Blog Archives

Cranes in Spring

cranes in airFriends, yes the cranes will return to Crex Meadows soon in all their spring finery, this image was taken last year about this time of year, but last year we had no snow at this time, now we have feet of snow on the ground and more coming today, ugh!!, but the color in this image helped to brighten my day, hope you like, til Tomorrow MJ

 

Icy Textures

icy black and whiteFriends, this icy scene is a black and white of a previous image that i showed you in color, I am practicing black and white conversions of  colored images, however, in the winter most of the images that are taken are probably more accurately rendered in black and white.  Not much color in nature in the winter here. Frustrates me no end. I will have to settle for icy textures this morning, til Tomorrow MJ

 

Icy Lake Superior

Friends, this image of Icy Lake Superior was taken where the surfers, a few days ago were enjoying open water, now it is frozen and slivers of ice cover the bay. Part of this image is my new header and it will remain at the head of my posts until I see the green of spring, a little rebellion from the photographer who is pretty sick of winter, til Tomorrow MJicy superior2

The Hunting Eye

eye of hunterFriends, another wolf face from the International Wolf Center in Ely Minnesota.  This is a male, but not sure if it is Boltz a ten month old puppy, or Aidan, the five year old. They appear to have very similar markings, at least on the face.  Regardless of which wolf it is, the eyes are tuned into a hunting mode, and  like Luna, he was chasing the ravens away from the tidbits of food left over from the Saturday night feast.  til Tomorrow MJ

 

Luna the Wolf

luna portFriends, this is Luna, the black wolf from wolf center in Ely.  I took lots of images of her, but not sure why my camera was so attracted to her.  Is it because she is female, because she is black, because she was most active chasing the ravens, or is it the faraway look in her eyes.  She is young (10 months) and still ambitious, I am old and not so ambitious anymore. I envy her energy chasing illusions of wildness, even tho they fly when she approaches.  Not unlike the humans watching her. til Tomorrow MJ

 

Tiny Angel

angelFriends, went to Como Conservatory with my sister and mom, this orchid struck me as a red angel against a cloud of yellow.  The colors in the indoor jungle atmosphere were a wonderful lift when winter is still menacing and spring is not far off.  These orchids were perched in front of a gray neutral card and seemed the perfect background, maybe this was planned so I made use of the planning.  Orchids are so varied, til Tomorrow MJ

 

Denali-Gray Wolf

denali wolf iwcFriends, this male timber wolf is in the enclosure at the International Wolf Center in Ely Minnesota.  His name is Denali and he is five years old this spring.  While he is a captive animal I think that the pose and eyes still reveal a wildness that resonates in my soul.  I am basically a wild human at heart.  til Tomorrow MJ

 

Icy Splash

spraayFriends, the rocks along the shores of Lake Superior are covered with ice but the waves keep crashing in.  I like the liquid phase and solid phase of water in this image, only can be captured by standing in the minus zero windchills without gloves.  When the fingers are frozen, you get to get back in the warmth of the vehicle. Dreaming of tall ships on the Lake and spring flowers that bloom indoors at this time of year.  Maybe a trip to the conservatory this week will fill up my color meter with spring flower color.  til Tomorrow MJ

Sky problems

frost woodsFriends, This beautiful morning on the way to the Wolf Center in Ely Minnesota, the temps were around zero F, so frost was very heavy near Lake Superior.  The bottom image is of the same region.  I have globs of something on my sensor that will not clean off with the sensor cleaning kit, also the dust delete software solution by Canon has limited range of removal capabilities.  Found a Photoshop solution that seems to work with these images, make a duplicate layer of the background, run the filter/noise/dust , set the level to 30-60, this will blur the image significantly but will also get rid of globies, now put a mask on this layer and paint with brush to get back the detailed areas, cool , it works, til Tomorrow MJ

frosty tree

Timber Wolf-Luna

luna IWCFriends, this female timber wolf or gray wolf is Luna, from the International Wolf Center exhibit group.  She is the only female with three male animals in the enclosure.  Spectators can view through huge glass windows and stay warm inside when temperatures outside are below zero F.  She is very dark colored and representative of 3-5 % of gray wolf population who are black or nearly black.  Her dark color soaks up the sun and she sleeps soundly in the sunshine.  til Tomorrow MJ