You have seen my images of Levis Mounds in previous blogs and newsletters, including my last newsletter. Though the image may evoke a response because pictures themselves speak a thousand words, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some of the “behind the scenes” work that goes into much of my photography.
Much of my locations are found while running, mountain biking, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and hiking. I adore trails and the back country. Out of the way places are more akin to my soul than places where I see a lot of people. I am however happy to see people enjoying our great national parks and I am saddened to see that many of them may stopped being cared for. I believe its imperative to our people to connect to nature and when we do it is then that we strive to take care of it. No government can take care of it for us if we as people do not do our part too. Anyway, enough of the short soap box …
I love to photograph alone mostly…. so happy to see the people and then love to photograph solo and then come back and be 100% social about my work, sharing it & my stories through blogs, newsletters, facebook, twitter, gallery events, you name it – I love sharing with people!
So these images are from Day 3 of a short trip North to Cable, home of my gallery at the Cable Nature Lodge.
I made pictures in the morning in Bayfield, WI and had an 8 hour drive back to Southern WI where I live. I drove about 4 hours and at 6:30 arrived at Levis Mounds for some half time exercise along the drive.
The below “behind the scenes” images are some made with my iphone while running and scouting Levis Mounds.
this is a trail map at Levis Mounds. Though the map looks great there are many trails that are not marked and I usually get a little lost. My 1:30 minute sweaty running trip this day took me from Lower Glen, to Swamp Cut, to Dead Turkey, to Toad Road, to feeling lost while not sure if I was on Switchback (but I was) to Cliffhanger and then feeling lost again on a turn off that took me up to the top of the cliffs right in time for the most magnificent sunset and to cool off!
As was this evening, scouting while running gave me a perfect scene to come back to and I simply for the moment recorded the sunset panoramas in my heart .. After enjoying the sunset and standing in my favorite spot I hightailed the last 10 minutes through the woods to my Honda and drove the last 3 hours home.
While running on the Cliffhanger trail. These rocks are amazingly beautiful and covered in a rich green lichen. I am looking forward to coming back and hiking into this spot, camera, lenses and tripod in hand. .. you can see that it is not always easy to get to where I make my images. .. but this makes it all the more special and meaningful! The experiences are hard to beat!
This is part of the Cliffhanger trail that skirts across rocks – some of the trails are quite challenging but really fun to run and mountain bike over!
This image shows you where I enjoyed my sunset after a very sweaty run. Though I questioned whether I was lost on several occassions during my run I followed my intuition and ended up at my favorite cliff right in time to see the fabulous sunset and to cool off with a refreshing breeze! The run was hot and muggy and I was drenched with sweat ( I LOVE that!).
The feeling lost part was a bittersweet feeling. Within the feeling of being lost (and knowing that dark was soon upon me) I knew that at some point I would end up at a juncture that I could relocate myself. There is an ironic comfort in being a little lost and in the thought that in real life too – you may think you are on one road when in fact you find yourself actually on a different path. To plan is good but to stay flexible with that plan so that if a road less traveled throws itself in front of you, you might dare to wander down it and smell the flowers along the way….After all, you might just find yourself.
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