Duane Paulson

A photographer of the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior for over two decades, Duane Paulson expanded his interest to the south shore after discovering long, wild stretches of coastline in the Upper Peninsula during a 1992 trip. Since then he has made over two dozen excursions to the area, searching out untouched shorelines and “hidden places inland that casual visitors often overlook.”

One of those hidden places is a small, meandering stream flowing across bedrock, cutting a gorge in western Gogebic County, and finally entering Lake Superior. A chance side trip on a rainy day led Duane to the site. He was intrigued by the little stream and knew he had to return with his cameras. Duane tires to visit the site during each trip to the region from his Minnesota home. He sees the site as a special place, “a place of solitude, filled with peace and pleasure, a stillness, with sights, smells and sounds that keep calling one back.”

Duane feels the same solitude in the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park, another of his haunts. Duane especially enjoys photographing the park because of the diversity of the environment, from lake level to high country, and the expanse of virgin timber that make the park the jewel of all the natural areas in the Great Lakes region.

Duane’s camera subjects are generally wild flowers, rocky shores and rushing rivers, the textures and patterns found in forest vegetation, and old buildings. To acquire these images, Duane spends his time solely creating pictures through the lens of large format cameras. He carries over 65 pounds of equipment into his remote locations, sometimes shooting only one or two frames per day. From setting up equipment, to composing, to completing a single exposure will often take him more than an hour. Only a few images are selected for final printing, a process that Duane does himself.

Duane Paulson started his career in 1968 as a self-taught photographer. He operated commercial studios and galleries until 1982 when he turned solely to working in fine art black and white photography. Since then he has had solo exhibitions at the Copper Country Arts Center, where he showed his work on the Keewenaw Peninsula, and was the solo artist at a special Porcupine Mountain State Park exhibition. Duane continues to show his work in national publications and one-man shows in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

Driftwood B & W Photograph View Details	Lake Superior Stones B & W Photograph View Details	Rapids B & W Photograph View Details