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February 4, 2012
TREKON TWIG gallery website will temporarily direct to this site pending completion of new website construction. Publication of the Trekon Twig URL was required prior to completion of the website. Thanks for your consideration.
November 2, 2011
Close call on a windy day
A fallen birch lies across the Superior Hiking Trail against the base of a tree in Tetteguche State Park, fall leaves dancing in the wind. Moments earlier on this windy September 29th, the fallen birch had been upright, and I had been leaning against the far side of that standing tree precisely where the fallen birch now lies. Suddenly a strong gust rushed through the tree tops, followed by a loud pop and crushing branches. I dove to the side, noticing while falling that large sections of tree trunk were raining down toward me. There was no time to plan; I simply dove on instinct, into the protective "shadow" of the standing tree. A tree falls surprisingly quickly, and for a brief moment I believed that the rushing trunk would take me full on. I felt fortunate when it only struck my right foot. The foot felt crushed inside my hiking boot; but I could walk. So I turned back to make this snapshot with my DLux 4, then limped back with my wife, down the steep section of bluff trail called the "drainpipe", and to the truck. A visit to the emergency room, my fourth such visit this year, revealed no broken bones, but only a feeling as if I had been hit on the heel with a bat.
Because of the slow healing bruises resulting from the close call, I was not able to hike during the rest of my fall trip into the Superior Forest near Ely, Minnesota. So for the rest of the trip I photographed 'by car'. I was able to set up the old Burke and James just in time to capture the last rays of sunshine on this rock formation along the Fernberg Trail.
January 31, 2011
I've been under the weather for 3 of the last four weeks, so have just included an image from January 23.
 Snowbank with converging trails near Preston
December 25, 2010
When I returned to Lanesboro, Minnesota on Christmas Day, the yellow-gold theme, which began two months ago now, wasn't on my mind when I made just a few images, including the two panoramas, as well as two images in the 35mm format, shown below. It was only after I had assembled them on this page that I was once again struck by how variations on the gold theme had permeated, actually dominated, these new images.
 The village of Lanesboro, Minnesota at 6:00 PM on December 25, 2010, taken from the Orval and Marie Amdahl residence
 Road cut on highway 8, at Lanesboro
This image expands down from the lower, left center portion of road cut image
Detail of the Orval and Marie Amdahl farmhouse
November 26, 2010
The yellow-gold theme continues in it's own way, in this photo taken from Jim and Dianne Kaiser's 34th floor residence on the Chicago waterfront. The color temperature of Chicago city street lights reflecting off low, swift clouds translates to an "unnatural" reddish-yellow tint, to my eye, and "correcting" it will not be easy. The Kodak gray card, a standard reference for calibrating color temperature, would be impossible to utilize at this height and distance! Of course the logical course is to go back for another take and make the photo more carefully, working with the white balance feature of the Nikon D200, the camera I used in this case. By the way, the streets of Chicago are not curved, as seemingly depicted in this photo. I stitched together six images which spanned about 170 degrees of the horizon, and when laid flat as shown, the streets only appear to be curved.
At the Bean earlier in the evening, the sky was not clouded and the main light emanated from open sky. Under the Bean, blue reflections from that sky contrasts with the later overcast view above. Again, I did not employ white balancing, but made spontaneous images at default settings. This "slightly elongated" photo is not consructed from multiple images, as the 34th floor image above. It is a single image selected from the longest of three native formats available on the Leica D-LUX4, the 16:9 ratio.
November 20, 2010
During a visit to south eastern Minnesota this past weekend, I continued the yellow-gold theme which has developed over the past two months. This arched formation in a road cut on highway 43 near Rushford caught my eye and will be worth a return visit.
November 7, 2010
Fall in Minnesota has been long and idyllic, with unseasonally warm temperatures. Leaves have lingered on trees and shrubs and perennials, deepening in all imaginable colors. Hosta have not been left out, and this year all our beds turned bright yellow. This has never occurred in the 23 plus years we've lived at this location. On October 24th the hosta beds were intensely yellow as leaves weakened and gently drooped. Normally this happens around the time of a stiff frost, which leaves the leaves limp, browned and then quickly gray. Without the hard frost this year the leaves have lingered, deepening to beautiful gold and brown hues on the 29th. By November 7 they are fading to white and burnt gold; some are beginning to melt into the oak leaf mat.
Yellow and green hosta on 10/24/2010.
  
Gold and browns on 10/29/2010.
  
Colors drain from center to edges, 11/7/2010.
  
October 14, 2010
Just over two weeks ago I had the great pleasure of travelling Minnesota's north shore, the western end of Lake Superior, hiking to the summits of Mount Josephine, Oberg Mountain, and Carlton Peak, and the overlooks, including Ted Tofte, Palisade Valley, and Palisade Head. Rain was a significant factor during this trip, and Wednesday was almost a complete washout, but there was clearing late in the day, as can be seen in the image below of evening showers from Oberg Mountain. I relied on my digital personal assistant to look up current weather systems and to dodge some of the heavier rain. But intermittent rain can be a blessing for the landscape photographer, as it provides so many interesting, challenging, lighting situations. Sunshine breaks through clouds. Colors are intensified. During light rain the pace is a bit slower and the attention is directed downward to the life along the trail.
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| Minnesota on the left, Canada in the center, and Michigan (Isle Royale) in the right distance
Wonderful colors in a rock cut at the Grand Portage Travel Information Center
I could have stayed at this location all day.
   
