This blog is a maintained as an archive to my 28+ years as a web development / software project manager with Honeywell. However in the Spring of 2014 I decided to retire at the early age of 57. I have never looked back. I am now a Duluth based outdoor photographer / naturalist.
Here is one image ... see more via my web site: 365DaysOfBirds.Com.
You may also want to visit my Flickr account.
Northern Hawk Owl After the Storm
This case study starts in the wee hours of the morning on St. Patrick's Day 2015. Yours truly was on the frozen ice of a remote lake in northern Minnesota (Boulder Lake ... 25 miles north of Duluth). During the cold night I was watching what would turn out to be one of the strongest Northern Lights Display of the last ten years. I was recording the event with my camera.
Actually, this story / case study started at 1:45 am as I lay fast asleep in bed. Although NASA and NOAA had forecast for an Aurora to start the following night, it was not expected the night of March 16/17. Suddenly the quiet of our bedroom was broken by a fierce alarm ... Bing Bong, Bing Bong, Bing Bong! My Android smartphone app, Aurora Alert from Eagle's Orbit was sounding off. Groggily I check my app which I had customized based upon my exact location on the planet Earth to ring if the Aurora was expected to exceed a Kp of 4.33. I woke up quickly when I read the Kp was expected to reach 8.0 in one hour!
At this point I reached for my Google Nexus 10 tablet and logged into Facebook. Please understand I am a member of the Great Lakes Aurora Hunters. Thus Facebook enters into the equation. This group which now exceeds a membership of 4,000 gave me an easy place to check what was happening in real time. Yup, several members from near Ely and Grand Marais, Minnesota were already outside and reporting great displays. It's now 1:50 am; I bound out of bed and throw on my long johns! Remember, this is northern Minnesota in the winter time. I am about to head for a frozen windblown lake on a cold winter night, and stand for hours. In short, I will have a fantastic time!
After 3+ hours of watching one of the best displays I had ever seen, I head home. Arriving at the old homestead I wake my wife up at 6:00 a.m. with a tale of "wows"! Read Molly's tale of woe via her blog, Superior Footprints, "An Aurora Hunter's Wife"! At this point, you may be thinking ... okay Facebook, but why a case study?? Take a look at the photo taken that night, and then read on below ...
Getting home I naturally processed my photos. Now remember it was St. Patrick's Day. Realizing that a photo showing the heavens as green would have some traction, I now posted the image via the following methods:
By 1pm that afternoon, I know that my photo had already been posted (with my premission) on Destination Duluth, The Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota newspaper) and the Smithsonian website! By Thursday the combined groups had been combined groups had been kind enought to let me know the St. Patrick's Day Aurora Selfie had been seen by over 250,000 people!
Now you should understand the power of social media ... thus a case study. Some important items to remember. I had content that fit the day / news (green in the heavens on St. Patrick's Day), and I took action quickly upon realizing the value of my image.
Here are more photos from that morning.
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If you're still reading, and would like to see a few photos from the second night out, browse to my other blog, 365 Days Of Birds. Yup! The Aurora lasted for days, and I kept going out at night to watch nature's fireworks!
Tired of lugging around your DSLR and all its lenses? Perhaps you may wish to consider the purchase of a super zoom camera. Many manufacturers have entered this market, including both Nikon and Canon. I recently completed a 365 day bird photography project where my camera was either a Canon sx40 or Canon sx60. The SX60 gives one a 60x magnification, which is very helpful when trying to get close enough for bird photos. Our fine feathered friends often spook quite easily. See my full review via my 365 Days of Birds web site.
Here is just one photo I took with the SX60, a Northern Hawk Owl.
Having retired a year ago at the relatively young age of 57 to pursue a different lifesytle, the past year has been an adjustment as I learn the new art to giving away my knowledge and skills. While employed by Honeywell for over 28 years, I was highly paid and ended my career as a senior software project manager. Now I am a bum!
My new life has its advantages. I am now able to donate my software skills to various non profit organizations without the need to make money. However, my true passion is roaming the Northwoods and capturing special moments with my camera. Yesterday I posted about some of my efforts from my current year long photography project, 365DaysOfBirds.
Ultimately it would be nice to earn some money to cover my photography expenses. Taking a page from my earlier software role at Honeywell when I worked with a number of Silicon Valley software start-up companies, I am using their business model. Software start-ups give away their product, but work upon moving customers up onto their paying services. Thus, I have been giving my photography work away for the last year. You will find the NorthStar Nerd's work on Flickr licensed under Creative Commons. In other words, people may use my photos, but full attribution with a link back to my web site must always be included. You can see, I am practicing what I preached for so many years.
One year into this journey, the giving away part seems to be working. My work as a photographer is getting noticed. My photos have been published in children's books, and via many national news media sites (CNN, Weather Channel, and Fox News). In addition both the National Park Service and the Smithsonian have picked up my work via my Flickr account.
Earlier today I started to experience my first "viral" photograph viewing. The Northern Lights have been shining over Northern Minnesota for the past couple of nights. Even though I am a morning person, I have been out almost all night the past few days on the shores of remote northern wilderness lakes. A few hours ago, the Flickr Explore group decided to promote one of my Aurora Borealis images. In just three hours the number of views are up to 2,419 people. I will be curious what the is the final total of views and whether all these eyeballs convert to new follows, etc. Here is "said" photo taken about 3:15 am two nights ago. Click upon the image to view at full size.
