Peacock Books & Wildlife Art News — Minnesota documentary

Winter Bugs Exhibit Edition

Photographer: Lisa Loucks-Christenson

Author: Lisa Loucks-Christenson

Series: Stories from the Whitewater Valley, Minnesota™

Format: e-book (ask about our other editions, and online or in-person school program, as well as corporate events)

Genre: Non-fiction; natural history; entomology

Release:   Pre-order by calling us (888) 983-3085

Format: Hardcover

Format: ISBN-13: 978-1-970165-4–3

Winter Bugs Exhibit Edition is an insect documentary recorded during one winter season in a Minnesota ghost town (the former town of Beaver, Minnesota), and currently a state-owned and managed wildlife refuge. It is a mini documentary that takes place inside the author’s Walk the Burn documentary, having been dually recorded in the same location.

Number one international best-selling and award-winning author, photographer, and illustrator Lisa Loucks-Christenson shares her personal observations of Minnesota’s smallest and most overlooked species. This photo collection shows these insects as they plow through the snow using four, six or eight legs (if the seasons hasn’t been too hard on them, and they are lucky enough to retain the number of appendages they were either born with or they eventually developed). Lisa’s photos are the voice and record of a survival story like no other. The photos capture insects while they endure every possible weather pattern, sit next to predators that don’t eat them, and find shelter from rain, sleet, snow, and wind.

Winter Bugs Exhibit Edition reveals the journey of more than 200 lives who shared a brief encounter with the author as she discovered their winter abodes and crossed their paths while lying on the ice and shooting through it. These journeys took the author into the open water to discover faces under the surface of those who looked up or swam by while she was there. These are the experiences of a professional female outdoor photographer who drove every day, through blizzards, sleet storms, and ice-coated roads, never missing a day, so she could capture this story from the start of winter to the exact beginning of spring.

These are not just any images: this collection has already inspired others to look for their own “Winter Bugs,” and has opened the eyes of people of all ages, giving them an opportunity to see up close what is seemingly impossible to see (especially when the weather drops below -30 degrees Fahrenheit). Now, you too can be a Winter Bugs Exhibit Edition eyewitness to the lives that carried on, no matter their circumstances, no matter the troubles they faced, while the author collected the smallest of stories ever told (in one season, anyway).

Lisa Loucks-Christenson recorded over 200 active species while they travelled, sat, or hid; on land, in trees, under hanging leaves, or in water. This is a collection like no other, because it also includes spiders, caterpillars, one-celled organisms, and ants, as well as insects in various life stages, from nymph to full adults. All of these images were recorded with two cameras in hand, and often with the author’s lens reversed to capture the finest details of her tiny subjects. Every photo included in this documentary is a true wildlife image: none were posed or handled or shot in any type of controlled environment. These photos were shot in the field, using tinfoil to reflect light, flashlights to give depth, and any other means required to capture the free-roaming subjects in the short seconds available.

Together with Lisa’s Bald Eagle documentary, the Winter Bugs exhibit and the Winter Bugs! First Edition ran for over two years as featured exhibits at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. In addition to reviews in regional newspapers and magazines, the book, Winter Bugs! First Edition, and the exhibit’s opening also aired on the regional television news. The exhibit also comes up from time to time on podcasts and outdoor shows to which the author is invited as a guest.

Winter Bugs Exhibit Edition contains almost every image from the original exhibit, but also includes images of events within the exhibit.

Photo Trader™ cards, loose or matted images, art cards, tote bags, shirts, and other merchandise are available for purchase. The Winter Bugs exhibit will soon be an online program for schools, nursing homes, educational centers, and nature clubs. The author continues to offer classroom programs that entertain school groups, senior citizens, and people from all over the world who visit her bookstores and galleries, Silver Lake Books and Peacock Books & Wildlife Art.

Today I took Sam with me on a field day on my outdoor beat. Sam is a beautiful Border Collie who lives with three Greyhounds that are rescues. Sam is going to be the featured dog hero in a book series under my Bow Wow Detectives® imprint. I'll announce the title of that series at a later time.

We hiked to the river, and Sam helped me solve a couple little mysteries in our time outdoors  today. Sam seemed to enjoy our time sitting by the river watching the river flowing by, listening to the sounds of the blue jays, a passing eagle, and  the sounds of all the other birds.

Sam was with me to help discover eagle nest nine, one I wrote into my journal as a new nest today. Not much activity going on for such a warm January day in Minnesota!

Sam and I arrived at another of my stops and found 18 Trumpeter Swans feeding in the open slough, the count has more than doubled since the January 2. The young gray cygnet, seems to be a loner, doesn't hang out with the other swans at all and that makes me curious as to why he drifts away? Last night he remained behind with his duck companions, while the two adults flew off to another slough at sundown. He is surrounded by mallards that stay close, and feed off plants he drops in the water, but he doesn't seem to mind feeding them. He preens with them, he swims with them, he camps with them. I'm calling him Lonan. 

11/14/2016 https://soundcloud.com/theculturenews/lisa-loucks-christenson-interview-on-the-phone-with-david-serero-the-culture-news Lisa Loucks Christenson on The Culture News With Host David Serero recorded 11/14/2016 show about Lisa's Winter Bug Documentary and upcoming release of Winter Bugs: 10 Year Anniversary Edition. Lisa's Website: http://lisalc.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lisa-loucks-christenson-interview/id1137009293?i=1000377865059&mt=2