Ending | Top US Resort Photographer
/YEAR IN REVIEW
Buffalo Media Group, Buffalo + Company, and The Wild Blue Films has had a most amazing year covering shoots all across the US and abroad. We want to take a moment and share with you all the absolute honor it is for us to provide our services to our clients and how fortunate and lucky we feel. This year marks our tenth year in business and we are blown away everyday by what its become.
We first started the 2024 year with off with being selected by the Explore Minnesota Tourism board as their Travel Media Representative. A week later we were providing media coverage, as well as being vendors, at the 2024 Explore Minnesota Tourism conference in Rochester. This is where we strategically planned on launching Buffalo + Company.
Spring was rolling in slow but we were able to win the Crosslake Visitor’s Guide cover once again…always such an honor.
We were invited up to Grand View Lodge to cover the wine weekend D’Vine in April where we met some super amazing chef’s sand sommelier’s.
In May, we started our first round of shoots with The Driftless Fly Fishing Company out of Preston, MN. Then it was straight over to the Governor’s Fishing Opener in Lake City, MN.
What comes next is something that I was look at as a lifelong success story. After over two years of building out The Wild Blue Films, we officially launched. My goal was not to launch until we covered some more events directly related to big game sport fishing but the tournament directors saw our portfolio and read our op-ed about of sincere passion for adventure sport fishing. I sat down at my desk one Friday afternoon and three hours later I had banged out a true from the heart experience and business blueprint. I sat on it for a little bit and then decided, you know what, who cares…I am just going to send this out to the three directors I am talking to right now. It was an hour later, they all read it and told me I was hired. I immediately burst into tears and pointed up and said a huge thanks. The Wild Blue Films was officially live.
Now we are into June and we find ourselves in Grand Rapids, MN covering media for Visit Grand Rapids.
Around that same time we swung over to Park Rapids to meet up with the Nemeth Art Center director whom we had met at Grand View Lodge’s wine weekend. We spent a ton of time on the road in our travel trailer covering events and shoots such as The Whitefish Classic Boat Show and The Lafayette Club’s 125 year anniversary.
Next onto July where we scored press passes for Trampled by Turtles for Lake + Company magazine, where I quickly found out I was media producer for. We got to meet the band the night before at Bent Paddle Brewing which was super cool. Just a few days later I popped a flight to Denver to see and shoot Trampled by Turtles at Red Rocks Amphitheater. We covered this story in our summer mag.
July was very exciting as we picked up some amazing new clients such as Visit Proctor and Visit Lakeville. We are now starting to hit full gear with Buffalo + Company where we specialize in working directly with Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus and local Chambers of Commerce.
We covered Heroes Helping Heroes white-water rafting excursion in Duluth in July as well.
Next is something I always hoped would come to fruition but knew it was all based on timing and preparation. As mentioned before, we officially launched The Wild Blue Films back in May. Now comes gametime for us to shoot some huge marlin tournaments on the east coast and that’s exactly what we did for 12 days out east. We first started at the World’s largest and richest billfish tournament, The White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland. We covered that for four days then it was off to the Outer Banks where we covered another two tournaments, the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament and the Alice Kelly Memorial Tournament, over a six day course. We had done it, we were off and rolling and on the right track.
September was upon us and we were hitting the road once again for a shoot with The Driftless Fly Fishing Company where we covered a late summer drift boat excursion down the Root River.
Next was a multi-shoot adventure starting in Crosslake and Brainerd where we covered interviews for the Brainerd Excellence Awards. So we spent three full days camping in downtown Crosslake and covering shoots for the Brainerd Chamber of Commerce. Next, we were off to Northern Lights Resort on Lake Kabetogama. Northern Lights Resort has been one of our oldest and most amazing clients. We love NLRO!!!
Our next adventure is with The Wild Blue Films where we were documenting giant bluefin tuna fishing in Nova Scotia is eastern Canada. Super amazing time shooting for Marlin magazine.
Then it was straight into a shoot over in northwestern Michigan with Winding River Campground for some the fall king salmon run. The run was solid, we missed the two major ones before that but there were still a ton of giant feisty kings to be caught…or attempted.
Then it was back home for fall colors shoots with Visit Proctor and Visit Lakeville with Buffalo + Company.
In October, we attended the MACVB conference in La Crescent, MN where we were starting to see a lot of familiar faces and new clients.
To round out the remainder of the year, we were steadily busy covering Holiday shoots for Visit Proctor, Visit Lakeville, Visit Northfield and Twin Cities Gateway. Also we conducted a winter shoot in Grand Rapids for Visit Grand Rapids.
To round out our last shoot of the year, we found ourselves at Breezy Point Resort.
As we head into 2025, we are anticipating an even busier year with all three of our brands. We are also going to holding a few fine art exhibits showcasing our body of work from National Parks of the American West.
A very special thanks to God, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and my family, our friends and family and client’s new and old! You make our dreams come true! See you all in 2025.
