Happy Holidays

Well fall color is just passed peak and leaves are coming down fast. I love walking in the woods after all the leaves are off the trees. The sound of crunchy leaves under foot, the muted browns and greys, the bite of the fall air. For any of you still venturing up, stop in even if the sign says closed. I will be here for another couple of weeks working on a commission.

Apostle Island National Lakeshore

I have been to the Apostles a few times before but it has been a while. Unfortunately our trip only lasted two days because of high wind forecast which would have pinned us down on Stockton Island past when we needed to get the 12 miles back to the mainland. Stockton Island has the largest concentration of black bears

in the country. It seems quite inadvertently that there were three themes to our fall shoots this year. One is that we stayed and shot on an Island in Lake Superior. Two: Rock, rock more rock. Three: Both Islands had the most incredible Tombolo's I have ever been on. I guess all of the cold clear green water could count as four.

A photographer friend commented on how many hours I had in front of me in Photoshop after seeing images from the last shoot. Although I generally only crop, color correct and work with contrast mostly, the process of converting RAW files is sometimes tedious. All of the images that I have shown in the last two post are just the jpgs as they were shot - no post processing. With digital, I shoot differently than with film. Film you shoot to be as close as possible to what you want the end image to look like. With Digital I shoot fairly unsaturated and with as little contrast as the camera will shoot. I also shoot on the light side or the right side of the histogram so as to get as much information as possible. All this translates into fairly bland looking images that usually need something post shoot. Keep this in mind as you look at some of these images. Also there are simple point and shoot shots just to show the area. Can't always have good light for that perfect shot, so we shoot "record" shots as long as we are there.

This is a short slide show of waves crashing on the rocks (and on me) in sequence to hopefully give the feel of actually being on those slippery rocks with waves crashing all around you.

http://www.brimmages.com/splash/index.htm

Here are a few images from the Apostles - Mostly Stockton Island.

http://www.brimmages.com/apostles/index.htm

Enjoy

Steve

Grand Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore shoot

Well I'm back from trip #1 and I'm off to trip #2 tomorrow, the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. I put up a quick edit slide show from Grand Island and Pictured Rocks. It takes a minute or two to load depending on your connection as there are about 150 images. To many, but...

We had some awesome light, howling winds, pretty days, starry nights and a sauna. Thanks to the generosity of Marty in Munising, who gave us a boat and cabin to work from, we were very

comfortable. Jeff and I shot a lot from the boat which was pretty tough going. Shooting digital and using image stabilized lens really increased the odds of getting sharp images. I stretched hard drive and camera batteries past their limits as I shot more than 20 gigs this trip. That's about 1700 images. I knew you were dying to know that. The Light House in some of the shots is the Grand Island East Channel Light . One of the Great Lakes most photogenic lighthouses has been in danger of collapse. But thanks to a small, but dedicated group of local volunteers, including Marty, the Grand Island East Channel Light has been saved for future generations to see.

Ok, gotta go pack.

2008 Fat Tire Festival

It seems an unlikely fact that I co founded this race 15 years ago. Sam Raymond at Keweenaw Adventure (which I also co founded) and his crew have done an awesome job turning this into the event which I imagined. We started out with less than 50 riders and this year we had 330. We were lucky enough to have Steppin' in it play an outdoor gig in our new band shell. By the end of the night we had quite a dust storm kicked up by all the twirling and bouncing. If you weren't here this year better put it on your schedule for next year. Always Sunday on Labor day weekend. http://www.keweenawadventure.com/fat_tire.htm

Check out the full slideshow. The music scenes were shot at the end of a long day and with a beer in one hand while dancing so be kind with your reviews. http://www.brimmages.com/fattire2008/index.htm
It might take a minute to load.

Steppin in it was awesome. Check them out. http://www.steppininit.com/

September already!?

Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone for a great show in Eagle Harbor & Copper Harbor. The Weather was absolutely perfect. The Pasi cats http://www.pasicats.com/ played at the Copper Harbor show, check 'em out. Really cool tunes!

Harbor Fest was a blast. The setting on the lake, the grilling out, the huge bonfire and of course great music. Make sure you put it on your to do list for next year. This is a shot of Mojo, a rockin' blues master who was on the venue for the evening. Mojo also plays at the fat tire festival every year. Check his music out. http://www.mojoperry.net/

Lastly, the Gallery here in Copper Harbor will possibly be closed for about 2 weeks starting around the weekend of the 13th. If the Gallery is open the hours will probably be limited. You can call to check 910.289.4749. Jeff and Steve are going camping so if you see someone driving around with a tent on top of their car looking for just the right spot to toss said tent on, it would most likely be us. Steer clear. Actually we are lucky enough to have access to a cabin and boat on Grand Island next to Pictured Rocks National Lake shore. Then... someone else was stupid enough to loan us a boat to use in the Apostle Island National Lake shore so we have to go there as well. Bummer. Hope to come back with some good shots and memories. Ha, no radios so Jeff won't have a reason to whistle off key.

