Sam Pranger Photography

Happy Thursday photo fans, and Happy New Year! Temperatures have been bouncing back and forth between balmy and freezing this week. We still have no snow cover to speak of, just a little dusting yesterday; not enough to cover the grass. Hopefully we get some soon, if it's going to be cold, it should at least be pretty!

I had a hard time finding a not very snowy pic this week, but there were a decent array of ice photos to choose from. I like the softness of this photo from January of 2018. At first glance, it's just some blurry sort of abstract shapes, but as you look closer, the ice crystals resolve themselves.

Happy last Thursday of 2023 photo fans! Where has the year gone?! The weather still feels like fall, it's been dreary and rainy for weeks now. The clouds managed to part briefly last night to give me a glimpse of the nearly full moon. Last time I saw it, it was barely over a crescent! They're saying that with El Nino, it will likely remain warmer for most of the winter.

This photo from Christmas Eve 2014 captures some of the ethereal feel of the fog and rain over the last few weeks. There's a pond beyond these trees, but the city melts away just as quickly in the fog. Have a Happy New Year photo fans!

Happy Thursday photo fans! Happy Solstice, the days get longer from here on out, or shorter if you happen to be in the southern hemisphere. This year has blown by in a blur, and here we are with only one more Thursday left in the year. We're definitely not getting a white Christmas this year, the forecast is in the upper 30s- low 40s well into next week.

This week's photo hearkens back to Christmas day of 2013. The main reason I chose this photo, is the near perfect reflections on three snowflakes. The largest is at an angle, and almost melts away as you zoom in. The smallest is little more than a glowing pixel or two, but its slightly larger neighbor has a distinctive snowflake silhouette. Getting a good snowflake pic is quite a feat; the conditions have to be right for traditional snowflakes to form. They also have an annoying tendency to melt, which means you have to be close, but not too close, get the focus just right and try not to breathe on the flake before you can snap the shutter. You get a bit of a sense of the fluffiness of this snow, on the leaves and in the textures of the background snow. Happy Holidays!

Happy Thursday photo fans! It's been relatively clear and mild this past week. We got a dusting of snow overnight on Sunday, but nothing since. It's looking like a brown Christmas for the Northland this year. Mother Nature just can't seem to make up her mind which season it's supposed to be. We're still getting into the 40s off and on during the day. I am getting a bit tired of the brown myself, and wouldn't mind busting out my cross country skis sooner than later.

Apparently, I don't go out photographing in December unless there's snow. The pickings are rather slim across the archives this month, and everything has snow. One thing we do have (in places anyway) is ice. Warm days and cold nights are perfect for icicle formation, although you won't see any hanging off roofs until we get a base of snow. Moving water is the best place to find icicles as soon as it gets cold. Whether it's a stream or along the lake shore, splashes equals icicles. Here, the splashing water of Tischer Creek has formed these globular icicles on the bottom of a fallen branch. Ice adds an interesting dimension to winter, assuming you don't end up flat on your back on it.

Happy Thursday photo fans! We had a little dusting of snow early this week, little patches still linger in shady spot. Mostly it's been cool and dry although they're predicting a jump back up into the 40s today and tomorrow. Looking through my archives, it seems like I only get out in December after a nice photogenic snowfall. 😂 I get it though, it's cold and grey/ brown until the snow comes and covers up all the rotting leftovers of summer life. It seems I did manage to get out at least a couple of times early in the month, before winter truly set in.

This week's photo throws back to early December of 2017. There's only a little ice and no snow in the other photos from that day. I like the quietness of this photo; and the subtle colors of evening. It was very still that day, causing the lake and sky to melt together in the background. The soft lines of the weathered rocks contrast with the sharp, spiny leaves of the dead plant in the center.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Sorry about missing last week, Wednesday after work I entered a holiday fugue state and didn't regain my sense of time or day till Monday 😂 How is it the end of November already?! It's been fairly chilly but dry, besides a little dusting of snow over the weekend. The temps have crept back above freezing for at least a couple of days which has been a nice reprieve.

