Grand Marais Field Trip
July 16-23, 2023

Led by award-winning photographers Julie Ackerman and David Perez, a group of MVPC photographers spent a week last July exploring the North Shore of Lake Superior. Home base was scenic and artsy Grand Marais. Highlights of the Club trip included waterfalls in Cascade River State Park, sunset over Grand Marais harbor, Hollow Rock near Grand Portage (pictured) and the historic Hovland dock. A relaxing and photographically inspiring time in one the state’s most beautiful regions.

From July 16th to July 23rd, a group of MVPC members went to Grand Marais for some North Shore photography. The group consisted of David, Phil, Jeanne, Julie, and Joe.

Day 1: Learning to Photograph the Milky Way

On the night of our arrival, David took us to a secluded and dark rest area to learn how to do Milky Way photography. It was a challenge as the Milky Way was barely visible to the naked eye. David pointed to where the Milky Way was and we all dutifully pointed our cameras to where he was pointing and struggled to capture the Milky Way. After a lot of trial and error and various camera settings, we were finally able to get pictures of the Milky Way. We will use this new-found knowledge when we go to Hollow Rock later.

Day 2: Waterfalls and the Art of Focus Stacking

The following day was spent photographing the waterfalls that lined Highway 61.

That evening, Julie and Jeanne went walking along Hwy 61 to pick some flowers to photograph back at Julie’s cozy cabin.

David shared his expertise into focus stacking. Julie and Jeanne tried their hands at photographing the wild flowers they took Hwy 61.

Day 3: Artistry in Covill, Pigeon Falls and Artists’ Point

Day three led us to Covill, MN, where we marveled at and photographed an extraordinary sculpture yard, a testament to human creativity and artistic expression.

Later that afternoon, we ventured to the Grand Portage State Park and photographed the “Not So” High Falls.

Evening saw us at Artists’ Point. We ended up with a nice sunset and got to photograph the lighthouse along with sailboat that was going into the bay. Overall, a very productive day.

Day 4: Exploring Cascade River State Park

The next day, we set our sights on the Cascade River State Park, photographing the waterfalls that dot the Cascade River. In the evening, we went to Artists’ Point again, but nature didn’t cooperate this time.

Day 5: The Enigmatic Tambolo and Starry Night at Hollow Rock

Day five brought us to “The Tambolo”. Phil wanted to do some long exposure photography to get some nice looking clouds in the sky. Guess what? Long exposure photography and moving pine trees don’t work together.