Author Archives: Dan Traun - Outdoor Guy Photography

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2013: Week #20 Photography


It appears I lost a week between this on and two prior.  That’ll happen; especially this time of year.  The weather is beautiful and there is much to do.  Cyndie and I are back working on the yard project.  The late Spring has not allowed the time we had last year; we were working away late March in 2012.  Time is flying and June will be here in no time.  I am happy to say that the hammock patio is almost complete.  We spent some time in it yesterday afternoon and it works perfectly.

Spring has finally sprung.  The farmers have been in the fields planting away and  the birds are back in numbers singing their little hearts out.  It’s time to go enjoy the season some more, but first, here are a few shots from the past week.

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It is a small world after all!


Sunshine Freckles Reunion 063It is a small world after all.   “Sunshine Freckles” was located with relative ease.  In just over 4 hours, a friend of a friend of a friend of a [well...you get the point] made the connection.  Social media has narrowed the gap between one another; at least one degree in this situation.  Five facebook friends between us.  As it turns out, Ms. Sunshine Freckles (Tracy), grew up in the town Cyndie and I live in.  Through a few message exchanges, I learned that she is also a photographer.  When I offered her the canvas likeness of her she enthusiastically accepted and stated,  ”I’d love a rare photo of myself as I’m always the one holding the camera.”  I can relate to a degree.  You don’t typically see photos of photographers in action, but this is a favorite photography past time of mine.  I have a facebook album each year dedicated to just that and fill it with photos from various outings with other photographers.  This years album needs more photos.

Back to topic…I can get off on a tangent at times.

To round out this seek and find experiment, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Tracy with the canvas.  She was on board with that plan and we meet at Harriet Island under the threat of a downpour for the photo-op.

Sunshine Freckles Reunion 080

 It is a small world after all.

I Love Farmer’s Markets
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I Love Farmer’s Markets


Who doesn’t enjoy a farmer’s market?  I simply cannot image anyone that would not.  The hustle and bustle of it all make the market a great place to spend some time.  The wonderful smells of food and flowers, the diverse individuals milling about and the sights and sounds of consuming local wares all contribute to the experience. The Saturday before Mother’s Day, Cyn and I made our way to the St. Paul Farmer’s Market.  We had been earlier in the season, but things were setup in an alley and there were not many vendors present.  This was our first trip of many I imagine.  Right now the market is void of fresh produce, but there is so much more to a farmer’s market than produce.  There were many things available:  lots of flowers, plants, meats, cheeses, sauces and breads to hold my attention for a while. At one point during our walk around the market it began to snow!  It was short-lived and everyone had a good laugh.  Thankfully, that has been the last sighing of snow in our area. I wish we lived closer to St. Paul as I could go every weekend; it is my Saturday morning cartoon equivalent.  We are lucky to have a nice farmer’s market in Red Wing as well.   I foresee a trip there this Saturday in search of The Grateful Bread – I’ve missed it over the Winter season.

In 1853 St. Paul was indeed a frontier town. Dirt streets, log cabins and steamboats were the order of the day. As early as 1852 the Minnesota Pioneer newspaper called for an organizational Farmers’ Market. A Market House, a two-story brick building, was constructed at Seventh and Wabasha streets. It was St. Paul’s first public market. While fresh produce was only available during the season, dairy products, flour, cakes and candies could be purchased year-round. For over 150 years The St. Paul Farmers’ Market has been proud to enjoy the support of the community.  That tradition of support continues today.  For more information regarding the farmer’s market, please visit http://www.stpaulfarmersmarket.com/

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Is it a small world after all?


I need some help here – please read completely.

One would think we live in a small world given all of the technology that exists to connect us with others – facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instragram, Pinterest,  and Flickr…just to name a few.  There are over 100 social networking sites/apps to feed your Internet addiction.

It is quite remarkable when you consider the ease at which you can let the world know what you are up to or what is on your mind.  Some would argue that this type of technology has critically wounded in-person interaction.  You can see signs of this in almost every public place, restaurant, bar – wherever.  An entire family – mom, dad and kids, all with their faces in one type of device or other.  I am not going to get into that argument in this post.  I have  a very specific task that I wish to accomplish by leveraging this amazing technology; more on that in a bit.

Is six degrees of separation reality or are we not there yet?  According to the following tidbits from wikipedia.org – we are there.  I’d like to test that notion.