Art shows and Harbor Fest

I will only be attending the two local shows in Copper Harbor August 16-17 and Eagle Harbor August 9-10. Harbor fest is also on the 9th

Beauty and light to you

Steve

Late July ramblings from Steve Brimm

Howdy everyone, the Gallery is up and running in full swing. Actually it seems to be running faster than me, which is great. Have met a lot of new folks who subscribe to my newsletter that have stopped in to say hello. It has been great to meet and talk with all of you.

It is super good to be up here breathing the "cleanest air in the world" at least that's what the sign on the Harbour Haus say's. Actually, I'm happy to be breathing any air as the brakes went out on my truck towing a big trailer while on the freeway heading up to Copper Harbor - twice! Scary.

I have not gotten out on the water or in the woods a lot, but will soon. The cherries are coming off as well as Service Berries and some early low bush Blue berries. The Thimbleberries are looking good to produce a bunch of fruit. Yum. Fresh wild blueberries on buckwheat pancakes smothered in maple syruple - that is the only word that rhymes with purple, at least according to Roger Miller. The water level in Lake Superior is back up to normal. It has been really low for the last two years.

We are building a mobile band shell and are having a big blowout with over ten bands donating their time as a fundraiser, so come on out and listen to some great tunes, drink some beer and help us pay for Copper Harbor's newest addition.

Well, just thought I'd touch base as some were wondering if I got lost in Ohio or somewhere. Hope you can stop in and say hello this summer.

Happy trails!

Steve

PS. In case you weren't aware of the meaning of tenacity, this is it. Rebecca paddling with Megan on the big pond. I bought the kayak for her birthday almost two years ago and this is the first time she has physically been able to get it on the water. At this very moment she is getting her herniated disk operated on and hopefully be free from the awful pain she has been in for more than a year. She is currently off Chemo and has that tumor running scared. TENACITY

On the move

The truck and trailer are almost loaded, 3600 prints are close to all being signed, and my co-pilot, Bisquit is getting anxious. Me as well. All that to say Earth Works Gallery will be fully open by July 4th if all goes as planned. Feel free to swing by and say hello if you are in the neighborhood sooner as I will certainly be around.



Sprinked here, are a few floral pics from the yard and a couple from recent trips. More of those to come.



This Copper bowl is the fruits of a Metal smithing workshop I took. I will share more on that later as well.


Look foward to seeing you soon. 

Capt. Steve

March Print of the Month

Moonrise Over Isle Royale

Looking for an image to use for the print of the month, I found myself staring at this shot and clicking my heels - there's no place like Isle Royale, There's no place like Isle Royale.

  

prints coming out of my ears

This is a panorama of Birch and Bunchberry in a 8x24 print size.

Normally $95 on sale for $38

View larger and purchase here.

Support The Artist Deduction Bill (S.548)

This artist deduction bill (S.548) would give artists the right to deduct the fair market value of their work when donating it to a charity. We artists are always asked to donate work to charitable causes for fundraising purposes but when our work is auctioned, the buyer gets the benefit of being allowed to deduct their contribution above the market value, whereas the contributing artists and artisans can only deduct the amount of the material costs of creating their work (the cost of paint, canvas, clay, paper...)
This bill is non-partisan and fair. Please click on this link and simply by typing in your zipcode a letter of support will be sent to your particular senators and congressmen.
T he link below will allow you to enter your easily enter your zip code so a letter can be sent to your congress person. http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=9521951

Rebecca's Henna Tattoo

Rebecca surprised everyone at her birthday party by showing up with her head completely covered with this beautiful Henna Tattoo.

Total Lunar Eclipse, more prints and what eats photogs

Howdy y'all! Hope this note finds everyone happy and healthy despite being bombarded by woes of the economy, steroids and the omnipresent presidential babble. Remember, art is always a good investment, if not for it's market value then for the happiness it brings your soul.

In case you weren't able to catch the Total Lunar Eclipse: February 20, 2008 in person, here is a short sequence I took over the course of the event. It was cloudy so they aren't the best and the timing is not equal, but you can get the idea. ( the angles are not correct either. I did not set the camera up and leave it as I had no place to get a shot of the whole event from one spot. Shooting from the homestead also provided a steady stream of Single Malt Scotch which probably did not help either ;-)
There was a Mackerel sky so I had to time the shutter (I couldn't find my electronic cable release, so it was 2 sec timer with mirror lock -up) so it would open during a break in the clouds - not so easy as the breaks were hardly wide enough to fit the moon in between. Watching the event left me feeling pretty small and insignificant in such a vast universe. I wonder if children growing up in the extreme southern Hemisphere think that they may fall off the earth.



The Pelican shot was a hit. Thanks to John, Kayla, Mary and Rusty.



