Around Wisco

Learning to embrace the gray. You don't always get color on sunrise hikes.

Lodi Marsh makes for a nice early morning hike as the fog lifts.

Nazan and I are back from spending 5 days paddling Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. It's an annual tradition for us to paddle this amazing backcountry canoeing paradise. There's no roads or motorboats allowed. Even airplanes aren't allowed to fly over the park. The park strictly limits the number of permits to enter so it's rare to even see any other people. This is more of a vacation, but this year I brought a real camera this time to shoot a little from our campsites. We had great weather for the most part and there were surprisingly few bugs this year.

Exploring Blue Mound State Park.

This week I explored the "400" State Trail on bike and photographed the beautiful Driftless Area along the trail.

The agricultural roots of the Driftless Area is apparent along every country road in the region.

I spent some time exploring the Driftless Area this week on the Hillsboro and the 400 State bicycle trails. I'm always amazed at the beauty of the Driftless!

It's the Spring Green Art Fair this weekend! I've been in a lot of art fairs over the years and this one is always one of my favorites. I'm in booth 97 so stop by and say hi. The weather looks great!

Find out what this hotel in Dodgeville, Farrah Fawcett, a Military Cargo plane, and the Ford Motor Company all have in common in my latest blog post about my 4-day biking trip on the Military Ridge State Trail. https://aroundwisco.com/2024/06/20/biking-the-military-ridge-bike-trail/

It was a bit wet, but I survived my first bike camping trek in the driftless. I rode the Military Ridge bike trail over 4 days to Governor Dodge State Park and back with a stop in Blue Mound State Park. I'm not a speedy cyclist but it is a great way to slow down and take in the scenery. Stay tuned for more travels in the beautiful Driftless Are of Wisconsin.

I'll be at the Hartland Library Tuesday night at 6:30!

Next week, we'll welcome author and photojournalist Cameron Gillie to the Hartland Public Library for a presentation on his book, Around Wisco: Hiking the Ice Age Trail! Members of the Ice Age Trail Alliance will also be here to share information about the Ice Age Trail Communities. Don't miss it!

So this past week I made a command decision. My next big project will be photographing Route 66... And it took me about 30 minutes. Route 66 in Grant County, Wisconsin that is. 😆

Back from a three state road trip that included sunrise coffee this morning overlooking the Mississippi River.

Some signs of spring are showing up along the Ice Age Trail.

That time I was ALMOST published in Life Magazine – I was a 29 year-old staff photographer for the Greeley Tribune on my way to photograph a state high school tennis tournament in Denver. I was a bit sleepy on the hour drive and drove past this billboard being put up. The guy was on the left side of the billboard, but I thought, oh my god, it would be so incredible if I could capture him with the squeegee over that closed eye! I made an immediate crazy u-turn, and sure enough he moved the ladder to the right. Frantically grabbing my camera out of the trunk I barely got film loaded in time to capture the photo as he swiped over the eye. If I was a few seconds later I would have missed it.
An editor at the Tribune told me I should send this to Life Magazine. It was a long shot, but I sent them a print. Not long after I was so amazed when a photo editor of Life Magazine called me and asked me to send them the negative. They were putting it on the July 1996 issue “Just One More” page that always featured amazing stand alone feature photographs. You can’t imagine how excited I was to be published in one of the best photojournalism publications of all time!
But my bubble burst when they Fedexed the negative back to me with a note apologizing that they had decided to go with another “very similar” photo. This billboard was a national campaign for McDonalds and it turned out someone else got about the same photo in a different city. I guess the red bucket and red hardhat put that other photo over the top. I was so close, but that’s the way publishing (and life) works. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes both at the same time.
The photo did win a national award in the National Press Photographers Association contest and several state press association awards. It was always a portfolio photo of mine and it was published in News Photographer Magazine.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of you tonight at the Delafield Public Library. I'll be presenting about my Ice Age Trail hike at 6:30.

