A year ago on March 1, 2017, I headed up to a cabin near Ely, Minnesota to spend about 3 months house-sitting and photographing my beloved north woods of Minnesota. It was an adventure I’ll never forget. But today, as I look at all the snow here in Minneapolis and imagine all of the snow up north in the Ely area I’m feeling gratitude that I went last year instead of this year. I am ready for spring and hoping for warmer weather soon.
One Year Later…
Friday, I was rewarded with the fruition of a project begun during my time up north. I created a series of photographs up north that I called Wild Altars. They are photos that represent the sacred beauty and wonder I feel for nature when I am hiking or canoeing in the north woods.
Last summer I created a book on Blurb called Wild Altars using photos from the series, but I wanted to create something more from this series of photographs.
In January (2018) I re-edited my Wild Altars images, making rectangular instead of square images and put the photos together into a short video slide show. Once the slide show was created my dear friend Elizabeth composed, played, and produced music to go with the photos.
Working with a producer friend of hers in Tuscon, Arizona, she and he spent several days laying down music tracks, syncing music to images, and creating a wonderful sound track for the video.
My friend brought me a copy of the recorded music Friday. We put the music together with the slide show, made some minor tweaks, and then looked at and listened to the resulting video.
Oh my stars!
Such beauty! It made me cry to hear her beautiful music along with my Wild Altars images.
I’ve watched the video multiple times and each time I hear something new or see something new that fills me with joy.
We are not sure what to do with our creation, whether to put it out into the world for free because we simply want to spread light, love and beauty, or whether to try to sell it. So I’m not feeling free to share it with you today. Soon, I will have news about what we decide and how you can view our video.
In the meantime, here are some images from my time up north last year that are not part of the Wild Altars series. Looking through them today made me happy to remember the silence, beauty, wonder, and awe I experienced there. It also made me proud of what I created and accomplished.
One year later, I am grateful and glad that I went and filled with wonder at the beauty of it all.
May you walk in beauty.
Bear Track
2 Comments
Jerry · March 13, 2018 at 2:11 pm
Marilyn, a beautiful idea whatever you choose to do with it. I am sure that you will choose what brings you joy!
Marilyn · March 18, 2018 at 3:21 pm
Yes, that is the key — choosing joy!