What fun! We have a special group of Cooperative members, camera buffs who have shared some of their fabulous nature-in-action shots for our annual Members’ photo calendars. We thought it would be fun to get to know some of them.
Meet Dianne Johnson. This year, three of her photo submissions were voted in to win a place in our 2024 calendar. Her green frog snapshot with an insect sitting on its shoulder was a sure win for the front cover. The frog was sitting on her deck post. She quickly snapped the photo and until she actually saw the picture, she hadn’t realized it had an insect on the frog!
A photo of a hummingbird, hovering suspended in air, shows off every detail of the tiny bird for the month of July and an early morning foggy view of canoes along the banks of the Nokassippi River won our member choice for October.
Dianne was able to capture a Barred Owl that made honorable mention as one we couldn’t fit into this year’s calendar, but it was a beauty.
When possible she her Canon 80D and 90D cameras with three lens choices of 17-55 mm, 70-200 mm and 100-400 mm. The camera equipment sits ready at all times in her dining area with large windows overlooking her yard.
Dianne said she retired 10 years ago and now has time to enjoy her hobby. She says a good day is when she can grab her camera and go for a walk in the woods or sit on the deck and watch wildlife.
She and her husband have been Cooperative members for over 40 years.
Jennifer Quam’s winning photographs have been pinned in our annual calendars starting in 2018. Our very first Member calendar, featured her curious looking Barred Owl photo winning a place for the month of May. In 2019 a beautiful orange sunset adorned the September month. Last year’s calendar picks included a winter creek scene for February. For this 2024 calendar year, her camera perked up the heads of two deer, selected for December and she captured a blood moon members selected for August.
Jennifer is a Special Education teacher at Forestview Middle School. A Canon 80D and a Tamron 150-600 mm lens are her camera equipment of choice for most of her shots.
Her photos have been recognized in other local publications, as well. Jennifer’s work has made the Lake Country Journal, Crow Wing County Plat Book, Schaefer’s Calendar, Birds and Bloom magazine, Love of the Lakes Magazine, and Northland Arboretum’s Magazine. Contests her photos placed in or received an honorable mention include Crow Wing Soil and Water, Minnesota Parks and Trails and the Happy Dancing Turtle photo contests. Her yellow crab spider photo was one of the displays at the Brainerd Airport in 2023, as one of the winning entries into the Lake Country Journal photo contest.
David Bredehoft’s fluffy great horned baby owlet won a special place in the month of March for the 2024 calendar. Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of receiving many fascinating photos from David’s birding adventures. A couple of years ago he entered a fabulous photo of a great grey owl on a snowy day – which he said he was fortunate to capture. It certainly was a winner for our January 2022 calendar.
David retired about ten years ago from his profession as a University Professor. He and his wife have a seasonal cabin, where they are official DNR loon surveyors for the lake they are on. David uses a Nikon D 750 and a Nikon 80-400 lens.
He has been taking photos for about 25 years and says he and his wife have had the fortune to have been able to travel abroad as birders to satisfy their adventurous appetite for capturing wildlife.
They have been members of our Cooperative for 30 years.
Members have also come to recognize photographs taken by Ken Thommes, who says he’s had a passion for nature photography for 35 years. This year’s month of November features his capture of a strong muscular buck scraping antlers in the woods on a fall day.
There hasn’t been a calendar yet without a Ken Thommes photo.
Ken says he grew up hunting and fishing here in Central Minnesota. When he got older, he traded his shotgun for a camera and now his hunting skills are used in his ability to capture fantastic nature shots in the wild.
He claims this is a hobby, but by the amount of amazing photos Ken has submitted for our enjoyment, it’s obviously a passion. His amazing photographs are an inspiration to his dedication of the ‘hunt’. Ken uses a Sony A77 digital camera and has travelled throughout the United States capturing wildlife through the lens of a camera.
Doug Scott has been another recognizable name in Crow Wing Power calendars, since we started creating them in 2018 when his first winning submission was a loon amongst yellow lily pads. Another loon with spread wings found its way into the 2019 calendar. One of his fall scenes shared the front cover in 2020. A close up of a baby fox kit made the September month in 2021; a Blue jay sitting amongst frost covered branches adorned our November month in 2022; and this year, members selected a Bald eagle in a soft White Pine for April.
Doug doesn’t consider himself a professional photographer but he’s been taking nature photos for as long as he’s been a member of Crow Wing Power ― 15 years. He uses a Nikon 7500 digital camera with Nikon lenses.
He likes giving his photos to Walker Area Day Health, where he volunteers. His photos have been used for bingo prizes, wall decorations and calendars for clients.
Doug is a retired electrical engineer who spent most of his rewarding career designing medical equipment such as electrocardiographs and anesthesia delivery equipment. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois and joined the USAF in 1962.
Tom Martin’s camera was hot in 2023 when he submitted photos and had three winning entries and one honorable mention for the 2024 calendar. Cooperative members voted for his Trumpeter swan pair for June, Mother goose and goslings for May and a photo with fall trees mirrored in a serene lake for September.
Tom has loved photography since he was a teen. He says he isn’t a professional photographer but has three Nikon cameras with different lenses, one for landscape, another one for wildlife and a third for general backup. But, Tom says his phone camera actually does a great job as well.
