Salmon Fishing-Remembering a Friend

“Eventually, all things merge into one…..and a river runs through it.”

- A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean

I would never claim to be a salmon fisherman. That term is reserved in my mind for those out on the big water, spooling down hundreds of feet of line in search of those silvery monsters. All I know of salmon fishing is from the shore of a harbor or bank of a river during the fall run. A fishing style that suits me just fine, by the way.

Last week, during the traditional time of year for the salmon run, I loaded the truck and hit the road by 3:00 am to make the 190 mile trip from Neillsville to Algoma. By daybreak I had my lines soaking along the banks of the Ahnapee River in “my” favorite spot. It's early October and a few other fishermen were staked out, but it was pretty quiet. I didn’t mind. Watching a few small flocks of cranes and geese overhead, some distant shotgun blasts and hearing an occasional whoop of a “fish on!” and splashing wasn’t a bad way to spend a morning. The “torpedo” wakes of fish moving upstream though the shallow waters were few and far between and I could only claim a couple bumps.

This cold morning I was reminded that a sound, a smell, and seeing a specific object, can sometimes bring back vivid memories. As I sat in my chair sipping steaming coffee from my thermos, I looked across the river to the opposite bank at piles of boulders strewn near the bridge. I thought about Randy…. that was “his” spot. Every fisherman knows that sometimes one has the “hot spot,” and that jumble of rock was Randy's hot spot.

Randy Stanley and his sons, Chad and Jack, were the guys who introduced me to this sport. One fall afternoon years ago, they invited me over to Lake Michigan for a fall run fishing trip. I jumped at the chance. My last experience with salmon were the early years of snagging when I was just a kid, so an opportunity to fish again for these Kings was something I didn’t want to miss. Over the years we did well with a cooler full of filets, other times we went home with only a bottle or two of Von Stiehl wine. Regardless, all trips were successful and fun and I was hooked on the sport. (Pun intended)

Jack and Randy

The outdoor life could not be more ingrained into a family than what the Stanleys live. Randy and his sons were a tight group, and seemed to spend every free moment in the field or on the water, and if not, they were planning their next trip. Luckily for me, I befriended them and was able to join in from time to time. In remembering this particular fishing spot on the rocks, it seemed Randy would pull in three or four fish to our every one. “Fish ON!” and I’d reel my own line in, sprint up the bank with the net, cross the hiway bridge and scramble down over the boulders to scoop up another fish for his stringer. I never tired of it. After a day of fishing we’d crash in a van or back of a truck to catch a few hours of sleep and then maybe grab breakfast at Dairy Deans. I remember on our last trip together Randy hadn’t felt that great at our meal and later that fall we knew why.  He would be diagnosed with cancer. His treatments started and he fought well, but later that year we lost him. For his friends, his family, his sons in particular, there will always be a void left that Randy filled with laughter and wit while we were outdoors with gun or rod in hand.

On this Fall day, looking across at “his spot” on the banks of the river, hands warming around a cup of coffee, it didn’t matter that the stringer would be empty.  It only mattered that his life had enriched mine and brought me memories and friendships I’ll never forget.

Black and Gold

I love getting the pup, or in the past- pups, out in the winter for a hike.  The spring is kinda sloppy and the summer can get a bit buggy.  But fall......no doubt my favorite time of year and as always, it goes by too quickly.  It's like the first sounds of a crow or blue jay call in August, the first color of leaves start in some swamp and that spicy smell is in the air, and soon the trees are bare and more than a nice chill is in the air.  Fall is over, the gun season here and after that marches in winter and snow...not that that is a bad thing either.

But for right now, for a few brief weeks, it is autumn and I try to spend every minute I can out there doing something.  I've always said fall should be twice as long to get everything done- hunting, mountain biking, photography, Harley rides, fishing and sometimes, just out hiking with the pup.  The "pup" in this case is Molly, who has made a few appearances in this blog.  This is the first "real" fall to enjoy with me.  Last year she was recovering from a broken pelvis and eye surgery and missed any good kind of lab-in-the outdoors time.  Hopefully she'll do well in her first hunting season.

