Michigan Ice Fest!

It's Michigan Ice Fest week here in the Munising, Michigan area of the Central Upper Peninsula.

The secret is out, Munising boasts the Midwest's largest concentration of climbable ice and the good folks over at Michigan Ice Fest have been hosting one of the nation's oldest ice climbing festivals now for nearly 30 years. I've been shooting it for awhile too, here are some picks. Climb on.

Above a gap on The Curtains, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan.

Sydney's is where the free Michigan Ice Fest beer can be found

Yea, I like this one too; The Dryer Hose, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan, Pictured Rocks

Good things happen at Michigan Ice Fest.

Bad things can happen too, but nobody laughs out loud, and newbs still get free beer too.

Recent Work-Marquette Michigan feature in Lakeland Boating

Check out the February issue of Lakeland Boating magazine for my 12-page feature on Marquette Michigan, the place I'm lucky enough to call home.

Lakeland Boating is based in Chicago, has a circulation of about 40,000 subscribers and covers inland and Great Lakes sailing and power boating in the Great Lakes region. I had no idea how popular it was in Marquette until the article came out and every boat owner in the region sent me an email. That was very cool. Freelancing is a solitary lifestyle and it's good to hear from readers, so thanks to all of you.

You can download a PDF of the article off my site by clicking the image below, then choosing "download original file" off the site page, or follow the link at the bottom of the page for a Google doc link.

Most travel writers have it easy. I've always found that inspiration comes freely when the scenery is changing every day. New places, new stories and new people offer the lens and the page a constant creative fresh start. Blank pages and blank pixels are vessels easily filled when in a new place. Plus, you don't have to worry about who you piss off when the article comes out, because you'll be long gone!

My career has been a strange brew. I'm a travel writer--but I mostly write about where I live, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the surrounding Lake Superior regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. The cool thing about that, other than that it's an amazing place to work and play (and stretch the relatively meager bucks that come with this career :-)) is that I get to write about something I know and love intimately, not just a place I'm passing through or people I'll only know superficially, if at all.

The danger is in knowing too much about a place, which makes it difficult to decide what to include and what to leave out. Also, it's a constant exercise to think like someone visiting the area for the first time--to stay fresh. Marquette is a super cool town with a great history, but when you live here, eventually the ore docks that blow the minds of tourists become as common as the gulls trying to kill your picnic. Also, I have to live with the people I write about, which can make it tough to be honest and well liked, but so it goes.

WARNING GRATUITOUS BUT MOSTLY HARMLESS SEXUAL HUMOR AHEAD: Someone once told me that writing about your hometown is like making love with your spouse: It's important that you know each other well enough to get it right, but equally important to pretend you've just met so it stays interesting.

Read full Marquette Michigan feature article in Lakeland Boating here

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Cascade River State Park, Minnesota

The Minnesota North Shore has long been one of my favorite places. I dig the Scandinavian efficiency with which the coast from Duluth to Grand Portage is laid out: cool little towns, then state parks, then gobs of national forest, then cool little town, a bad ass tunnel through a cliff, etc. It seems tailor made for active travel, sort of like an inland Pacific Coast Highway, but better because you can wear flannel and there's less coke. Whoa, did I say that? I did.

I found this gnarled old cedar clinging to the black volcanic rock of Cascade River State Park near Grand Marais, Minnesota. That's the Cascade River behind it, ripping through a tight gorge before throwing itself over a series of falls and dumping out into Lake Superior.

I love finding spots like this where Ma Nature mouths you by the scruff of your neck and shakes you a bit. "Pay attention," she says, "I'm trying to teach you something here."

The lesson I learned here is to endure. Persevere. Hang on even if nobody else is. And above all, grow.

That's all well and good, and quickly forgotten as I hopped back in the car and went about my picture making way, trying to acquire as many salable images as I could during that short trip a few years ago. But here's the beauty of still photography: that image, that moment, is still here with us several years later and can teach the same lessons, ones that are even more important now that our houses are worth less than we paid for them, our beautiful children WILL NOT GO TO SLEEP and for some reason (I know this is trivial but it still pains me) the winter sky refuses to sprinkle us with its magic dust (not talking about coke anymore).

