Juskuz Photography

I know that I haven’t been posting much lately, but that’s because Mari and I have been super busy trying to make ends meet and figure out what we’re doing with our lives. Anyway, I came across this video a bit ago and have been meaning to share it. I’m sure a lot of you have probably already seen it, but it’s just too cool not to share. 

Enjoy.

So, I have to say I am not too fond of this time of year. I like that I get to see family that I haven’t seen in a while, but the whole gift giving thing is lost on me.

Part of the trouble is that I’m the type of person that doesn’t hesitate to buy something for myself if I feel that I need/want it. Also, I’m kind of a weird size when it comes to clothing. I have a hard enough time buying stuff for myself, let alone having others buy or me. This makes it hard on my wife and my family because they aren’t left with many options. So, in an effort to alleviate these problems I will again be sharing a link to my Amazon Wish List. It’s mostly books, and some other odds and ends. I do want to say that getting me a gift is totally unnecessary and that I would much rather have a job or maybe some money towards that plane ticket I bought for my interview in Seattle that didn’t work out.

Let me reiterate… I really don’t need any gifts… ever… especially right now. So proceed at your own risk.

My Wish List

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!

So, since Mari and I moved to Maine we’ve really been missing our friends back in Houghton. That is until we made new friends… Just kidding.

But, we did make some new friends and they are super cool and I hope that we stay in touch no matter where the winds take us in the future. So who are these crazy people that didn’t immediately run away when we approached? Well a couple of them are in this here video I’ve embedded below. Eric Schnare is on guitar, Andy Mead is on computer-looping-thingy, and I have no idea who the chick is. My other friend Jason Bosch shot and edited the video.

Anyway, they just put this band together and I thought I would help spread the word and share their latest video.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to give a shout out to my buddy John Mancini. This spring he invited me out one morning for some stand up surfing where I grabbed this image seen above. This image and a couple others ended up in one of the opening spreads in the fall issue of the StandUp Journal which just recently hit the newsstands. It’s great to see my buddy in the mag and to see the Keweenaw getting some recognition in the surfing/standup world.

Now if only I could find myself an actual copy of the magazine.

Mari paddling through a sea cave on the east side of Grand Island…

So, this post really doesn’t have anything to do with recent activities. But, earlier this summer Mari and I did make it over to Pictured Rocks for one last trip before our move out to Maine. I just came across a folder of images from the trip and thought they should be shared.

The Pictured Rocks area is  a place that we found ourselves returning to each summer. Most of the time we would circumnavigate Grand Island because we were usually short on time and we didn’t have to set up a shuttle. This past summer however we had the opportunity to paddle the entire length of the Pictured Rocks shoreline and since Mari had never had the opportunity to experience this stretch we arranged to start our trip a few days before a symposium in Grand Marais. This enabled us to leave our car in Munising and have friends pick it up and bring it to the even site for us.

We spent 3 nights and 4 days paddling the ~45 miles to Grand Marais. During our trip we experienced thunder storms, thick fog,  beautiful bluebird skies, strong winds and waves to 5-6 ft… sometimes all in the same day. This is something that everyone has been told, but a lot of people really don’t think about. The weather on Lake Superior really can – and does – change very quickly. On our second day of paddling we left Miner’s Beach in 80 degree, windless, blue sky conditions only to run into a small system where the temp dropped 15-20 degrees, the fog was so thick that we couldn’t see the 100 ft sandstone cliffs only a few hundred feet away, and 2-4 ft waves that were reflecting off the steep sandstone walls. If we were less prepared this could have been a very difficult situation. But we were good and after a short stop at Mosquito Beach we got back on the water and had nothing but blue skis, warm weather and calm water on our way to Chapel Beach.

Overall it was a great trip and I would definitely recommend putting the Pictured Rocks on your paddling bucket list.

Enjoy the rest of the pics… there’s a more complete gallery at the bottom. Some of the images are out of order because my slr and p&s aren’t sync’d up correctly.

Later… paddle safe!

Making the crossing from Trout Point on Grand Island over to Miner’s Castle…

And here comes the fog…

Approaching a large arch just north of Mosquito Beach…

Some of the amazing cliffs along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore…

Mari paddling through one of the many small openings in the sandstone…

It seems like this is the first weekend that Mari and I have not traveled somewhere… but I’m pretty sure that’s because I had to work. Anyway, last weekend we got to meet up with our good friends Jill and Hans in Chester, VT. We drove down on Saturday morning to Chester. The rest of that day we hung out at their homestead, went to dinner, hung our around the fire and listened to Jill and Hans practice the guitar.

Sunday, we drove over to Franconia Notch. Little did we realize that Franconia is the weekend hiking destination for the majority of the people in the Northeast. On top of that it was Columbus Day Weekend so in hindsight we probably shouldn’t have been surprised when we showed up and the highway was lined with vehicles due to the lack of parking.

Eventually we found our own spot along the road and started our hike up Mt. Pemigewasset. Jill and Hans had Anika in tow so we didn’t choose anything too strenuous. The hike up was great and the view from the top was very much worth it. I really want to go back to this area sometime when there aren’t so many people.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some photos from the weekend. Here they are.

Unknown hiker on the Sunset Ridge Trail…

This past weekend Mari and I were again in Vermont. Mari was attending a conference and I was meeting up with Tripp for some play time outside. We drove over on Thursday night so Mari could attend some of the Friday events. Tripp couldn’t make it until Saturday, so on Friday I was on my own and decided to spend the day hiking the highest point in Vermont – Mt. Mansfield.