Black and Gold

For starters anyway, we ventured out into the county forest on some game trails, it was early morning, sun just hitting the tops of the trees and the camera was in hand.  I tried to make some photos along the way and it can be a lesson in frustration, because what you see with the eyes and what you smell don't show up on the sensor.  Fall can be hard to make good pictures, and we think it should be easy.  As I looked thru them, it started to be clear that on this day I was most interested not in shooting color (I thought I was) but rather Molly in the color, smelling only dog smells, running here and there and returning to heal along side me.  These images made me happy and I enjoyed them again and thought I'd share.  Maybe as the peak of color slides into place this week, some real fall photographs will find their way into my camera, but for now, I'll take these.

Molly on Old Fiber Optic Line

Abby and Mr. Art

Abby & Mr. Art

Abby is probably one of the most photographed first graders in school.  Not by me, but by Big Sister Alyssa, who has been one of my best HS photographers ever.  Abby was frequently a favorite subject for Alyssa when she was in photography class.  Abby is also the grand daughter of a close friend, an excellent retired teacher, "Miss Kathy" (who we miss very much).  The day before the photo was made was "picture day" and all the kids were dressed up-on this day, we were back to working clothes in the art room....the way it should be.

Cranes of Fall

Two Sandhills Alight

I've become a fan of cranes over the years.  Growing up in Wausau and Hazelhurst, I'd never really seen them before-just the leggy, folded neck in flight Great Blue Herons (Shy Pokes, my grandfather would call them) which were pretty common.  I think the first Sandhill Cranes I'd noticed were in Clark County, near Neillsville, where I took my first teaching job.  That was back in the early 80's, and even then, their numbers were few.  Fast forward to 2011 and each fall, the gathering of hundreds of cranes in the area begin.  I think one big draw was the construction of the Winx Flowage, just west of Neillsville-that, and the attraction of spread corn from a nearby farm for many years, which also brought in thousands of geese.  The corn and many of the canadian geese are gone now, but the cranes continue to show up each year, with greater numbers.  Two years ago, we were also treated to a pair of Whooping Cranes, who hung out with their gray cousins  for several weeks before migrating south.
Living outside of town provides a chance to see the birds gathering in nearby farm fields.

A recently cut corn field drew both young and mature cranes each day for a week or so.  I decided to crawl out into a nearby ditch, with long lens in hand and wait before work.  Like clockwork, they arrived around seven, although in fewer numbers than the previous days.  I managed to get a few shots as some passed by, while the others lit on the far end-apparently a better looking breakfast setting for them.  As we head into October, the gathering will grow and the their select fields will grow louder with the croking of the Sandhills' calls.  Just another reminder that fall is indeed here-my favorite time of year!

2011 Homecoming Parade

The NHS Homecoming parade usually is a "target rich environment " for making photographs.  The expressions, especially on the younger kids, is such a treat to see and photograph.  The high schoolers are most of the time too cool to let much of any kind of expression out, so most of my favorites here are of the elementary students.

The Wardog Girls

Faces of the Parade

Miss. Neillsville 2011

Wardog Paint

Parade Shock and Awe

GnomeFest Ocho

GnomeFest-kinda like the Chequamegon on crack? No, that's not quite right, there still is a race...kinda (the Dirt Cat) and celebs (Gomez, Cale, Joe, Marty, Mark......) and a h*ll of a lot of bikes and I'd have to say even more fun.  Granted...non-conventional fun, whatever that means.  I know a lot of cars pull into the Levis Mound parking lot and wonder what the heck is going on.  Tents, bikes, dogs, kids all running around (tents?) in a communal mountain bike heaven. 
This is the fourth installment held at Levis Mound and I'm so happy GF has come our way and landed here.  It has been great exposure of our trail to many people who have never been here.  For the most part, I think riders have enjoyed what we've done in making a great trail system and being as good a host as we can be.  For myself, it was the first time all year I felt like a mountain bike rider again.  I wasn't really a photographer this weekend, just had a camera around, although I did tell someone I was from "Dirt Ride" magazine seeing as I had my big camera slung around my neck.
What follows are a few images of GF Ocho that I like and will remember of this years' installment.