Today is the first time I’ve seen one of my books on a library shelf –and it was in Hallock, Minnesota, the town I grew up in! This is where I started my photography journey 40 years ago taking photos for the Hallock High School newspaper and annual. Thursday evening at 6:30 I’ll be giving a presentation in the Hallock City Hall on my Ice Age Trail book and the Ristad Farms book. One thing about a small town is I still know a lot of people even though I haven’t lived here for 30 years. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you.

Hey! I'm excited to be teaching a black and white film developing class in March at the PhotoMidwest darkroom. If you'd like to learn to develop your own film and make analog darkroom prints check it out.

Black & White Film Developing & Printing at PhotoMidwest — PhotoMidwest Discover the wonders of analog photography with this hands-on class. You will learn how to use a film camera and develop and print your own black and white film in the PhotoMidwest Darkroom. Instructor : Cameron Gillie Date & Time : March 2nd 9am-1pm, March 9th 9am-1pm, & March 1

It's been fun getting out and sharing the adventure of hiking the Ice Age Trail. I'll be having another library presentation at the George Culver Community Library in Sauk City Thursday night at 6:30. I hope some of you can make it. https://www.saukcitylibrary.org/around-wisco-author-talk-cameron-gillie

Join me Tuesday evening at 6pm at the Cross Plains Public Library for a presentation about my journey across Wisconsin as I hiked the Ice Age Trail. It's always nice to meet people in person who have followed along here on Facebook. https://www.rgpl.org/around-wisco-hiking-ice-age-trail

The rising sun illuminates the Swiss United Church of Christ in New Glarus. The town of New Glarus began as Swiss farming settlement in the mid 1800s and to this day is very proud of its Swiss heritage. (it's also home to my favorite Wisconsin beer)

Looking back, 2023 has been an amazing year! It's kind of crazy to think I've self-published two books in one year. It seems like way more than a year ago that I saw pages of Ice Age Trail book coming off the press. But it was just this past January. Then came the Ristad Farms book in June. I want to thank all of you for making this a great year. 2024 will be filled with photographing the next book. I'll also be getting back in the swing of to doing art festivals again. In addition there be library author presentations. So stay tuned! Have a Happy New Year!

Most of you know film photography is a hobby of mine. Here's some of my favorite film photos from the past year. It's nice to get away from the computer screen once in a while and head down to our darkroom in the basement, put on some music, and create some hand-made prints.

Another nice story about the book. This time from the Verona Press...

Around Wisconsin A Monday morning card game at a bar in Forestville. A girl and her mother walking their sheep down the road, getting the animals ready for the Portage County Fair.

My Ice Age Trail linocut prints are back in stock. I've been pretty surprised at the interest. It was just a fun project Nazan and I have been playing around with carving linoleum and making prints. They keep selling out. You get a discount if you buy it in combination with the book. https://aroundwisco.com/product/ice-age-trail-linocut-print/

We reached a big milestone at the Very Merry Holiday Festival this weekend. Since the books arrived in January we’ve now sold over 500 copies of my Ice Age Trail book. I can’t thank everyone enough. This was a big gamble and a huge challenge to hike a 1200-mile trail, photograph, write, design, and independently self-publish a 264-page coffee table book. You all helped make this a reality. Thank you!!! (photo by Mary Hultman)

Come meet me in person this weekend at the Very Merry Holiday Art Fair in Baraboo and hear how I lugged this camera with me on the Ice Age Trail. – Well Okay, this isn’t the camera I used, but I’ll have my books for sale and time to chat about the hike. Friday noon to 6 pm and Saturday 9 am to 4 pm. There's 60 other artists/ artisans to shop as well. https://www.theverymerryholidayfair.com/

NBC Channel 15 in Madison interviewed me this week for a story about my heart surgery, the Ice Age Trail hike, and the book. At first, having a heart attack at 47 was a pretty embarrassing thing to talk about. I never imagined I'd be on TV talking discussing it.

After open heart surgery, Madison man hikes and photographs Ice Age Trail Twelve hundred miles, one backpack and a camera--a Madison man’s road to recovery took him through the Ice Age Trail.