In family lore, when I was a toddler, I apparently dropped my father’s precious Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera from which it never recovered, but I overcame that inauspicious start to maintain an interest in photography. For a while we had a makeshift dark room in our downstairs bathroom where I dabbled in printing B&W and also experimented with Cibachrome prints. A parallel interest in outdoors travel led to a natural emphasis on nature and travel photography.
Several years ago we acquired a rustic cabin (see above) on a small island in northern Wisconsin near Hayward. Most of the pictures in this exhibit are taken from the island. I have been attracted to the Northwoods for many years, growing up in Colorado and living in Michigan for 7 years and Wisconsin for 43. We did many canoe camping trips in the wilderness areas of northern Ontario and in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. Of special interest has been trying to photograph wildlife in their natural setting. Even though our island is only 5 acres, there’s a surprising number of wildlife that we’ve been able to observe. A resident pair of bald eagles, loons as well as turtles and other birdlife provide a constant source of interest. In addition, we have at least caught glimpses or seen signs of foxes, porcupine, otter, and beaver.
In 2012, I decided not to replace my DSLR camera to trade weight for image quality. This was a difficult decision as I was always taught that the 35 mm SLR was the gear of choice for serious photographers, for which I had aspirations. However, I like to shoot wildlife, which requires long heavy lenses that need tripods for good stability and therefore don’t lend themselves to shooting moving objects. Furthermore, one often has to hike or backpack and my aging back has been complaining. So I now use a so-called ‘bridge’ camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ1000, lately replaced by a similar Sony RX10iv) with a long zoom (25-400mm, or 25-600 mm) lens. The big trade-off is that it has a smaller sensor and fewer pixels compared to your usual DSLR but my aging eyes cannot discern much difference. Life is full of compromises.
Since joining PhotoMidwest, I’ve discovered that I do less post-processing than most photographers though I use the full suite of Adobe photo apps. Since returning from a six-month stay in China in 2017, I started this photo/travel blog with the commentary I sent home and have broadened it to include other travels.
The island is small (5 acres) and located at one end of Lower Twin Lake so it is about 200 yards to the mainland where we have a parking spot. The island itself is heavily wooded. The lake has a number of other cabins but they are spaced well-apart. The lake has a reputation for being a good fishing lake, especially for muskie, so there are often fishermen in boats plying the waters near our island.
When we purchased the island, there was a large nest on a tall pine tree on the island. They raised two eaglets that first year, but a large wind storm blew the nest down in the fall. The next year a new nest appeared on a tall tree on the mainland. Assuming these are the same parents, they have successfully raised an eaglet each subsequent year.
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