This photo throws back to late November 2013, another chilly fall. I love the way the light catches the filaments of the milkweed seeds. There's symmetry, sort of; the rows of seeds waiting to be peeled off by the wind, the two other pods on either side of the main one, and I positioned the stem so it would provide a nice diagonal leading line.

Happy Thursday photo fans! The temps have taken another upward swing over the last couple of days and into the weekend- back into the low 50s! It's been relatively dry as well, no major rainstorms just a bit of a sprinkle here or there. The preliminary forecast has us back down around freezing and a possibility of snow next week. At least I don't have to travel for Thanksgiving. I'll be hanging out with friends at home. As has been the case for the last several years, our state parks are free on black Friday, so I may get out for a hike.

While the woods aren't *quite* this green anymore, I picked this shot from early November 2020 for the water. I clearly don't get out to photograph enough in November, judging by the number of photos I have to look through this month. I thought about doing an ice theme, but it's been so warm, albeit windy, that it didn't feel right. It was the zig-zagging of the creek over the rocks that caught my eye. Then I noticed the mossy boulder, and jagged stump while the water seems to take a hard right out of the frame rather than running straight through. There are a lot of textures going on here too, the crispy leaves, both rushing water and still, as well as the stringy fibers of the cedar stump.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Winter has mostly relented, for now, at least here along the big lake. It's been cool and drizzly/ snowy but we still haven't had a hard freeze, so the white stuff isn't sticking around. I'll take it while it lasts, although I did just get some new wool socks 😁 There are still some trees here in town that haven't finished changing color and dropping their leaves, but everywhere else is pretty brown and bleak. November seems to start out fairly mild most years, but tends to take a hard turn towards winter fairly quickly.

I chose this photo from 2013 to illustrate the remaining pops of color still hanging out in the woods and along road sides. I know you have to embrace the beauty of every season, but late fall makes it difficult after the leaves fall and before snow blankets everything,

Happy Thursday photo fans! We went from warm, pleasant fall to full on winter pretty suddenly on Friday. We even ended up getting some snow Sunday and Monday, although it's melted in all but the shady spots already. We haven't had a hard frost yet, so the ground isn't frozen yet. We've only had temps (day or night) near freezing for a few days, but I already noticed some small bodies of water starting to freeze over. Going back through my archives, it seems like most years we don't have snow on the ground in the first 10 or so days of November. 2017 was an anomaly, with established snow on the ground in the first week of the month.

This week's photo throws back to early November 2015. Then as now, it seems we got some early flakes, that didn't stick around long except in tiny pockets. The remaining patches of snow may have first caught my eye, but the closer you look, the more there is to see. Both the moss (yellow-green branching stalks) and the club mosses (spiky green leaves with reddish tips) will retain their green color all winter. They'll continue chugging along under the snow all winter like it's no big thing. I'm pretty sure the red and green oval leaves are blueberries. I love the interplay of color, shape, and texture.

Happy Thursday photo fans! It's been rather cool and drizzly off and on this past week. I think the leaves here in town are just past peak, though there are still quite a few hanging around. So much so that the other day it was a bit of surprise to find myself crunching through fallen leaves on one block as I walked the dogs earlier this week.

This week's theme is the tail end of fall. All of these photos come from the last 10 or so days in October. They come from 2013, '14, '15, and 2017. The number of leaves left on the trees is very dependent on how much strong wind we get in the last half of the month. This year, we haven't had any very strong wind/ rain storms which is largely why so many leaves continue to hang on. Our forests are yellow heavy in general, based on which deciduous species dominate here- lots of birch and aspen. Oak and maple trees are much fewer and farther apart outside of town, adding the occasional splash of red/ orange in the roadside woods. As the leaves fall, the landscape takes on a drearier feel, until you get into the woods and start noticing the smaller plants still hanging on.