Rocks, lichens and flowers near the Grand Portage Travel Information Center
Late afternoon sunshine breaking through rain clouds over Palisade Valley
   
Trailside scenes in Tetteguche State Park
Evening shower over Lake Superior from Oberg Mountain
 
More life forms along the trail
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It was a pleasure to be honored with merit awards from the Anderson Center and the Robbins Gallery
in the Fine Arts competition at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair, for this 6 foot panorama, titled
"Farms and Woodlands on the Olmsted and Filmore County Line near Chatfield, Minnesota".
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| August 2010
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Sugar Maple Woods, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 2009
PLEASE NOTE: All images on this site are copyrighted and may not be used without the permission of David Tacke.
Site Content
Most of the current photographs happen to depict landscapes and details from the natural world taken over the past year or two. As this site grows, old and new images from rural, urban, wilderness and mixed settings will make their way onto the pages. In most cases I plan to include informative text about the image and occasionally information about the photography involved in making the image.
Each image has been assigned to one or more categories. New categories and sub-categories will appear from time to time. Categories are a subjective way for me to help you find photographs, or perhaps more importantly, groups of photographs, based on what I believe you may find helpful for certain purposes. They may even change over time. Should the above photograph fall under "Art, Aboriginal" or should it fall under "Parks, National Parks, Canada" or perhaps both or something else? I have to admit, I'm struggling with making a decision on the "best" way to categorize images, as categorization is artificial. Outside of this site, what was originally a "scientific" photograph may later become known as an "art" photograph; should I try to fit external categories? Well, this is a new site and hopefully, as I rearrange things, my learning will not cause undue confusion along the way. If you want to ignore categories, click on the above link, By Number. As I randomly prepare an image for this site, I add the next sequential image number. There is no logic to my numbering.
In addition to categories, I also add keywords "behind the scenes" of each document. In the case of the pictograph of the moose I have added a fair number of keywords representing major elements or themes, including: Pictograph, Moose, Lichen, Painting, Aboriginal, BWCAW, Quetico, Spring, National Park, Canoe, Wilderness. These may be helpful when you use the search feature described below.
Finally, I believe that descriptions can be helpful for certain purposes and will do my best to include brief and accurate descriptions and captions for those who are interested. As I learn more about certain subjects, I may have to backtrack and revise pre-existing descriptions. For example, the terms bog and fen and wetland each have qualities that overlap. And the terms may be defined in slightly different ways in the USA, Canada and Europe. As I become aware of inaccuracies, I will change them.
Navigating This Site
This site is primarily composed of documents, each containing a photograph along with descriptive text. The descriptive information reveals image size, the categorization of the image, some keywords, and perhaps a paragraph or two of background information. After you've viewed a document, use the Back feature on your browser to return to your previous location.
All image documents can be found by using the links in the site heading or by using the search function. Three links in the heading take you to sorted text lists, including: By Number, By Title, By Category. Two links, Panoramas and Standard Prints, take you to thumbnails, or miniature photos, which are organized first by overall image format and then by categories grouped into tabbed sections.
The home page has a search feature which you can use to search across all categories. Just click on Search, located at the top right on the home page. If you are looking for a specific image reference number, enter that number. Otherwise, enter any terms or keywords to find all images which contain those terms. Separate each term with a comma. There are a few search options, so check them out.
Product Types
Each image is available in one or more product types, including: standard format prints, panoramic prints, greeting cards, and bookmarks. These are described below. Each image may be available in a unique set of product types, and available product types are indicated in the descriptive text with each photograph. Prints may be purchased as a rolled print or as a framed photograph. Greeting cards and bookmarks are available on-line in multi-unit sets, as indicated on the To Order link. Eventually I plan to have a shopping cart to help order items, but for now, please request items via e-mail using the information on the To Order link.
Standard Format Prints
Standard format implies that the ratio of the short dimension to the long dimension is from 1 to 1.5, or so. For example, a 4x5 in. film is 4 units on the short dimension by 5 units on the long dimension, for a ratio of 1.25. This was a common, hence classic, ratio in photography for a long time. More recently, 35mm and smaller digital cameras ratios have been available in the 1.5 range. When the long dimension is significantly longer than the short dimension, the photograph may be termed panoramic.
Most standard format prints are available as prints, greeting cards, and bookmarks.
Panoramic Prints
One day I will invest in a good panoramic camera. In the meantime, one of the techniques I've found interesting is the use of software to stitch photographs together to create panoramic photographs. Stitching can be a "cheap" way to create these images, as the software is relatively inexpensive. One advantage of the stitching technique is that it can be used with medium and large format film to create, well, pretty good sized panoramas. Another advantage is that it makes possible a very wide format image, up to 360 degrees. While this technique would seem to require a static subject, this is not always the case, as illustrated in Rapids on the Nina Moose River. One disadvantage of my current technique is that the software sometimes has trouble doing a "perfect" stitch, particularly in "busy" parts of a photo where there are many tree branches for example. Another factor is the precision with which the original photographs were taken, as shown when you compare this edited panorama with this unedited panorama. The previous photo was taken with a tripod to help keep the photos in alignment with the railroad track. This panorama was stitched from several handheld exposures, and the misalignment is very apparent. Currently I live within the capabilities of the process, but continue to work on improvements.
Panoramas may be short or long, depending on subject matter. Short panoramas may be available as greeting cards and bookmarks.
Greeting Cards
All standard format images and many panoramas are available as greeting cards. Greeting cards are printed on heavy stock photo paper, then signed and folded to fit into a 5x7 in. envelope. Both the card and envelope are sealed in a cellophane envelope. Greeting cards are available in multi-unit packages on-line.
Bookmarks
Most images are available as bookmarks. Bookmarks are printed on heavyweight paper and vary in size depending on the image format. Bookmarks are available in multi-unit packages on-line.
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