Photo credit: K. Thusius
There are segments along the Trail that could do with a little more attention – they feel a tad lonely, neglected, forgotten; sidelined by the paparazzi’s rush to photograph the more glamorous segments of the Trail, like the handsome Devil’s Lake Segment, the statuesque Gibraltar Segment, or the elegant Dells of the Eau Claire Segment.
Beauty Redefined:
We’re urging Trail aficionados to go beyond the traditional definition of beauty – go bold, get radical; give some camera love to wild, rugged, asymmetrical, quirky, distinctly unique segments like these:
- Northern Columbia County (i.e., Portage Canal Segment)
- Marquette County (i.e., John Muir Park Segment)
- Green County (Monticello and Albany segments — rail trail)
- Kewaunee and Door counties (Kewaunee River and Forestville segments — rail
trail) - Taylor County (i.e. Mondeaux Esker Segment)
- Lincoln County (i.e. Timberland Wilderness Segment)
- Urban Trail segments (i.e. downtown Lodi, Janesville, Hartland, Cross Plains, etc.)
- Shegoygan County (i.e. LaBudde Creek, Greenbush, Parnell Segments)
- Manitowoc County (i.e. Dunes Segment, Point Beach Segment)
- Polk and Burnett Counties (i.e. St. Croix Falls Segment)
Photo credit: W. Mason
Artistic Expression:
We also encourage you to consider a daring approach to framing photos. While we understand a wide, horizontal frame can hardly begin to capture the breath-taking horizon; we’d like to suggest, for another perspective, the even less-often employed vertical orientation. It turns out, upright photos are best suited for many of our publications, like the Guidebook and the covers of our quarterly publication, Mammoth Tales. (Although, truth be told, horizontal photos are great for blogs and Facebook!)
The Big WHY:
We are updating the Ice Age Trail Guide Book, last printed in 2014, which contains detailed segment-by-segment descriptions, maps, and high quality, expressive photographs highlighting the beauty of the trail experience.
We are also always on the lookout for photographs of the Trail, and people using the Trail, we can use in our various publications or social media posts.
Here’s what we need from you, dear avid hiker and photographer:
The original files (not downsized versions) of 1 – 5 of your favorite photographs; we need as many pixels as possible for print reproduction.
We welcome a variety of pictures, general landscape, flowers, and wildlife, and especially attractive subject matter (for our purposes) includes people interacting with and having fun along the Trail.
It is always helpful if a yellow blaze is present in the photograph to establish Ice Age Trail identity.
Please submit your photos to the Communications Coordinator for the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Lysianne Unruh at Lysianne@iceagetrail.org.
Each individual photo submission should include:
– Permission to reprint in Alliance publications
– Photographer name
– Photo location, and ideally, official Ice Age Trail segment name
– Names of those shown in photo
What’s In It for You?
How about Love, Love, Love…
If your photograph(s) are selected for use in the 2017 Ice Age Trail Guidebook your name will appear in the photo credits and you will receive a free copy of the Guidebook, a $30.00 value.
If your photograph(s) are selected for other publication purposes, say an IATA blog post, your name will appear in the photo credits.
You will also receive our undying appreciation for so generously sharing your love of beauty and of the Trail with us in this way.