This post is somewhat late in coming.  I had many opportunities to take interesting photos last summer but for one reason or another, they didn’t make it here until now.

Perhaps the highlight of the summer was the week I spent in Grand Marais, Minnesota. There I was very fortunate to take a four-day workshop with photographer Layne Kennedy, at the North House Folk School.  One of the key things I worked on was placing my camera settings in 100% manual mode.  After a few days of shooting, I found I had much more control of the variables and the results.  I even got to the point where the camera started to feel at home as an extension of my arm and hand. Yes, I may miss some shots that way, but part of the technique is to learn to anticipate when it is best to switch to one of the “priority” modes.

The workshop was wonderful with a great teacher.  Another lucky thing (for photographers) was that the region was just coming off of a season of snow melt and torrential rains.  So the waterfalls in Grand Portage State Park were gushing. I used the Live ND feature of my camera to take the shots of waterfalls you will see below.  They were shot at a slow shutter speed without a tripod.

Before arriving in Grand Marais, Penny and I rented a cabin on Lotus Lake in western Wisconsin.  My photos of dragonflies and herons were taken there.  Also in Wisconsin, we rented a cabin on a working farm, where I was able to photograph interesting fungi as well as some farm architecture.

On our way home to New Mexico, we took the opportunity to visit Taos.  We spent a whole day exploring the 1,000-year-old Taos Pueblo, with its vibrant Native American culture and its ancient adobe dwellings that are still inhabited by the indigenous community.   We also did some hiking along the awesome Rio Grande Gorge.

Last for the year is a landscape photo taken close to home, when Penny and I hiked part of the Sierra Vista Trail on our anniversary in October.  The blooming apache plume in the Organ Mountains was an unexpected treat.  I hope you enjoy looking at these photos even if they are a bit late in coming.