Happy Thursday photo fans! The past week's weather has been about the same, mostly cloudy with some rain here and there. The temps have been fairly mild, although I did spot a bit of frost here and there on the grass earlier this week. The leaves in town are probably about at peak, although there still seems to be a fair bit of green left in patches. Further out, there are thick patches of bright yellow along with already bare trees, it's a strange contradiction.

This led me to this week's theme, leaves and water. Since I can't caption the individual photos, I thought maybe the numbering system would be useful. so we have a shared point of reference when I talk about them. Feel free to chime in and let me know if you like it or not.
The theme is pretty obvious is photo number one, but it's really the layers that I like most about this photo. I love the dark/ light contrast of the leaves and water, as well as the reflection of the bare trees with their former leaves.
Photo 2 is a phenomenon I tend to photograph pretty much every time I see it: water droplets on leaves. I love getting close up, so if you look carefully you may see my reflection in the water.
Photo 3 doesn't immediately scream water, but if you take a closer look, it's almost a perfect blanket of leaves tiling the surface of a pond. It looks almost staged, the way they seem to line up edge to edge.
Photo 4 is along the same vein as photo 1, this time with fewer, closer, more colorful leaves. I love the detail in the leaf veins, and variety of colors. They almost seem to hover above the surface of the water, even though you can also see through it to the algae covered rocks lining the stream.
Photo 5 comes from the same hike as photo 4, elsewhere on Chester Creek. This one highlights the water more than the leaves. The leaves provide a steady background contrast to the rushing water oxbow over rocks. This one would probably work just as well in black and white, since the color of the leaves is irrelevant; it's all about form, shape and motion.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Summer temps have definitely gone away; it's been cooler and rather blustery. We haven't seen much of the sun lately either, seems to have been cloudy pretty much every day with intermittent rain thrown in for good measure. Even so, here in town most of the leaves are still green, while further out most trees are peaking or on a downward trend.

The recent dreary weather inspired my choice of 'yellow' as a theme for this week. Most of these examples also include an element of natural highlighting of features within the scene. The yellows range from a golden glow to a more mellow mustard shade of the tamarack needles. The frequent flat light of overcast days makes good fall color photography difficult. While the basic operation of the human eye and the camera lens/ shutter/ sensor are broadly similar, even the fanciest cameras don't see the world as vibrantly as we can. While the leaves still look glorious to us on grey days, they tend to fall flat when compressed by the camera into a 2D image. The ever elusive perfect light is always worth chasing, as you can see. And of course, some times you just get lucky. 😉

Happy Thursday photo fans! October is coming in like a...what's a good fall metaphor? Like an angry Canada goose! We've had gale force winds, pouring rain, and 80 degree sunshine all in the first four days of the month. Sadly, the temperature seems poised to quickly return to 'normal' and stay there. The fall colors are slowly moving in, and nearing peak in drier areas away from the city.

This week I was too lazy to choose just one photo, so I decided to go for a 'best of' early October fall color. All of these photos come from the first half of the month. The oldest is from 2013, and the newest from just last year. There's a pretty wide variety in both the amount and variation in color. Some years are more mellow, mostly yellows and orange-y browns; other years and places have more vibrant reds, helping the scenery to really pop. Enjoy the best of fall!

Happy Thursday photo fans! How is it already the end of September?! We've continued to be pummeled by rain through Monday, there was even some localized flooding in places. Thankfully, it's mostly tapered off, although we've still been getting sprinkles off and on. The temps have stayed relatively mild, mostly in the 60s. This weekend's forecast has us getting into the lower 70s and I can't wait to get out for a hike to enjoy the leaves. Even with the recent winds, with most of the leaves still green, they managed to mostly hang on so there's still hope of vibrant fall leaves.

Most of the time, I avoid 'human elements' in my photographs, I prefer to highlight the natural beauty of wild-ish places. There are exceptions of course, old barns come to mind, as well as a 'famous' old shack on the shore of Lake Superior. This week's photo comes from the end of September, 2017. I found this chunk of plywood while hiking along the Superior Hiking Trail. (superiorhiking.org) I don't remember what caught my eye first, the contrast between leaf shape and color, or the broader juxtaposition of humanity's effect on the natural world. There's a tension in the way the maple leaf is just barely hanging on the hole in the plywood.

