Tag Archives: Black and White

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Back-roadin’ to Rice Lake, WI


This last weekend Cyndie and I took advantage of the continued beautiful weather and shoot our way to Rice Lake, WI via Isanti, MN (that is the long, long way for those not familiar with the area).  Small communication glitch as to our final destination; it’s was all good though.  We had a pretty long and varied path full of interesting things to shoot along the way.

We started the day hopeful for a beautiful sunrise, but instead we were met with glorious fog.  An acceptable alternative indeed.  Fog is an interesting animal; the way it creates layers and softens object in the distance is quite fun to shoot.  After a few hours of playing with fog we headed North on back roads towards Isanti via Hudson, WI; up through Lake Elmo and onto Mahtomedi.  We also drove around Hugo, Forrest Lake and Wyoming before we hit Interstate 35 and eventually our first stop in Isanti.  Beautiful country all around.  At one point we were going down a road and we spotted two swans in a pond just off the road.  We quickly turned off to take a closer look.  Upon arrival at the water’s edge it wasn’t completely apparent that the swans were in fact decoys, but it became very clear rather quickly.  We had a good laugh and got on our way before the locals laughed themselves silly at the sight of us photographing their swan decoy’s.

After a stop in Isanti we meandered a considerable distance East to St. Croix Falls, WI.  With DQ Crunch cones in hand, we headed North on 87 towards Grantsburg and to a location of a barn I had shot before on a previous outing; specifically this barn/photo.  While we were shooting and older gentleman pulled over to stop and chat.  He stated that this barn was actually a creamery back in the day (1940-1950′s) and supported the war effort with dairy products.  I am still in the process of researching this and will hopefully have a post out soon.

We did manage to stumble upon an abandoned house as we headed West.  It wasn’t really that old of a structure and was more of a slightly tattered home full of messes, but abandoned none-the-less.

After a bit we found ourselves on Hwy 48 heading towards our final destination – Rice Lake, WI.   Anyone that has traveled this stretch of roads know that this is a little piece of barn-shooter paradise.  We did stumble upon an all-wood silo; I have never seen one before this day.  It was in good shape, full of texture and ripe with color.  The day was getting on and dinner awaited our arrival at 6 p.m. in Rice Lake.  It was time to hasten the pace towards our final destination and pass up shiny and interesting things along the final stretch.  Hwy 48 is full of interesting thing; we’ll be back.  230+ miles and a 12 hr. day.  Life is good.

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Color or B&W


Just like any other discipline, method, or artistic expression…there are many schools of thought.  These schools of thought can apply equally when processing/viewing a color or black and white photo.  Both color and black and white can invoke emotion, set the mood, and provide subtle (or not so subtle) attributes to an image.  Jim Martin, a local photography, fellow Red Wing Photo Club member and photography instructor for the club is a wonderful black and white photographer.  He explained to me one evening at a photo chat that color can sometimes steal away your focus from other important details in a photograph.  I tried to visualize that concept in my mind.  I had an idea of what he was getting at, but it wasn’t until after this month long experimentation with B&W, along with reviewing my photos, that the notion settled in rather concretely.  I’ll use this barn shot that I have with a set of bright yellow Adirondack chairs  positioned around a fire pit.  When I originally shot this I was absolutely drawn to those chairs – I liked the bold colors and I thought the setting was nice.


This very same image converted to black and white is significantly different.  The color no longer captures your eye and steals away your focus…you take in more of the setting, you see the detail in the barn wood and rust on the tin roofs.  Is this true for all viewers?  Most likely not as well see things differently.  This is what I see though and how I apply what color (or lack there of) can accomplish in a photograph.

There is no right or wrong way; it’s more about what it is [as the artist] you are trying to convey.

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Turkey Day Travel – Part Two


While all of the Turkey Day eats were baking and grilling, I took the opportunity to meander around the Rice Lake, WI area.  I had no trouble finding great scenery just outside of town to the South and West.  There are several back roads just outside of the Blue Hills.  A truly beautiful area; I plan on spending some additional time in this area as I barely scratched the surface.

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Seasons Change


Nothing signals a season change more quickly than a light blanket of snow.   The Winter Solstice is just over a month away and the cold weather and shorter days have settled in.  I drug myself out of the house and into the cold today anyway.  I traveled a familiar route around the Esdaile, WI area just to see how things might have changed under a moderate dusting of snow.