So, yeah, I need to wrap this up. "Be well, do good work and keep in touch." What? Somebody already said that? Keillor, again?

Okay....ah, how about: "Pay attention, remember and share?"

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but he's been known to go to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario too if the money's good.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Scott Falls

Scott Falls is only about 20 feet from the side of M-28 just west of Munising, one of the busiest roads in the Upper Peninsula. It’s so close you can actually pull up, roll down your window and snap a photo from your vehicle. Like black bears munching blue berries in the ditch and the handmade signs for pasties and smoked fish, Scott Falls is one of those precious roadside attractions that makes any trip to the U.P. memorable.

Compared to its brash, crashing cousins nearby, Scott Falls is a dainty maiden traipsing through a fairy tale landscape of thigh-high thimbleberry. The demure trickle drops about 10 feet over a sandstone lip, splashing into a shallow circular pool before running a few hundred feet into Lake Superior.

While the falls is beautiful, the best part is the cave behind it. That’s right, a real cave. Now, it’s instinctual to think “cave=creepy,” but really, this is “cave=cool.” Wade around the edge of the pool and slip behind the falls and into the sand-floored cavern with moss-covered walls. This is the kind of place where garden gnomes are born and raised. Yea, it's a U.P. gnome nursery.

Location: About 10 miles west of Munising on M-28, immediately across the highway from the MDOT Rathfoot Roadside Park.

Bonus: One more mile west is AuTrain Beach, one of Lake Superior’s warmest, and sleepiest sand beaches.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Nuclear Family

It's that time of year again. Sweater vests and pretty red dresses. Family photo time. Blah.

We have good kids. As good of kids as a guy like me could ever really expect to have I guess.

 

There's J. The big boy.

And Smiley, the happy little baby girl.

But something goes terribly wrong when we try to get them together for pictures. Two equally loved, positively charged little Peterson particles, and when they are forced together on the same couch for photos...

We get something along the lines of fusion. Not cold fusion either. Genuine, hellfire-hot fusion.

An uncontrolled release of energy of a magnitude to shame the sun. Look at all those reds: sweater, dress, couch...face! J is in full meltdown and Smiley is feeling the heat, starting to slump even.

That's life in our nuclear family.

PS--I don't choose the sweater vests, I just take the pictures.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Bond Falls

 

Bond Falls has long been one of my favorite waterfalls to photograph in the Western Upper Peninsula (U.P.) It's easy to get to, visually stunning and the surrounding area has lots of potential for creating good images as well. The "Z" formation in the rapids above the falls has long proven popular with nature photographers visiting the region.

Bond Falls is located on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River near the tiny hamlet of Paulding, in the Western Upper Peninsula.

The 50-foot high falls tumbles over a 100-foot-wide fist of dark, fractured rock. Below the falls the river pools around a small island, then slips away into the dense U.P. woods to the north.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Laughing Whitefish Falls, Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Laughing Whitefish Falls is located in the Laughing Whitefish Falls State Scenic Site just north of the former town of Sundell in Michigan's central Upper Peninsula.

Here the diminutive Laughing Whitefish River cascades down a sandstone bowl into a deep valley on it's way to Lake Superior.

Aaron Peterson is a writer and photographer based in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For more of his work from the Lake Superior region visit www.aaronpeterson.net.

Recent Work-Marquette Backcountry Ski

Here's the December 2011 Traverse magazine profile I wrote and shot featuring Marquette inventor David Ollila and his Marquette Backcountry Ski. The ski was developed for the Lake Superior hills of Michigan's Upper Peninsula but is proving popular all over.

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Recent Work-Marquette Backcountry Ski

The December issue of Traverse magazine has my five page profile of Marquette, Michigan native, entrepreneur, inventor and all around outdoor nut Dave Ollila and his latest innovation, the Marquette Backcountry Ski.

Dave O developed the Marquette Backcountry Ski (it's a mouthful, maybe just MBS?) for terrain like that found in the Upper Peninsula. Short, steep, brushy, gnarly wooded hurt locker sort of stuff--lots of potential for fun, but also for damage to those pretty, expensive skis designed for the open pow of actual mountains 1,500 miles to the west of the Lake Superior snowbelt we call home.