Happy Friday photo fans! We've hit peak fall weather, warm sunny days and cool crisp nights. I've had to do a bunch of driving out in the country for work this week. The colors are progressing in drier areas, thanks to recent rain we're still lagging here in town. So far, next week's forecast looks much like this week, we may not see peak color here until early October.

I picked the theme leaves and water this week, with the representative photos coming from 2012, 2013 & 2017. There's just something about the pop of color of a leaf in water that always catches my eye. The water can also help preserve the color a bit, keeping leaves from browning and decomposing for longer than their contemporaries.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Unfortunately, I'm on call this week and got back late last night, so I didn't have time to put together my usual post. :( But, fear not, I shall post tomorrow so stay tuned!

Happy Thursday photo fans! The heat has broken, and we had quite a bit of rain earlier this week. The leaves haven't really started turning yet, just a scattered few so far. Away from the lake, there was even some frost Wednesday morning. This change in temps will likely spur some activity on that front, even so it'll be at least a few weeks till we hit peak color. In keeping with the fall weather, I decided to highlight some often overlooked sources of fall color- our friends the fungi!

Due to the vagaries of Facebook/Meta, I can't just title my photos or anything useful like that, I have to deface them with text to identify where and when they were taken. Not all the fungi are obvious, see if you can spot them in the log photo from Tettegouche State Park. I'll give you a hint, look for red. A couple of these may be the same species, but like snowflakes, no two mushrooms are exactly alike. Next time you're out walking in the woods- or even your yard- take a second to look down and appreciate nature's clean up crew.

Happy Thursday Photo Fans! I didn't forget you on my stay-cation :) I hope you all survived Labor Day weekend, we had a sudden hot spell and it jumped into the high 80s/ low 90s from Friday until Monday. Despite the heat, I managed to have a good time during our local Pride festivities. Aside from a little sunburn on my shoulders, I escaped unscathed. Thankfully, we've gotten some rain over the last couple days and the temp has returned to more reasonable levels in the 60s. I've been picking away at various household projects with my time off, now that I'm not stuck in my bedroom with the A/C, I can finally finish painting my kitchen.

In honor of the unofficial start of fall, I decided to do a phenology post again. Both photos are from Jay Cooke State Park, just south of the city. The park encompasses a very scenic stretch of the Saint Louis River, which eventually forms our harbor. According to the MN DNR, "The St. Louis River, Lake Superior's largest U. S. tributary, has exposed the bedrock in many places. Slate beds were formed from original layers of mud and sand, which were deposited in a sea that occupied this area 1.9 billion years ago. These thick deposits compacted into shale (from mud) and greywacke (from sand)."
The first photo comes from mid-September 2016, and is still quite green and summery. I took the second photo in 2020, only about a week and a half later than the first one. The difference is quite stark, 2020 is in full fall splendor as opposed to 2016's summer feel. 2020 was a very dry summer, which stresses trees and tends to lead to earlier leaf change. This year, only a smattering of trees and bushes are already changing. It's been somewhat dry, but with periods of decent rainfall making up most of the deficit. Perhaps this latest downpour will help extend our growing season a bit longer. I'm over the heat, but not necessarily the nice weather of summer!

Happy Thursday photo fans! How are we already at the end of August?! Wowzers, where did the summer go? I'm celebrating by taking some much needed time off work, starting tomorrow. So, if I lose track of time and forget to post on time next week, cut me some slack. ;) The lake continues to keep the worst of the heat at bay, although it looks like it might warm up this weekend. What flower to better embody the symbolic end of summer and beginning of fall than a thistle?

I chose this humble thistle from 2016 in Lester Park because of the near-perfect natural spotlight. I moved around until the lighting was just right to get it to really pop against the background. It helps to emphasize the spikiness of the plant, both the leaves and flowers have a similar pointiness.