In 2001, Duncan Watts, a professor at Columbia University, attempted to recreate Milgram’s experiment on the Internet, using an e-mail message as the “package” that needed to be delivered, with 48,000 senders and 19 targets (in 157 countries). Watts found that the average (though not maximum) number of intermediaries was around six.

A 2007 study by Jure Leskovec and Eric Horvitz examined a data set of instant messages composed of 30 billion conversations among 240 million people. They found the average path length among Microsoft Messenger users to be 6.6.

It has been suggested by some commentators that interlocking networks of computer mediated lateral communication could defuse single messages to all interested users worldwide as per the 6 degrees of separation principle via Information Routing Groups, which are networks specifically designed to exploit this principle and lateral diffusion.

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Valley Springs, Bay City, WI – 500 ft. of mean

Back to my mission.  I took a photograph of a spectator at a motorcycle hill climb in Western Wisconsin in September 2011.  Valley Springs just outside of Bay City, WI is the home of “500 ft. of mean” and is widely known among climbers as a tough hill.  After a 20-year absence the Bay City Hill Climb was back.  This very same hill was in operation 15 years (1976-1991) prior to that 20 year lapse in time.  This was a big deal for locals and visitors alike.  A few thousand spectators were on hand to witness this revival of sorts; I was among them.  I shot a lot of the runs up the hill, went on the side of the hill to shoot and even wandered around a bit.  I ended up with some pretty good shots.  The best shot of the day, though, was not anything hill climb related really.

I call myself Outdoor Guy Photography because I love the outdoors and photographing it.  My all time favorite photographs are candids though.  The un-posed and unplanned; that one unique and never-to-be-again-moment in time, frozen, forever in a photograph – that is what I really love.  These opportunities don’t happen everyday, but I will take them when there is the opportunity.  I was panning the crowd at that hill climb when this lady came into my frame.  She was walking towards me from a couple hundred yards away with the sun above her, shining through her hat and projecting “Sunshine Freckles” onto her face.  It wasn’t until I got home from the event that I realized I had a nice picture and no means to contact here.  This was my first “good shot” that I had ever taken and the first I ever committed to canvas.  I was very proud of the shot.  This 16×20 canvas gallery wrap has hung on a wall for a while and it’s time for something new.  I would like to offer it to her.

Some fellow photographers encouraged me to search this person out right away, but I thought it would be next to impossible to find her.  This is where all of you come in :-) .  I have recently heard of a few neat stories about social media finding and connecting people for a few different reason.  I thought I would give it a try; try to locate Sunshine Freckles to give her this gallery wrap.  If you would, please share this post with as many friends on as many social media outlets as you participate in.  I would greatly appreciate any and all help in trying to locate this individual.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes and hopefully I can ascertain the route the info traveled and how many participated.

Here goes nothing!  Do you know who this woman is?  Please share in as many places as you can.  Use the icons below for easy sharing.   Here is the short link for copy and paste purposes: http://wp.me/pFlzQ-1RZ.  Please feel free to contact me or forward my email address on to her if you know her outdoorguyphotography@gmail.com.  Thank you!  I appreciate any help you can offer.

Sunshine Freckles

Sunshine Freckles – 16×20 canvas gallery wrap

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100 Miles of something


http://www.mississippi-river.org has a great website with information on where to stay, eat, shop, and things to do – all around Lake Pepin.  There are several 100 Miles of… links: vistas, boating, birding, fishing, history and even garage sales.

The big big big 100 miles of garage sales was May 2-4 this year.  Cyn & I didn’t get out for a drive until Sunday and by that time most sales where over and done.  We found some stragglers still open though.  I was more interested in the drive, but the potential for an awesome find is always around every corner.  The super-find of the trip was an old produce crate in the dumpster outside of Reads Landing Brewing Company.  I spied the little treasure as we sat on the patio sipping our fire-hot bloody marrys.

entrance
to very spicy bloddys coming up
Interior view of the river
firey
outside patio

Prior to landing for refreshments we spent a significant amount of time roaming around the little river town of Stockholm, WI.  There are several unique shops to wander through.  Among them is a fantastic bakery – Bogus Creek Cafe & Bakery.  The cranberry walnut bread is out of this world.  You may have noticed in past posts…if there is a bakery in the vicinity  I’ll be sampling the local fare.

Stockholm is great small town to spend a few hours just walking around.  There is no shortage of interesting art.  Be sure to check out Adobe Stockholm.  Juno & Me has some of the best candies I’ve had is awhile and their pet product are worth browsing.  For more information on additional shops, see Stockholm’s official website.

