The challenges to photographing in Wisconsin are myriad but the rewards are great too. When one chooses to live in a place situated in the middle of a continental landmass one can expect to endure both the extremes of heat and cold. Thus it is with Madison. Equipment cannot be left in the car in winter or it will get so cold that setting up requires gloves. The summers are very nice and one of the reasons people choose to endure winters here, but the humidity and extremes of temperatures can rival that of the Yucatan Peninsula.

But we love out midwest. The people have a fortitude and a humility that can’t be found anywhere else. Winter hardship reminds us daily that our lives are fragile and that we exist at the whims of nature, and so we acknowledge and celebrate our climate, overcoming its inconveniences and, where possible, getting out into it.

Ice fishing is a big thing here in Madison. What in the world is appealing about sitting on a bucket staring into a hole in the ice for hours on end, you might ask. I might ask the same thing too. But the draw of this activity is undeniable. As I drive past lake Monona every day, there they are. Dozens of blaze-orange snowmobile-suited men (and some women) sit in reverie, waiting for lake perch to make themselves known. These folks are widely dismissed as crazy but are fixtures of the season and would be sorely missed should they all spontaneously decide to abandon their hobby.