Bidding Fall a Fond Farewell

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It's 20 degrees today here in Minnesota, and I'm grieving the annual loss of my favorite season. :)

Until next year...

 

 

Weekend in Duluth

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I spent last weekend in Duluth with my family. It was absolutely beautiful there. I may post more pictures as I keep working on them but here are a few of my favorites!

 

 

 

 

 

The September 27 Super Moon

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The moon was a big deal on September 27, 2015 because not only was it a harvest moon and a super moon, there was a lunar eclipse and a blood moon. I wasn't able to get out as early as I would have liked, but I didn't miss the opportunity to photograph such a unique astrological event!

 

 

Here are a couple shots from the shoreline at the lake I chose to photograph from.

Super moon with just a hint of the eclipse to come on the left side.

The eclipse begins

As the eclipse progressed, the blood moon appeared.

A few stars in this shot as well.

The blood moon and starry night sky.

 

Summer Snapshot

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I had a fantastic summer filled with adventures and took literally thousands of photos. I'm now in my second week of photography school and loving it so far! I feel so blessed to be able to go back to school at this time and I thank the Lord for guiding me to this point in my life. I've been so busy that I haven't had much time for processing all the photos I took...and in looking at the date of my last post, not much time for blogging either! :)

 

So here are some miscellaneous pictures from my crazy summer.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

While fishing in Michigan with relatives, we caught this turtle and my cousin set to work making a new friend.

Lake Michigan sunset at Old Mission Point

 

 

Old Mission Lighthouse

One of many gulls at Sleeping Bear Dunes

While in Iowa I had the chance to photograph some tiny monarch caterpillars that were starting their lives on my uncle's Butterfly Weed. Monarchs bring back happy childhood memories for me, and they are such fragile, precious creations.

Even looking through my macro lens this one is unbelievably tiny!!

Another of my adventures included a trip to western North Dakota and eastern Montana. I had the chance to do some awesome hiking in Makoshika State Park in Montana and I highly recommend it. The landscape is breathtaking and there is endless exploring to do!

 

 

 

I also met this cute little friend in ND who didn't seem all that afraid of me and definitely wasn't camera shy!

 

 

 

A Small Friend

The blog has become my day-to-day gallery of sorts.

Please see http://monixkap.wix.com/mkaplerphotography for my portrait business.

Thanks for visiting!!

 

 

So cute!

 

 

Road Trip to Colorado

The blog has become my day-to-day gallery of sorts.

Please see http://monixkap.wix.com/mkaplerphotography for my portrait business.

Thanks for visiting!!

 

 

Growing up my sister and I always talked about taking off on a road trip adventure someday, so for her graduation gift I decided we were going to do it! Our cousin who is like a sister to us and also graduated this year was able to come along and we had a fantastic week in the breathtaking mountains of Colorado. Many memories were made and many laughs enjoyed together.

 

 Our adventure began at Sioux Falls Park in South Dakota.

I love this picture of my sister helping my cousin across.

 

 

As we traveled south we encountered some wandering bison.

The last one was only about 10 feet from our car.

 

 

Once in Colorado we stopped for a visit at Garden of the Gods.

 

My sister feels at home wherever there are things to climb on. :)

I love the clouds behind me in this picture:

 

 

 

 I was able to get both Garden of the Gods

and Pikes Peak in this one!

 

 

"Lewis and Clark explore the West"

 

 

 I love the clouds touching the hills in this one.

 

 

 

Indian Paintbrush

 

 

Domestic bison graze in the shadow of Mt. Princeton

 

The rivers were high and fast around Mt. Princeton. My aunt, who we stayed with for several days during our journey, said this year has been the rainiest out of the fifteen years that she's lived in Colorado. The river water is mainly melted snow from the mountaintop and is therefore freezing cold!

I really like this one of my cousin.

The Aspen trees in the foreground make this very beautiful.

 

 

Mt. Princeton is in the background of this one, veiled in clouds.

 

 We hiked around Chalk Lake, which involved wading through the icy water on several occasions.

 

 

 

 

 Between the two hills is just a glimpse of the St. Agnes waterfall that we had intended to hike to. The trail was closed because the rivers are too high.

 

 

Partway through our hike around Chalk Lake the clouds began pouring rain. It made our climb over this landslide of rocks somewhat slippery. A true adventure.

 

 

Elena the Majestic Mountaineer

 

 

We decided to take a different route home to our aunt's house from Mt. Princeton and ended up driving through a magnificent canyon!

Doing a little climbing around!

 

We climbed to the top of a big rock formation in the canyon just as the sun was going down, giving me these cool silhouettes of my sister and cousin.

 

 

We are so small in this world.

 

 

Our aunt took us on a scenic hike near her house.

Here is me, her and her dog, Elena, and my cousin.

 

The view from the top is awesome.

 

Elena and my cousin on the zip line at Cave of the Winds

 

I took some pictures of the scenery around my aunt's house during our very brief period of down time one day.

 

 A spring azure butterfly! They are tiny little wonders.

 

A view of Pikes Peak from a house we spent a lovely evening at.

 

 Pikes Peak at sunset