A Purple Enger Tower

Enger Tower turned purple this week as a show of support for the Alzheimer's Association Walk this Saturday (Oct 4th) in Duluth.

Photo by Matthew Moses/Moses Images

2014 Duluth Air Show

Photos and text by Matthew Moses

After being grounded on Saturday due to a low cloud ceiling the 2014 Duluth Air Show finally took to the air for an abbreviated low ceiling performance in front of the thousands of fans in attendance.  Spectators were treated to several acrobatic pilots putting their planes through awe inspiring maneuvers, a brief display of the Air Force's F-22 Raptor and finally the star attraction the US Navy Blue Angels.  It wasn't the same show we would have seen of the weather had been nicer but everyone was happy when the Blue Angels took off in their signature formation.

Bike Duluth Festival

Photos and text by H. Brian Rauvola

The Kraus-Anderson Bike Duluth Festival, held August 16-17 at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, had over 70 racers participate. A bit of rain and a little mud made for a slick 3rd stage of the Enduro Race on Saturday morning, but only minor spills were witnessed and no serious injuries resulted.

2014 Lester River Kayaking Races

Photos and text by H. Brian Rauvola

The high water forced a few racers to concede to the raging river, others ended up with dislocated shoulders and minor injuries, but the event was definitely a success!

Spring in Duluth

Photo and text by H. Brian Rauvola


Where else can you find huge ice piles and temperatures more than 60 degrees? Duluth in the spring, of course! Below, Richard Anderson photographs the "monolith," as he called it. This unusual ice shard is over a foot thick, more than 10 feet tall and stands upright on top of a 20+ foot ice pile on Park Point. "This would have been something to see as this pile was forming," Anderson said.



Thirsty Pagan Brewing

Photos and text by H. Brian Rauvola

 According to their website, in May of 2006 Susan and Steve Knauss purchased the existing Twin Ports Brewing Co. and opened up Thirsty Pagan Brewing in the historic Russel Creamery building at 1623 Broadway, in Superior, WI. This simple sentence gives insight to the simple approach that these two took in producing a wonderful company, Thirsty Pagan Brewing. Building on a firm foundation of pizza and beer, our two entrepreneurs quickly took a down and out location to a thriving destination. "We recognize our potential in focusing on just two things, pizza and beer. Do those two things correctly, and the world will come to us," says Steve Knauss; and obviously, they juggle them well.

One of the exciting ventures of the Pagan is their reserve of Russian Imperial Stout being flavored and aging in bourbon barrels in the basement of the restaurant. This, plus updated and expanded fermenting tanks and equipment has increased their capacity and selection of micro-brew offerings (not to mention their schedule of local and regional musicians!)

The images shown combined a 2 speedlight flash system balanced with ambient light, one speedlight with a mini softbox or shoot-through umbrella modifier, the other snooted as a highlight. All of the elements for the juggling image were captured under the same lighting conditions as the main image.

More "March Madness" - Esko Girls Move Onto State

Saturday March 15th was a big day for Esko High School, it started with the boys basketball team winning the State 7AA title over Annandale at Target Center in Minneapolis.  They are the first Northland area state champions since Chisholm in 1991.

Fast forward a few hours and the Esko girls team was cheered on by the state champion boys as they defeated Barnum 38-32 at  UMD's Romano Gym.  The Esko girls are now going to the state tournament once again as the Section 7AA Champions.

Hockey "Madness" - Section 7A Title Game

Section 5A powerhouse the Hermantown Hawks were moved to Section 7A for this season setting up a match-up against the defending Section 7A Marshall Hilltoppers for the chance to head to the state tournament in St. Paul.  With Nate Pionk's hat trick, at the end of three periods Hermantown topped Marshall 6-2, to make their 5th consecutive run at the State Class A title.

Steampunk in the Steamplant

Photo and text by H. Brian Rauvola

Another in what is hoping to be a series of environmental portraits on steroids! Northland News Center anchor Michelle Lee told me that she is intrigued by steampunk and is a "closet rocker," though she cannot play any instruments. What better venue for this than the Duluth Steam Plant.
This image is a 9 image composite with the majority of the lighting in the background from light painting with a variety of LED flashlights. Other pieces from around the facility were merged together to create the final composition.

Thanks go to Jim at the Plant for working with the City of Duluth for access and for allowing us to take over for a couple of evenings!

Model: Michelle Lee

Steampunk Wardrobe Design: Patricia Mahnke, Chemistry Fashions

Steampunk jewelry for guitar: Richard Rosvall