Here are a few other shot I took around town before we got on our way to the next town.

There is so much to see and do around Lake Pepin.  Hwy 35 on the Wisconsin side boasts some spectacular views as does Hwy 61 on the Minnesota side.  You are never board around here – take a drive around the lake!

LakePepin

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Reunited and it tastes so good…


The last Sunday in April Cyndie and I went to the St. Paul Farmer’s Market – the alley edition.  The full farmer’s market was set to open the first weekend in May.  To my surprise and delight, LoveTree Farms was selling their absolutely wonderful goat and cow cheeses partway down the alleyway.  I no more than saw the name on the table and the memory of their cheese and pizza filled my mind.  I knew exactly what I was going to do with the goat cheese we purchased…make some semi-homemade pizza.  Yum.  Far from wood fired, but still plenty good.

Pizza 001 Pizza 002

Pizza 003

I first tasted this delectable cheese back in late October of 2011 at LoveTree Farms in the Trade Lakes area of Wisconsin (Approx 15 minutes Southeast of Grantsburg).  They make wonderful wood-fired pizza (Pizza by the Pond) on Sunday’s (after Memorial Day) from 2-8 p.m.  I didn’t make it back to LoveTree Farms in 2012, but am hoping to get their this season.

I live in a great area full of gems and wonderful surprises like LoveTree Farms and the St. Paul Farmer’s Market.  If you are out and about, check out LoveTree at their farm near Grantsburg, WI for Pizza by the Pond or at the farmer’s market –   you won’t be disappointed.

Here are a few photos from my original trip in 2011.  The original post from October 2011 is here:  Hugo, MN to Grantsburg, WI.

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Revisited – April 2013


April 2013 was an odd month weather-wise.  I am glad that old man winter has finally released us from his grasp.  The last bit of the wintry-like weather (in May!) was not pleasant at all.  Welcome Spring.  I look forward to milder weather and plenty of sunshine.

Here are a few of my favorite shots converted to black & white with a couple color photos mixed in.  There is quite a variety.  Roaming around Western MN, South Dakota and North Dakota, wildlife, Peyton (2 yrs old – share a birthday with Cyndie), one of the cutest 2 year olds there is and sites of St. Paul.

Pelican @ Colvill Park in Red Wing
Red Wing FD
Audrey
rail cars – SD
Old Car – ND
Calendar – SD
abandoned house – SD
Peyton
Peyton – love that smile
Peyton – twwwooo
wintry creek – ND
St. Paul
St. Paul
Sand hill Crane – WI
Sand hill Crane – WI
Sand Hill Crane
Whitetail @ backyard
Cardinal @ backyard
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2013: Week #18 Photography


It was a week of extremes to say the least.  Low to mid 70′s to start out the week and a snow storm for the end.  18″ inches of concrete snow fell.  It was the wettest and heaviest I can recall.  In May.

We woke up Thursday @ 4 a.m. to a tree hitting the house.  I stepped outside and heard several branches snapping under the weight of the snow.  The neighborhood lit up with blue light from arcing power lines.  What a mess.  The tree that hit the house in the front yard also landed in the driveway, blocking my exit for the greater part of the day.  What a mess.  At this time there are still people without power just across the river from Red Wing in Wisconsin – 800 or so I am told.  They have been without power for 50 some hours.  No fun at all.  In May.

Pre snow storm 70 degree day
Pre snow storm fogging morning
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – cable and power wires down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm – trees down
snow storm
Post snow storm sunset
Post snow storm – even more snow!
wonderful morning traffic
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The Travelers


These photos pre-date this photo blog.  It was August of 2011 and I had just bought my Nikon D7000.  I was heading North on my way out of town to drive some back roads when I saw three very interesting looking individuals walking along the service road adjacent to the highway.  I turned around to investigate further.  There were sitting in the median holding up a sign that made me snicker…Mc Hungry – Mc Broke – Not Lovin It!

It was obvious that they were looking for something to eat.  Our close proximity to the local McDonalds was perfect.  I approached them and asked If they would mind if I photographed them.  Since they were so welcoming of my solicitation I told them I would buy them all dinner.  All three had a story; of which I loosely recall as I was half-listening and snapping photo after photo.  There were simply “traveling” they said.  Looked like a rough way to go about it if you asked me.  I was even treated to a song.  Interesting characters they were.  I wish I could recall more of the details of our encounter.