Friday Night Derby Warm-up

The derby is a random bike race where the point is to be the last rider....errrr, riding.  The circle of circling riders gets smaller as one after another is knocked out or dabs.  A derby around a raging bon-fire is a bit more interesting and for the riders, more motivating!

Derby Spectators

The Fire Rider

The Knight? of the Dwarf Cycle

The "Dwarf Cycle figure 8 race of Death" is an interesting competition to be sure.  Costumes are a bonus and sometimes crowd participation is a bit much.  It's single elimination and involves trying to ride those tiny kids bikes around a figure 8 race course...more or less.  Who ever or whatever is across the finish line in one piece wins the round.

Dwarf Cycle Battle

It's all about the Bike

Mayor Bethany

The Fatbikes and Friends

Gary and Bethany are two of the instigators of this whole Gnomefest madness and who brainstormed up the idea is anyones guess.  I'm sure beer was involved.  I'm happy to have befriended them and it's awesome to be around their enthusiasm of bikes and bikers.

The Big City

A cliche to be sure, but you can take the boy out of the country, but......
SO I maybe get near the Twin Cities once a year, usually around midnight, just skirting it on the way to North Dakota.  The sky scrapers of St. Paul and Minneapolis are seen in the distance and I take pause to admire the architecture that is worlds away from Neillsville. This weekend however, the buildings were up close and personal and filled me with awe.  The structures here must be some of the finest anywhere-not as many as some cities, but still, so impressive.  A wedding of a close friend was celebrated in the downtown area along the Mississippi and we had a chance to stay right in the middle of these giants.  As we walked around the center of the city I just had to just start randomly pressing the shutter.  Not composing a thing-not even looking into the viewfinder (as maybe you'll be able to tell)....just walking and clicking.  With the massive buildings on all sides, just angling the camera up is all I needed to do to get a few interesting images.  I guess in the back of my mind, I didn't want to be seen as a tourist stumbling around taking snapshots in the big city, even though that was the most closest thing to what I was.  Still, I couldn't stand that thought, so I tried to be sneaky in shooting with my compact camera.

I took just 60 or 70 images and most, understandably were not worth a lot, but some, like this seemed to work for me.  As I flipped through them, I realized the ones I was most attracted to were ones with strong geometric shapes-well, dahhhh, of course, you're in a big city.  It is so opposite of what surrounds me everyday, plus everything is vertical.  Almost all needed (in my mind) to be black and white, and I used some film emulators and other pre-sets that seem to work for me.

Tenley in the Big City with Color

The Foshay Reflection

One Way

So maybe I did leave a lot in color......after uploading them here, I noticed that it wasn't just the B&W that made the cut.  Also noticed that Tenley makes guest appearances in a lot of them.  Oh well, she is a small town girl in wonder as well.

First Day-2011

Is two years in a row a tradition? Gotta start somewhere, right?  With our shared schedules between high school and elementary school, it's worked out that my "normal" first hour class in the high school is at an orientation when I would normally be teaching photography.  It gives me, on the first day of school only, a chance to walk around the halls and classrooms with my camera and look for classic first day pictures.  It's excitement, apprehension, reunion smiles and a little bit scary-for the kids and some of the parents.  Just have to love the mothers (and dads-I know) tearing up as they let their "babies" go, and into the care of our staff.  ( I think they quickly recover when they return home to a quiet peaceful house!)  It's one of my favorite "traditions" now to do this quick shoot.  Below are some of my favorites, and there is a public link to the full set of pictures on Facebook at the end.

Hayden-First Day Wonder

This was my surprise photo of all 100 or so-I didn't  realize it at the time of pressing the shutter what a story this image could tell.  This is Hayden, a really great kid I enjoy in class, but during these first few minutes of the school year, I wonder what he's thinking.  His new teacher?....his new class and classmates and maybe what this year has in store for him.

Boys like Snakes

Somehow Ava made it into the final round of "keeper" images, but I shouldn't be surprised-she is a wonderful student. I'm also not surprised Judah would have a book open on snakes-I've heard little boys love creepy things. I'm not sure if they are daydreaming here, turning the pages of the book waiting for the rest of their class to file into the room, or impressing their new teach at how studious they can be.

Why are erasers Pink?

