Last weekend I drove up to Grand Marais to take Winter Along the Gunflint Photography Workshop with Bryan Hansel. It has been a decade since I took a workshop and Tammy decided it was time for me to get out in the field and shoot for a weekend so she got me this great workshop for my birthday. I was eager to go, and also a little anxious since I hadn’t done more serious photography for a few years. I was rusty for sure.

Our workshop started on Friday with some classroom learning, and then we shot sunset from the Campground Beach in Grand Marais. The winter part of the workshop was tested with the lack of any snow to speak of in Grand Marais. Hansel adapted with it though and still got us plenty of great spots to capture beautiful images.

That first night I got this sunset view of the last rays along the Campground Beach.

We were up early to get the sunrise the next morning. We drove a short distance to Cascade River State Park and captured the first rays that morning.

We did find some snow when we went in to Elbow Lake. We setup these classic snowshoes on the lake.

That afternoon the winds were going pretty good and I was hopeful that we would get some big waves coming in on the Lighthouse in Grand Marais.

The wind continued and the waves were steady as the sun set.

Hansel led a great workshop and I learned a number of new things from him. His Lightroom skills were top notch and he showed us some processing techniques that were incredible. I also liked the fresh perspective he brought to composition.

See list of Photography Workshops.