Tom’s retired but still works a few days a week, and is an avid fan of any type physical activity to keep him fit with hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking and photography. He says he simply enjoys the peace and quiet of nature and seeing the beauty God has created.
Tom and his wife have been longtime Cooperative members since 1983.
Colleen Gibbs has been another favorite camera buff. Over the years, her photos were notable and placed in the honorable mention slide shows produced from photos we couldn’t fit in the 12-month calendars. Last year, Colleen made the January and May months with a robin and hummingbird. In 2019 her pair of Bald eagles in a leafless tree was selected for the month of January.
She’s a retired RN, with a love of nature and wildlife, who’s been taking photos for about 20 years. She’s been using a couple of older Nikon cameras but just purchased her first mirrorless Nikon Z50, which she said will “take some getting used to”.
She and her husband have been Crow Wing Power members for about 20 years, since building their year-round Motley cabin.
Peg Serani’s photographs have adorned our calendars in the past. Peg says she’s loved photography since she was a teenager growing up in St. Cloud. She has a Canon digital camera but lately her phone has been her camera of choice.
Last year’s July calendar featured a bold purple flower with a colorful insect; Saddle Mushrooms on a tree won a spot in the 2022 calendar; and her Swan family was selected for April of 2021.
Peg’s favorite place to take photos used to be from her kayak but lately she gets a lot of shots in her backyard, Northland Arboretum and anywhere she and her husband travel. Over the years, some of her photos have also been printed in Lake Country Journal.
Peg says she previously loved working at Menards and the Northland Arboretum, but for the past two years, she’s loving retirement, saying it’s the best job she’s ever had in her 50 years of working.
Peg has a seemingly unlimited passion for nature and creativity. Peg loves to make greeting cards with her photographs and getting creative artistically, making treasures out of recycled items. She and her husband have been members since 1991.
Bonnie Finn has a favorite summer pastime in the Crosslake area, sitting still waiting for that perfect loon shot with her Canon EOS camera or cell phone and she captured a good one that members selected for the month of June.
Bonnie and her family have been long time Lakes Area regulars. She and her husband bought the family lake cabin and have been members of Crow Wing Power for 20 years.
John Monson from the Longville area has been a past calendar winner with some of his photographs. In 2023 his well-framed snowy branches lake shot made the calendar cover and his October fall lake scene was fabulous.
John’s had an interest in photography most of his life as both a hobby and in his work in the church.
According to John, he’s dabbled in film, developing in a dark room, and done slide and video recording as well with a little GoPro and drone experience.
John retired in 2017 but recently became unretired to serve as an interim pastor. He and his wife are year-round residents and Crow Wing Power members since 1999.
Kate Stephany nailed it last year, when three of her photographs were selected for the 2023 calendar with a burst of color sky shot for June and another for August and a trickling stream for the April 2023 calendar. She’s a confirmed “sunset geek” she claims.
Kate and her husband were members only five years in the Breezy Point area, but recently sold their cabin for other adventures. Kate’s always found that her Samsung S21 Ultra does a fantastic job of taking photos. During her years in the Lakes Area, she won the Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District contest in 2021 and some of her landscape and sunset photos have been shown on local news stations and papers.
Now, she finds fascination with the skies of Arizona. Kate said, “I am awestruck at God's amazing creation and feel blessed to have been able to have been in the right place at the right time to capture some wonderful memories of special experiences over all of these years.”
Barb Neihart from Fifty Lakes has entered some great photos over the years. Her fall scene of a road in the woods, won a part in the 2022 calendar. That year she had many honorable mentions.
Barb is a water color artist and many times she takes photos of beautiful scenery that she may use as a pattern for her paintings. Barb is very actively involved with the artist groups in the Crosslake area. She says she no longer hauls around a lot of camera equipment but is satisfied with her cell phone.
Barb’s a retired teacher from White Bear Lake and she and her husband have been members of Crow Wing Power since 1975.
Ashley Marx has shared with us some of her memorable camera finds. In 2022 she had four honorable mentions and a July dragonfly win. She said she’s been taking photos as a hobby most of her life, but has been able to improve the quality since her Dad gifted her a camera in 2019/2020.
She loves the ‘golden hour’ when the sun starts setting for photographs. She says every time she goes out with her camera it’s like a game, always searching for something to shoot to learn more about it.
Entering contests has been fun for Ashley. She’s had her photos placed as winners in the local Soil and Water Conservation contest, where her photo of a Round-lobed hepatica was beautifully printed on canvas and given to her as a prize. Her Camera ― a Canon PowerShot 420 IS.
She and her seven-year-old son have been Crow Wing Power members for six years.
Unfortunately each year, there’s only room for 13 photos – 12 months and a cover. We annually receive at least 50 awesome photographs. We gather the photos and put them on Facebook for members to vote on which ones to publish. Those that aren’t selected or are great, but not sized properly to use in the 9 X 12 calendar format, are organized in a slide show of honorable mentions with photos that are certainly worthy and award winning in nature. We share that on social media. Here’s a link to this year’s honorable mentions. 2024 Honorable Mentions
Thank you to all of our fabulous Cooperative members who submit their nature photographs. It reminds us what a great place we live, here in Central Minnesota! Click to order your 2024 Member Calendar.