GRAND MARAIS, Minn. _ Considering how often a just-peeking sunrise is captured in Bryan Hansel's photographs, usually over Lake Superior, you'd just assume he was a morning person.
"Oh no, not at all. It's terrible," Hansel said of his almost constant task of getting up early to capture the best images, the best light, the best composition for his photographs.
Yet Hansel is out there _ in the cold, as dark inches toward daylight, often right in his adopted little city on the shore _ looking for something new, something different, something special to capture.
He usually succeeds.
"It was a lousy morning today ... I did get one good image, though," Hansel said over a noontime cup of coffee on a gray North Shore day in December.
In just over 15 years on the North Shore, Hansel has become one of the most respected and sought-after outdoor photographers in the Northland, specializing in natural landscapes and night skies that look as much like paintings as photos. He loves Lake Superior and he likes winter best for its lighting and shades. His images sell to locals and tourists alike, folks looking to capture in a wall hanging that special feeling they have for the big lake, the shore, the Northwoods.
When he's not taking photos, Hansel's other job is as teacher, instructor of mostly on-the-road photography classes in national parks and other natural areas across the U.S. He still offers weekend courses through the North House Folk School here each year, and in other close-by spots. And he offers one-on-one photography tutorials. In 2019 his workshops will take him from Death Valley in the west to the Great Smoky Mountains in the east. He's on the road a lot _ 100 days each year _ and he's put 67,000 miles on his SUV in just two years. It's sometimes grueling travel, but he still loves finding new areas to teach his craft.
"Some of the people come because it's me, people from Minnesota, the Midwest, who follow my work. But a lot, especially those with more intermediate or advanced photography skills, come because they want to be in that specific location, that national park ... They want someone to put them in the right place at the right time," Hansel said.