Happy Thursday photo fans! I hope you've all been staying cool out there, yikes! Thankfully, Mother Superior has been keeping us nice and cool for the last few days. Sadly, it's coming to an end, the wind is supposed to switch today and push us up into the 80s. Yuck. The return of my favorite fall flavor has me dreaming of crisp air and changing leaves.

This week's photo hails from the 20th of August 2017. I was hiking part of the Superior Hiking Trail in eastern Duluth on Hawk Ridge. Since it's not migration season yet, I was more focused on ground level sights. This early changed leaf caught on a mossy rock in a stream caught my eye. I like all the contrasting textures; the dry rock, the mossy rocks, and the blurred portions of fast moving water. The longer you look, the more there is to see. I find the almost chevron pattern in the lower right very interesting. Like fire, there's something magical about running water, it's ever-changing yet somehow the same. Dancing along, yet inanimate. Or is it?

Happy Thursday photo fans! The heat wave has returned, but at least we're getting some nice thunderstorms to break it up. Last night we had storms roll through after work and it knocked the temp down a good 10-15°. Hopefully it doesn't last long, I don't do well when it's over 80.

For this week's photo, I dug all the way back into my high school and college film archive. Back in 2003, I brought my camera with to visit my Dad's side of the family during his hometown's annual Sweet Corn Festival. I set up in my aunt's back yard to play around with some long exposure night photography. As you can see, the moon was quite full and the interplay with the clouds made for some cool spooky backgrounds. I took a whole series of this dragon boat shaped kite one of my uncles brought and hung from a tree in the yard. I tried to make it look like the dragon was attacking the church spire on the right. The clouds added an extra layer of difficulty to trying to balance the light and dark areas in the frame. This one came the closest to achieving that.

Happy Thursday photo fans! It's been hot and dry over the last week, not super hot, but hot enough. There's not much going on, although we've (hopefully) hit peak road construction. Huge chunks of my neighborhood are cut off by major construction projects, which has funneled most of the downtown traffic onto one street alongside my apartment building. My one mile commute has never been so frustrating 😂

Enough whining, this week's photo comes from way back in mid-August 2012. This photo sort of embodies the idea of 'vacation'. You can almost hear the soft swish of the small waves against the rocks. The soft color and slight motion blur of the water speak to slowing down and spending quality time relaxing outdoors. Enjoying the sunset around a bonfire with friends, or just quiet contemplation on the beach. Take some time to relax and enjoy your surroundings, photographer's orders!

Happy Thursday photo fans! The heat wave has finally hit here, thankfully just for a couple of days. But it has forced me to retreat to my bedroom, where the a/c is, to work on this post. I have a PC, on a small rolling desk but it was still difficult to maneuver through the living room and into the bedroom. Once again, the quirks of this building make my life more difficult. The only suitable open outlet forced me to jam the desk between the bed, dresser and door. Ah, the things I do for my art! :D Somehow, I broke the wifi antenna off the back of my computer, so I couldn't even upload the post till I moved it back out to the heat and closer to the router.

On the theme of themes, this week I noticed several spiderwebs while searching through my archives. Don't worry, there aren't any creepy crawlies this week, these tiny constructions are all empty. The other day I noticed a small orb web below the grow lights in my indoor garden, coincidence? Enjoy these examples of nature's tiny architecture.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Where has the summer gone; how is it already almost August?! I hope you've all been staying cool out there, thankfully I'm close enough to the lake to benefit from it's cooling effect. It's been in the mid 70s at home and at work, but in the upper 80s once you move away from the lake. In keeping with last week's rainbow theme and my inability to narrow down a pick, this week I give you a flower rainbow! I'll try to come up with something interesting to say about photography next week 😁

Happy Thursday photo fans! Where has the summer gone; how is it already almost August?! I hope you've all been staying cool, thankfully both home and work are close enough to the lake to keep it reasonable. It's been in the mid 70s near the lake and in the mid 80s further out. In keeping with last week's theme, I give you a flower rainbow! I'll try to come up with something interesting to say about photography next week 😁

Happy Thursday photo fans! So far, we've been spared the worst of the heat, but the upcoming forecast is looking very orange starting this weekend. As far as I'm concerned, it's been a pretty perfect summer temperature wise. We've had a couple more days with smoky air, but not too bad. We had a series of storms roll through yesterday that brought a decent amount of rain but it's been fairly dry overall. While the timing wasn't quite right for rainbows yesterday, it gave me an idea for this week's post.

