MinterPhotography

10/05/2026

It's a long but amazing story. Please take a few minutes to read it.

Another of Thomas Dambo's trolls, this one is named Ibbi Pip.

Each of the trolls has a story and this one's story is that it builds birdhouses. It was the last one, I finally found it close to closing time at the museum.

It was located in a section of the woods they call "Forest Music"

More info on that here:
https://www.wildcenter.org/visit/forest-music/

As you get closer to this troll, which is in that section of woods, the low sound of music coming from 24 speakers placed strategically around this section grows. You start seeing a few birdhouses. As the sound increases, so do the number of birdhouses. It's really sort of magical.

Finally you see the troll, with a Santa like bag holding dozens of large birdhouses slung over the shoulder, hanging another on a tree. Just building all those birdhouses must have taken quite a bit of time.

As I left the area, I was amazed at what I saw next. I thought maybe the long hike and lack of O2 might have gotten to me. This couple dressed in full Renaissance garb are strolling towards me in the woods. I asked if I could get a portrait and they agreed.

The troll was no longer visible from that spot but I found a place where the maximum number of birdhouses were in view. They said that they do work at one Ren-faire and regularly visit others. And decided when they traveled here to make the hike in costume.

Sometimes fate offers some strange and wonderful moments. I definitely will count this among mine!

I thanked them and gave them the link to this page to find the image when I finished it. I had to race back to the museum before closing to return some equipment before they closed but I stopped for one last photo of this raised rustic wood walkway. As I took the photo I was wishing that I had met them there for the photo op.

As I took the shot, someone entered the frame in the distance. My disappointment soon turned to a big smile when I realized it was them, walking down the bridge in a befitting style.

One last photo and got back within seconds of closing!

I hope that you enjoyed the story and these amazing photos!!
If you read to this point please let me know.

And to the Renaissance couple, please contact me for clean, non-social media copies of this.

The Wild Center

10/05/2026

The next two of Thomas Dambo's wood troll sculptures that I will be posting also include some courtesy portraits that I took for people.

This troll's name is Kamma Can. It was the toughest to get to, being down a steep incline and a half mile hike from both the one before it and the one after it.

The young couple gave me a hand with some equipment and I offered them a free portrait (I would do anyway when someone asks but don't tell them LOL) I will get them a copy without the watermarks all over once they contact me here.

As for Kamma, it is adorned with necklaces made from assorted garbage picked up and strung together. For an idea of scale, aside from the family photo, look at the necklace and see if you can find the piece of some office equipment. (hint: I am fairly sure someone fell when that broke!)

The Wild Center

10/05/2026

One of the less desirable aspects of fall is that the days are getting shorter, with sunset getting progressively earlier. Since I left Tupper Lake when I did the daylight was starting to dwindle as I got to a favorite of mine for foliage photos, 7th Lake and 6th Lake. With the heavy cloud cover the light was getting low when I took the last foliage photos in that area- one of my favorites. This small cove area between the two lakes is fairly well protected from the wind, but even it had ripples on the water. Normally it is flat and mirror-like. But being on the darker side there were still some muted reflection colors.

10/05/2026

One last Troll post for the night- but I mean that in a nice way! 😁

This one's named Basse Buller.

I usually don't include people in the photos but this gentleman was standing there almost as if he was posed, and it helps to show scale of the troll sculptures, which I believe were all created by Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo out of scrap wood.

I am adding close-ups to some in order to show more details of the works.

The Wild Center

10/05/2026

Finally catching up enough with everything that's going on to start processing the Troll photos. They move to different locations each year and all but one will be leaving after this month ends. The Wild Center did arrange for one permanent one, which will be pictured among the rest of the photos that I will be posting.

This one here is Ronja Redeye and located just outside of the main building. You might be able to see that there was a light rain falling when I got there. I was so worried that I wasted a long trip- especially since the cloudy skies weren't prime for foliage either.

The Wild Center

10/04/2026

10/04/2026

From my trip up north on Thursday to see the trolls in Tupper Lake before they move on, I did pull off quickly to take a shot of the dam at the Forestport Reservoir on the Black River. The colors were beautiful despite the cloudy day, I can only imagine what this would have looked like in the sunlight! My imagination did get the best of me while processing the photo and I turned up the saturation to see, but turned it back to normal REAL colors.

I am glad I made this one stop on the trip up since I can't hike quickly these days and barely made it back to the main building before it closed.

I'm glad I didn't see the Great Blue Heron in the photo until I got home or my OCD might have gotten the best of me and I wouldn't have gotten to see half the trolls due to time.

The photo being skewed was on purpose, attempting to make it look like a color post card.

10/04/2026

I stopped to get gas in my car on the way back from Little Falls and saw this old Ford pick-up at one of the other pumps. I hadn't seen this one at any of the local car shows so I talked to him about his vehicle. I love getting photos of classic cars outside of the car shows and in a more natural preferably country scenery. The owner was more than happy to oblige me parking off to the side away from the modern pumps with display screens.

I got some nice photos, which relieved a lot of the sting of the $65 fill-up of my car. Actually it didn't fill. I just stopped it because I couldn't bear to see it hit $70!!!

I can't wait to see this one when it's done. He's planning on keeping most of the original 'patina'. New wood decking in the back is next.

10/03/2026

Sorry, it has been a couple of days since my last post. I spent 12 hours at the Frankfort HarborFest 1 week ago today. After a couple of days culling and editing- while away from home- my computer started acting up and basically after a day at Best Buy I had to start virtually from scratch. I had a commitment on Thursday so spent yesterday working on it until very late at night.

I had a couple of requests for more of the band photos. I have followers with all types of interests and I try to mix it up here. So for the music fans that are following this I will do one large photo dump. Here are a few of my favorites from the large number shot.


Showtime The Band Grit N Grace Max Scialdone Nervous Rex
Past Prime
Riptide