There’s something indescribably refreshing about the BWCA.

It’s sitting by a fire and enjoying conversation and camaraderie. It’s sleeping between towering red pines and waking to nothing but the call of loons and a sunrise. It’s being humbled by miles of wilderness and over 10 percent of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. It’s dealing with whatever Mother Nature throws your way, because you have no other choice. It’s not wearing a watch or even caring what time it is. It’s realizing the deadlines that await you 300 miles away don’t matter that much.

It’s being disconnected.
Completely. Disconnected.

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A few years ago, my cousin came out from Bozeman, Montana to spend a week fly fishing in Minnesota. Born and raised in Montana, he’s a die-hard fly fishermen, capable of the elegant, graceful maneuvers you see on movies like A River Runs Through It. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to photograph him in action, even if it meant sacrificing to chance to catch any fish myself.

The decisive moment is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression.

There’s something exciting about active lifestyle imagery. Adding a human element makes your images resonate with a much larger audience. It adds an outdoor element. It tells a story. It captures a decisive moment when everything comes together.

This photo captures a moment immediately between the acrobatics of casting and the anticipation of a strike. The line shoots out before laying delicately across the water. Taking the photo a few seconds later would have resulted in a lifeless line and a much more static image. A few seconds earlier, and it would have told a different story.

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A few months ago, Angel and I discovered a unique coffee table book while browsing through Barnes and Noble. It was a book full of photos taken in Minnesota by local photographers. After slowly looking through each inspiring page, we learned that the entire book was shaped by a community with the same name as the book, Capture Minnesota.

Similar to Flickr, members of Capture Minnesota can share their photos with the community, favorite or comment on other photos and follow other community members. Unlike Flickr, photos have to be taken in Minnesota, and photos can be voted on – either DIG IT or NIX IT – which are used by the editors in determining the best photos to publish in the book.

I joined the community and submitted a handful of photos to be voted on for the next book, Capture Minnesota II. The photo pictured was my top ranked photo when the voting ended, taken during a frigid January weekend at Blufin Bay. Temperatures were well below zero that weekend, resulting in an icy landscape on the rugged rocks, and ten very cold fingers.

From what I’ve read, the editors of the book inform you that you’ve been selected, but don’t tell you which (or how many) photos will be published. The book is expected to be released in May, 2013. Whether or not I’m in it, I know I’ll at least have a new inspiring coffee table book this spring!

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