Derek's Photo Blog » Duluth

Sea Smoke :: Duluth, MN

DRock — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:42:46 +0000

When the temperature in Duluth gets insanely cold, sea smoke rises from Lake Superior and shrouds the shoreline and anything out in the water in an eerie mist. On a simpler level, it’s basically fog formed when very cold air moves over warmer water. The same principle leads to lake-effect snow.

I have no idea how in the previous three years that I’ve been up here that I never made it down to the shore or up along Skyline Parkway to photograph this amazing event. I have no doubt I will be returning later this week for some more shots. To get these, I had to rise at 530 a.m. and drive down to Canal Park. I made it there way too early as I waited in the parking lot for almost an hour before any light broke through the horizon. At about 7 a.m., the parking lots began filling with other people who had the same idea as me. They lugged their tripods, cameras, jackets and mittens out to the shore to capture what in my mind is one of nature’s most awesome spectacles around these parts. The temperature when I stepped out of the house this morning was a balmy 21 below zero with wind chills approaching 35 below. Beautiful day.

The shots of the lighthouse were taken in Canal Park while the shots from above were taken along Skyline Parkway. Next time I am going to have to remember to bring my tripod as I missed some cool shots right when the light was breaking through, but I’m both happy with my first effort and in awe of what Mother Nature shows us each and everyday.

Lester Park Transformed

DRock — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:46:14 +0000

I always get excited when the first snowstorm of the year comes. Visions of snowdrifts 20 feet high and winds tearing through the city are what I hope for when every storm approaches and with wishes like this, you get let down most of the time. Either way, the first storm of the year is always a rush and brings out the kid in me. This year I wanted to illustrate what this park looked like before and after the first storm of the year. Here are the results. Click the arrows below the image to move through the transitions.

The scenes in the slideshow above are from Lester Park and it’s located in between the Lester River and Amity Creek. There are a lot of trails and both the creek and river are the types you can walk across in the summer as they are filled with rocks and boulders and are not very deep. It’s a great place to run and an even better place to photograph.

I was inspired by this posting on The Big Picture blog and set out to emulate it. If you don’t have this site bookmarked, you are really missing out on some fantastic stuff. To get the framing of my pictures after the storm to almost perfectly match the initial pictures, I photographed the finished product on screen. I was having trouble simply putting the original files back on the card and seeing them on the back of the camera so I saw this instead…
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I eliminated about ten different scenes and a few more once I was in the park. Some things did not change much like a colorful brick wall that I was hoping would be covered in ice, but instead looked like it did the day before the storm. However, most of the scenes worked and I’m pretty happy with my initial effort. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them in the comments section below this post. Thanks!

Alissa & Jared’s Wedding Album — Duluth, MN

DRock — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:23:21 +0000

Name sound familiar? I posted images from this August wedding a couple months ago. For about half the weddings I shoot, the couple requests an album and the last few months of the year are usually spent working around the clock to put these together and get them out before the holidays. I’ve found designing albums to be a nice change of pace and something I enjoy more and more. Well this was the book I designed for them. The first image in the gallery is the cover, while the second image in the slideshow is the opening page which does not have an opposing page hence just the single square image. The rest are two page spreads.

I’d love to hear comments about the design and any suggestions. This is something I’m still fairly new at, but enjoy more and more each year. Thanks!

A Return to Public Schools Stadium

DRock — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:01:27 +0000

This evening I made my triumphant return to Public Schools Stadium and the first thing I did after stepping inside was ordering two hot dogs, a Kit Kat bar and a Gatorade. Those three things more than anything else tell me that fall has descended upon Duluth. Don’t mind the changing of the leaves, the threat of snowflakes on the Minnesota-Canada border or the increasingly frequent need to don long-sleeve attire. No, none of that tells me fall is here. It’s that wonderful concoction of two hot dogs, a candy bar and a Gatorade that tell me fall sports have begun.

When I worked at the Duluth News Tribune, it marked the beginning of my favorite seven months on the job. I could hardly believe I was getting paid to attend sporting matches and take photographs.

Well all that is in the past now, but I don’t plan on giving that up and the same indicators of fall descending upon Duluth remain. That’s how I found myself at Public Schools Stadium tonight shooting a matchup of Duluth East and Duluth Central girls soccer. While the match wasn’t that competitive, East won 11-0, I was able to make a few decent frames and get back into the swing of things so to say.

I’ve got a really cool project I’m working on right now that I’ll keep quiet about, but when it happens you are going to see a ton of cool stuff on here when it is done.

And here are three frames from tonight’s game…

Alissa & Jared’s Wedding in Duluth, MN

DRock — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:27:58 +0000

About a month ago, I was able to spend 16 hours with Alissa and Jared from the time they began decorating the Depot in downtown Duluth until midnight rolled around and the reception ended. In between, it was an awesome journey marked by some really cool moments. Shortly after saying their vows and immediately after the minister proclaimed them husband and wife, a larger crack of thunder echoed out of the clouds and rain began to fall, but the wedding party was prepared. Umbrellas shot up over the bride and groom and two members of the bridal party grabbed a chair and used that for cover. It was definitely something I had never seen before at a wedding, but who wants a boring and uneventful wedding day right?

Now, a month later, here are some photos from their day at Alissa’s aunt’s home in east Duluth, Leif Erickson Park and the Depot. I’m in the middle of designing their wedding album and will post pictures of that once that is done. Hopefully these pictures can illustrate how awesome of a day it was and how much of a great time I had covering their wedding day.