see our work, it will be up until January 7th.
I will make this quick this week but did want to share some Christmas spirit with you and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I want to that all of you that have taken time to visit this site and thank you for your kind comments.
The pink flamingo above is a special gift for our friends Greg and Laurie in Des Moines. We've had a lot of fun over the years with the traveling flamingo and we just never know where it might show up.Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful holiday season.

 

Minnesota follow-up :

 
This image was taken at Two Harbors, Mn 2 weeks ago. Everything was coated in ice and it was cold and windy but the greenish color to the thick ice and the handrails leading out to the lighthouse attracted me to this image.

 
It was a little warmer this morning so I didn't get the fog I was hoping for but the sunrise with the sun dog was eye catching. The ice shards were found in the bays where the wind would push them up along the shore but even then they were hard to find. This image was just north of Duluth about three miles.

 
This was taken at Canal Park in Duluth, MN. Very similar to last weeks leading image but without the tree and bench. It took several shots to capture all the lights and reflections in the fog but I thought this was a keeper. I would like to thank you for stopping by and I hope we have a warmer week.

Fall, a little longer:

I had a small window of opportunity yesterday morning to spend some time at Fort Defiance. It was really peaceful along the creek that meanders through the park like a long snake. I was afraid the water level would be to low to enjoy ands that there'd be nothing to capture but I was wrong on both accounts. I was able to find one last flowering plant along the creek that somehow the frost and wind had missed, one last goodbye to summer.

 
I took the time to walk through the valley enjoying the peacefulness and the beauty of the leaves carpeting the floor and I have to confess I lost myself in the moment. I couldn't help but wonder if this would be my last chance this year to enjoy what was left of fall. I hope you've found an opportunity to enjoy this nice long season and thanks for stopping by.

 

Fall colors are coming:

Every year now for more years than I can remember, my wife and I have traveled to northern Minnesota with the hopes of catching fall colors just right. Usually we hear- "you should have been here last week" or "you're a week too soon", but this year we really lucked out and we hit it "just right"!.

I think these images epitomize our findings this trip - a nice palette of colors and good water flow in the streams. It's hard to put into words the feelings you experience when you drive for miles surrounded by oceans of yellows, gold and reds, colors so bright it almost hurts your eyes. The most vibrant of colors were off highway 61, inland five to ten miles from the towns of Lutsen, Tofte and Grand Marais.The roads in the back roads are narrow graveled forest service roads and care must be used as the logging trucks are huge and they drive really fast. Although there are few homes in this area, you'll see lots of folks like yourself, enjoying the fall scenery and stopping on the narrow roads taking pictures.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my photo blog and please remember to mark your calendar, as this weekend is the Artisans Road trip and I and several other artists will be at the Piece Of Work, downtown Spirit Lake Friday from 4 to 8 and Sat & Sun from 9 to 5. Refreshments will be served and there will be lots of catching up to do. Hope to see you there!  

Minneopa State Park

My friend Dan called me a week or two ago ( www.danielruf.typepad.com) on his way back from Northern Minnesota and told me I'd better get up to Minneopa State Park near Mankato as the River there was in good shape for photographing. As you can see from the above image- he was right.

I got up at 4:45 AM and drove for two hours to try and catch some good reflections on the river. As luck had it, things were really in good order and using Photomatix Pro 3 and merging three images I think I was able to not only capture some nice reflections but also slow down the water without any blowouts. I like to use the HDR technique on images like this one due to the fact that the lighting was harsh enough that to blur the water without blowouts and yet get the reflections I wanted the image would have been to dark for my liking.

If you'd like to see other fine HDR images check out my friend Dans site above or try Tony Sweets site www.Tonysweet.com both use HDR beautifully. As for the state park- it's 5 miles west of Mankato on Hwys 68 & 169 and along with the beautiful double water falls it has several buildings built by the CCC in 1939, 4-5 miles of hiking trails, 60 plus camp sites and a German style grist mill you can visit. A great place to camp or stop for a pic-nic.I hope you have a great week and thanks for stopping by.