Now that I've finally gotten around to Changing the "prints coming out of my ears" I hope this new one will be of interest. I shot this image of fragrant Water Lilies at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan's UP. I like how the puffy Cumulus clouds kind of mirror the flowers. For those of you who have my book, you will find this image in it. I waded thigh deep into the water to get this shot and came out of the water with more than I went in with. Can anybody guess what I came out with? I'll give you a hint "African Queen" View Larger image here

A funny bird is the Pelican...

...who's beak can hold more than their belly can,
but I don't know how the hell they can.

Sorry had to get that out.



Growing up in South Eastern North Carolina until the time I left in the mid 80's, we did not have pelican's pretty much at all. I spent a lot of time sailing, surfing and fishing and don't really recall seeing any.
It wasn't that they didn't belong here, it was because they had been decimated by DDT. I'm sure you all remember what that did to the eggs of a lot of birds, like Eagles and Osprey etc. Since DDT was banned in this country,* I believe in the 70's, many birds including the Pelican have made a dramatic comeback. We don't usually have this kind of concentration of pelicans, due to a very large Menhaden kill as seen in the second and third shot of this little portfolio of shots I took, they flocked in for a free buffet.

The "prints coming out of my ears sale" is still going on. Thanks to Sarah, Jack and Cynthia, hope you enjoy your Agate Beach prints. This next image for sale is of a group of brown Pelicans in a 15x30 print.

A little side note about DDT. Even though it is illegal to use DDT in this country, companies still manufacture it in the US to use on crops in third world countries. Those conventional Banana's in the grocery, yep you
guessed it - they have been treated with DDT. The things they sneak through on unwary citizens. So buy some organic 'nanners and say no to DDT.

February Print of the Month

This month's image is a b&w of Ferns. I have been recieving more interest in b&w prints lately so am working towards getting a few images worked up. Check it out HERE

Also, the first "prints coming out of my ears" image of the oil truck sold. Thanks Sue and Jim!

The new print is a 24x30 of one of the classics in my collections "Agate Beach" I have three of these and once again It is first come first serve. These prints are normally $275 but these three are reduced 60% to $110 This is the first time I have made prints this size of agate Beach - they are awsome! Check it out HERE

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please write them on the back of two round trip plane tickets to anywhere in the south pacific.

Hope everyone is having a great winter.

Steve

Prints coming outta my ears!

I bought a new printer sometime before christmas and between giving it a work out and doing my best to use all the ink up in my other printer (can't waste ink that cost $1700 a gallon) and I am ending up with just a ton of prints. All of the prints are pieces I've never printed before. Some may get put into my print selections, some I did just for the shear fun of it, which is what a lot of them are. These orphan prints as I'll call them need a home, otherwise they will go in a print file and more than likely never be used. So to that end I will offer them at 60% off. I may only have one or two so it will be first come first serve. Please note that I do not sell seconds, all of these prints are just like any other print I sell. They are 100% guaranteed to meet your satisfaction.

I will add a new print either every week or when I sell the previous print. Most of these prints are 16x24 but I do have some panoramas that are 9x24 and a few pieces that are 24x30. This first piece is of an old oil truck sitting in a field somewhere in central UP.

Purchase this print

What time was it? we have a winner!

Well that was fun! With just the info I gave, It would be impossible to get the time exact, except by luck. I enjoyed how many took a stab at it anyhow. Some got outside and tried it out for themselves, others researched it on the web, some said well the shadow is long so it's early or late, still others wondered about the direction of the sand swirl - did it have something to do with prevailing winds? and some of you knew all the ingedients. In the end, it was about the journey not the destination.

Ok, Ok I'm getting there! the exact date and time was.
September 16 2005
9:32:45


No one got the exact time, but in the spirit of fun, I'll award an 8x10 matted of this months print to the closest guess. That guess was 8:45 am wait... there was a tie between crazyforflowers and Frank Townsend. If you two would like to recieve a print, please email me with your address.

I was just thinking of some other similar things I could do, like virtual geocaching where you find the loacation by lat/lon and then guess the name of the location and the day and month the image was shot. The image will be the only clue as to the date. Any ideas out there?


Thanks everybody!

Steve

January Print of the Month

Sundial

I know what you're thinking, and yes, this is just how I found it. There were a number of these on the beach, but this was one of the more artistic ones. I understand the sand swirls, but the stone being up on it's edge seems odd. I immediately recognised it as a sundial and pointed my compass North so I could see what time it was. This image was shot in the Lake Superior State forest Campground on the way back to the Keweenaw after a couple of weeks shooting on the Canadian shore. Can you can guess what time it was when I shot this? If you can get the the hour and minutes correct you will get this month's image free! Send me an e-mail with your guess. I'll Take guesses through the 14th. Good luck! steve@brimmages.com

Something new is that I have added a smaller 8x10 with the print of the month for $19.95

view details here

Steve Brimm

http://www.stevebrimm.com/

http://stevebrimm-photographer.blogspot.com/