There are quite a few different routes to the top of Mt. Mansfield, there’s even a toll road that will take you 90% of the way up. I decided to hike the Laura Cowles Trail on the way up and then take the Sunset Ridge Trail on the way down. On the drive over the top of Mansfield was enshrouded in clouds and the Laura Cowles Trail follows a ravine up the side of the mountain offering a little more protection from the wind and from potential lightning. The only issue you might have is with water as quite a bit is routed down the center or the trail.

Fortunately, by the time I arrived at the base the sky was clearing and things were looking pretty good.

Here’s where the approach trail splits. I went to the right on the way up and came from the left on the way down. The approach from the parking lot is just a touch over a mile on easy, well maintained trail. The colors were just starting to come out and the weather ended up being just about perfect.

There was a lot of water on the Laura Cowles Trail. At times there were streams on either side of the trail and at other times the trail seemed to go right up the center of some of the streams. It wasn’t uncommon for me to find myself wondering if I had missed the trail and was just following the watershed. However, the blue blazes told me that I was on the right path. Waterproof boots are definitely recommended for this trail.

Here’s a view looking back down the Laura Cowles Trail… yes that is flowing water… and no this is not even close to the wettest or steepest part. I regret not taking more photos of this trail, but it was really steep and wet and I packed my camera in my pack hoping to keep it safe.

Here’s a look up the Sunset Ridge Trail with the summit of Mt. Mansfield in the background. The Sunset Ridge Trail is a little longer, but much less steep than the Laura Cowles Trail. It follows a ridge and provides some great views along the majority of it’s length. This is definitely the way to go if you happen to have kids or dogs in tow.

Now, I did take quite a few more photos. But, at some point during the hike I must have accidentally changed some of the settings and those images ended up being severely overexposed. I typically use my old D70s for trips like this because it’s lighter and if I did destroy it I wouldn’t be too distraught. However, the dial on top changes a little too easily and I’m not in the habit of checking it every time any more… guess I’ll have to go back.

This past weekend I met up with my friend Dave Tripp in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The day actually started out with me driving Mari down to Boston to catch a flight back to Michigan. I then drove straight from Boston to meet Tripp in New Hampshire. The funny thing is that all of this happened before 11am. I have to say I’m really starting to like the variety of options within such short distances here in the Northeast.

Anyway, I met Tripp at the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road and since neither of us had been here before and because we knew nothing about the area we decided to take the Auto Road to the top of Mt. Washington to see what we could see and maybe find some more info about hiking in the area. What we didn’t know about was just how much the fee was to use the road – $25/driver & car + $8/passenger = $33 for Tripp and I to drive to the top… next time I think we’ll just hike.

Discounting the fees, the drive up Mt. Washington is pretty spectacular as far as drives go. The White Mountains aren’t as “craggy” as some of the ranges out west, but that makes them much more accessible and once you look at a map of the area it’s obvious that there are hundreds of miles of trails and a lifetime of exploring in this area.

Here you can see a section of the Auto Road before it heads down into the clouds…

Tripp and Ripley at the top of Mt. Washington…

Tripp and Ripley at crossing over the Peabody River on our way to camp…

After returning from our drive up Mt. Washington we decided to stop at the Pinkham Visitor’s Center to find out more about our hiking options and maybe come up with some sort of plan for the rest of the day and Sunday. At the visitor’s center we chatted with a nice park representative who helped us identify a few different campsites where dogs were welcome. With that information and after looking at some maps we decided to connect the Great Gulf Trail with the Osgood Trail eventually putting us at the summit of Mt. Madison.

Filling up with water before we started heading up into drier territory…

Here is our camp for the night. The platforms are nice but they made staking the tents out more of a creative endeavor…

Tripp and Ripley moving above treeline on Sunday morning…

Here you can see Tripp and Ripley with our objective, Mt. Madison, in the background…

Tripp and Ripley on the summit of Mt. Madison…

Tripp hopping rocks on the way back down Mt. Madison…

Tripp just before the trail started heading back below treeline. In the background you can see a lodge and the start of the Mt. Washington Auto Road…

Back in the trees making our way down. The pictures really don’t convey just how steep this trail was. The 2.5 miles from our campsite to the summit climbed upwards at about 1200 ft/mile. Overally we had a great time and I am already planning to go back and do a partial traverse from Madison to Washington and then back.

Ok… it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted anything here and I’m sorry. Things were pretty busy before, during, and after the move out to Maine. I did quickly find a part-time job, and am currently looking for other–more permanent–work. Mari seems to be getting along fine with her classes. Our apartment is great. Our car is falling apart. Our new car should be here sometime this week, and looking for work is way more work than work itself.

Anyway, in the middle of all of this I was contacted by someone from the Hong Kong based magazine Sportsoho. My understanding is that this publication is a magazine focused on sports photography and sports photographers. They were contacting me because they were interested in highlighting some of my work and myself. I have to say… I truly thought this was some kind of joke at first, but it turned out that it was not. Anyway, I thought I would share the article here now that it’s out. I really have no clue what it says. The questions I was presented with were quite varied, so I can’t even speculate as to what the content of the article… but it’s always cool to see my work in print.

Now, I know I haven’t been sharing much lately, but that is going to change. I have some time off this week and I promise to help everyone get caught up.

Later.

Link to High-Res PDF

Well, this morning I woke up to some cool news. I was going through my RSS this A.M. and to my surprise one of my surfing photos had been selected as Wend Magazine’s Friday Photo… I knew as soon as I saw “Superior Surf” in the title. Not only is this good publicity for surfing here on the Great Lakes, but I also was fortunate enough to be awarded a pair of Olukai Shoes, a GoPro Helmet Cam, and a surf board from Global Surf Industries… Crazy!

Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to Sam for being on the breakwall at Mclain that day and to all of the other surfers up here in the Keweenaw for getting out there, not because conditions are good, but because there are waves and surfing crappy waves is better than not surfing.