The ski is designed for the terrain of places like the Upper Peninsula, but what I found interesting is that it reflects the spirit of those who tend to gravitate to places like the U.P., Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, Vermont (maybe) etc: tough, reliable, no frills. We are not pretty or fancy, but we tend to get st#ff done. This is not the land of steez; this is the land of cheese. I could go on, but I think Keillor has used up most of the good stuff.

It's a good ski. It's a good article. Check them both out if you get the chance.

Stand Up Paddling!

Finally got a chance to check out stand up paddling, or SUP this weekend at the Great Lake Sea Kayak Symposium in Grand Marais, Mich.

Sweet sport. Probably adding it to the repertoire, much to my saving account's chagrin.

Here are the first few quick edits:

Yep, that's right, got wet on this one. Shot from the splash zone and underwater in the shallows using a waterproof housing for my Nikon D700. Learned a bunch, mostly how much I still have to learn about shooting subsurface. And that shooting underwater in Lake Superior for about three hours will bring on mild hypothermia even in a wet suit. And that a gin and tonic (or several) is not an approved remedy for hypothermia :-\

Recent Work-Superior Outdoors

The summer issue of Superior Outdoors magazine features two of our sea kayaking images from Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.

Superior Outdoors is a great little publication with a big heart based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The husband and wife team of Darren and Michelle McChristie have dedicated their publication to active outdoor pursuits and environmental concerns in the Lake Superior region of Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Here's the mag in their own words:

"Superior Outdoors magazine is a high quality magazine for outdoor enthusiasts packed with stunning photographs and engaging stories. Our focus is Lake Superior, with coverage that includes central Canada and the Midwestern states. We cover a wide range of topics from outdoor adventure, news and events to environmental issues and the largest, most comprehensive event listing in the region. Each issue also includes an eight page photo gallery of the best images from around the lake."

It's that last part, the eight-page photo gallery that I like best. Eight pages! If you love life on the Big Lake, you should give Superior Outdoors a read.

Here are the images Superior Outdoors is using this issue:

Till Creek Falls dwarfs a curious paddler.

Lifting fog and a gorgeous day ahead.

And here are a few more from the rugged and remote shoreline of Lake Superior Provincial Park, on Lake Superior's north east coast, in Ontario, Canada. One of my favorite places to work, play and just disappear...

Quiet campsite at twilight on a sheltered cove.

The ancient pictographs of Agawa Rock depict Lake Superior demigods.

Sunset at Agawa Beach.

Lake Superior fog, eerily beautiful to paddle in.

Stretching legs after a long day in the boats.

Waves and boulders grind pockets in the sandstone at Grindstone Point.

Evening paddle in a quiet, sheltered bay.

A bouldery bay at Cape Gargantua.

The ladies dance around the fire to stay warm.

Independent, self-evident, equal and unalienable

I love words, and these are some of my favorites:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...

Hard to believe Thomas Jefferson was only 33 years old when he jotted that down, isn't it?

I also love flag photos, and these are some of my favorites:

New Cover for Old Friends

My mountain biking images are featured on the cover and inside the new July issue of Silent Sports magazine. I work with the fine folks at Silent Sports quite often, you gotta love those long term positive relationships developed over several years. Check the issue out now on stands near you for the best, most in depth reporting and features on active outdoor ventures in the Midwest.

Here's a peek at the July cover, and several other recent ones too.

Sunburned & Smilin'

Phew, just got back from assignments shooting historic downtowns, posh bed & breakfasts (yum!) and hi-octane outdoor recreation for Travel Michigan again. Gorgeous weather with fresh snow and blue skies helped create a nice batch of images for Michigan's official tourism campaign.



But it also meant I got a jump start on my summer tan after a thorough baking (more like burning!) at Indianhead Mountain. A summer sunburn is painful and annoying, but in March in the Upper Peninsula, it's a more like a promise of good things to come.

Oh yeah, and Elvis was out on the slopes too!