I think this is a few moments before a "Show Me Five" shoots into the air-an attention getter that is designed to focus everyone in the room to what the teacher or speaker has to say.  In our second year now, it seems to work well, and from this picture, it would seem that it's almost time, during this first morning of class, to get those hands in the air.

64 Colors

Is there anything better or more joyous than opening a box of 64 crayons?  I think not.  Maybe there is.....the smell of 64 Crayola Crayons.

The K4 Train

I call them "walking backpacks" when I watch the 4K kids line up and march down the hall past the 5th grade rooms and then down into the middle school where their classroom is located.  I've never really gotten that shot yet, but will.  It seems the little boy and girl are in completely different places here on the way to their new room.

Matching Backpacks

"No, really....this Piece goes in here."

The 5K rooms are a wonder to me.  I wonder if I'll make it through the year.  Kindergarteners can really be a challenge and I've always said those teachers should be paid double of what a college professor makes-no doubt. There is so much unbounded energy and wonder in these rooms it tires me, but it also makes me sad that some of that is lost as they move through the grades and get smarter, yet wonder less.  Sorry-pretty deep here. ;)

Welcome to First Grade

Where's My Class?

There is a great hustle and bustle in the hallways on that first day- "Where is my class?" "Is that my new teacher?"  Big brothers and sisters leading their siblings to the correct room and parents stopping to chat a minute or two as their children excitedly pull away to find their desk and smile at their name taped to the front.

Public link to the rest of the album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150298848999469.355779.750289468&l=525c0311ff&type=1

The First Week of August

The first week of August 2011 didn't start out as expected.  A trip by air from Neillsville to the Marshfield ER was  not what anyone had planned and a scary start to the new month.  What could have (and maybe was) been an aneurysm, which lead to some bleeding in the brain and something very serious, turned out to be something painful and debilitating and very concerning, but in many ways lucky for Lori. These things can turn out much worse.  At this point, five days later, it is the recovery phase-maybe out of danger, but still a long road ahead to full recovery.

There are a lot of hours spent between the CCU room, the family waiting room and other places in the building.  As the watch and wait period began a couple days ago, so did the drive between home in Neillsville and St. Josephs in Marshfield.  It was good to finally get some sleep, tend to the pets, wash the dishes and have a few normal moments....and how we take that normalcy for granted, until it's not any longer.  Time at the hospital takes on it's own life and timeframe-it's almost like it's own little world not knowing what is happening out there.  There is a great deal of privacy required here, but still, I wanted to show a little of what things are like at all hours of the day and night on the road to recovery.

Lifesavers

Late Night Stairwell to CCU

The Pumps

The Morning Drive

The Quiet Hours

Behind the viewfinder

"Seeing" the Lake Superior Shore

The photography workshop that had us scampering all over northern Wisconsin and the U.P. focused primarily on nature-waterfalls, rivers, bogs and lakes and associated critters found therein.  For myself when someone asks- "what kind of photography do you do?" I have a hard time answering.  For this week, it was nature, at another time it could be the underbelly of a city, or maybe the behind the scenes images of a hunt, a concert or a wedding.  So I guess I'm not nailed down to one "kind" of photography, which leaves me a lot of room to shoot what interests me at the moment.  For good or bad.

So during the workshop, there were a few times I turned the camera away from strictly nature to the photographers, and we had some very good ones here.  I do believe there is some truth in having a human in a landscape, if for nothing else to just wonder-"what are they doing in there?!"  Having a group of photographers shooting mostly the same exact thing, but sometimes very differently can be a great learning experience and then having the chance to critique so many images, can't but help improve our art.

Setting up on The bog Lake near Eagle River

Livin and Shootin on the Edge

Morning Silhouette-Doug

Black Spruce Close-up- Andrea

Making the Picture-Doug on bog lake

This last photograph here was perhaps my favorite, probably because I saw how long it took Doug (our instructor) to finally lean over and push the shutter.  Maybe the most valuable lesson I learned was to slow down.  The tripod forced that in many ways and maybe more so was the fact that we really wanted to make great images and we wanted to make the most out of every location we visited.  It almost felt like being a real photographer.......whatever that is. ;)