Red Lake Walleye Fishing

Over the weekend my aunt and uncle came up with their two boys to spend the weekend at my parents' house.

One of the things my dad and I did was take the two boys and my uncle up to Upper Red Lake to do some walleye fishing.

We had a great day of fishing. It was supposed to be rainy, but it turned out to just be a cloudy day with a little bit of wind--basically perfect walleye fishing weather in my opinion.

We probably caught 50-some walleyes, but could only ended up keeping 11 because of the slot limit (until June 15, any walleye between 17" and 26" has to be returned to the lake). That was plenty of fish for a fish fry, though, so we were happy.

Enjoy some photos from the fishing.

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

©Joe Ahlquist

Tribute to a hero...

Tribute to a hero.

In light of Memorial Day, Lauren and I visited the grave of my grandpa.

Clyde Statton was not only a great grandpa but was a World War II veteran. Grandpa served in World War II in the 94th Infantry Division as a part of Patton's 3rd Army in Europe. He was a P.O.W., but was liberated and lived a happy life. He passed away in August of 2006, and has been greatly missed.

Grandpa was a great hero and inspiration. He was never short of one-liners, or tips on how to stack wood, tap maple trees, weld or pretty much anything mechanically. He was a great engineer.

Today Lauren and I placed an American Flag near his head-stone, just like my other cousins and aunts and uncles.

Happy Memorial Day to all living vets and those who have passed. And to those who have payed the ultimate price, we thank you especially. 

And finally, thank you grandpa. Thank you for being a great grandpa, and thank you for what you did for your country. I can speak for all in my family in saying, we miss you. 

Thanks for reading and happy Memorial Day. 

©Joe Ahlquist

Trying to Keep Busy

Since I'm not covering any assignments at the moment for any papers, or anything, I've been trying to stay busy and shoot a few photos of at least something each day.

Some of the things get a little bit repetitive, but that can present its own challenges. Trying to find different angles on the same activities will benefit my shooting when it comes to shooting the same types of events repeatedly for a newspaper or other organization.

Also, just shooting for the fun of shooting is very rewarding, plus it's helping to keep me sharp.

I'm also looking for any freelance assignments I can get (my photojournalism work can be seen here), and looking to do some portrait shoots, so any class of 2014 seniors, families or parents looking for children photos feel free to contact me at joseph.ahlquist01(at)gmail.com, on Facebook or through my website. Examples of my portrait work can be seen here and my family/children work can be seen here. 

Here are a few photos from the last couple of days since my last post.

All photographs ©Joe Ahlquist

Manford's First Swim

So, I graduated from Winona State University this last weekend with a B.A. in Mass Communications and a minor in History, and am currently searching for a full-time position with a newspaper. 

Until then the blog will be filled with random happenings in my life, and possibly some random self-assigned assignments that I give myself. We'll see. 

Anyways, earlier this afternoon Lauren and I took my parents puppy, Manford, to the lake for his first time. The water was still a little too cold for us to enjoy, but Manford loved every second of it.

He was a little bit timid at first, but quickly started frolicking in the water and sticking his head under.

Once he was comfortable with the water we started playing fetch with him.

He loved it.

I'm pretty sure Manford would have played fetch in the water until he died from exhaustion, but we left after about 20 minutes-or-so of swimming and playing fetch. 

Here are some photos from the lake, some from a walk the other day and some of my mom's horses. Enjoy and thanks for looking. 

All images ©Joe Ahlquist