As it happens, I've managed to catch not one but TWO double rainbow events in July. The first set happened in mid July 2013 and the second was late July 2022. If you thought getting a good photo of a single rainbow was hard, catching a clear double is at least three times harder. 😉 The problem is polarity- the angle at which the incoming light hits the airborne rain droplets and refracts is different between the two. What that means is generally, one is much clearer and brighter than the other which makes trying to get a good exposure hard.

Happy Thursday photo fans! Hope you've been staying cool through all these heat waves, thankfully it's been pretty much perfect here. I went to an outdoor concert last weekend and it was perfect, not too hot with a little breeze off the lake. I got an idea to do something different this week, warning, this post may not be suitable for the squeamish! I decided to highlight the invertebrates of July.

I get so few photos of wildlife, I often hike with the dogs so they tend to drive off most critters before I can get any photos. Insects, on the other hand though small are pretty plentiful and unbothered by most large creatures. Scrolling through my archives, I noticed quite a few bugs popping up, so I decided why not feature them for a change?

Happy Thursday photo fans! We had a few scattered showers blow through on the 4th, but overall it was still pretty nice out and there were plenty of fireworks-much to the dogs' chagrin. Everything is growing like crazy now, thanks to all the rain we got. Since fireworks photos are kind of boring and trite, I decided to use Monday's full moon as inspiration instead.

This week's photo comes from late July 2018. The full moon is hard to shoot, it's bright and it's always moving. Balancing the shutter speed and the size of the shutter opening (f-stop) is already a delicate dance, made harder by the brightness and contrast between the moon and dark sky. I opted for an indistinct moon face and really emphasized the clouds. I love the spooky, ethereal feeling it gives; it also calls to mind a celestial dust cloud swirling around a proto-star, somewhere out in space.

Happy Thursday photo fans! We're finally getting some much needed rain, but still dealing with air quality issues from Canadian wildfire smoke. I used to enjoy thunderstorms...until I got a dog that barks her head off at every thunderclap. Rocko's old enough that his hearing is starting to go, which has been kind of a boon, since he no longer hears some of the fireworks and thunder that used to cause anxiety. Left to his own devices, he'll happily nap away, until there's a particularly loud boom. Now, Tia freaks out and barks at every little bang and wakes him up with a start, making him anxious anyway. 🙄 The rain has stripped away most of the remaining lilac flowers, although the dwarf lilacs are still holding a few blooms.

Since it's the last Thursday in June, I've decided to do a flower bonanza! All of these photos were taken in June, in the years 2013 through 2018. Hopefully this round of rain will revive the plants and we'll be on track for more high summer flowers soon.

Happy Thursday photo fans! It's been mostly dry and pleasant this past week- at least by the big lake. Further out, it's been full on summer heat despite it only officially being summer yesterday. There have been a couple of smokey days, but not too bad. We're at about peak lilac, although their dwarf cousins have only just started to bloom. Everywhere you go in the city you're bathed in their scent.

Digging through my archive, it seems the bulk of the photos taken in June are of flowers- go figure. So, I picked a flower photo that's a little different for today. This is a macro of a dew covered dandelion; I got several really cool shots of dandelions, both the flowers and seeds that day. Other frames had more geometric, regular patterns which are certainly pleasant to look at. But I chose this one for the chaos. While the 'tidy' photos are soothing to look at, I think this one is more interesting. Even with the narrow field of view, because of the chaos you get more of a sense of depth from the layers of different sized droplets. It's like a tiny universe, populated with different sized galaxy bubbles.