Snowbound | Brainerd Product Photographer

This past Sunday Buffalo Media Group was invited up to Nisswa, MN to cover snowmobiling rental operations for Nisswa Adventure Rentals. This place is so amazing and the staff are very knowledgeable about setting guests up with the right equipment and sending them out of the best trails. The trail system starts right out the front door and straight onto the Paul Bunyan Trail. This is one of the most fun and adventurous things you can do for a half-day or full day in the north woods of Minnesota. They are sporting all new Polaris snowmobiles and great below-zero weather rated gear. They are located just a stone’s throw from Grand View Lodge so access to Gull Lake and the Gull Lake Chain of Lakes is just a few feet away!

Solitude | Duluth Minnesota Video Production

The past couple season Buffalo Media Group has found ourselves on the north shore of Minnesota shooting alongside Lake Superior quite a bit in the winter. We have compiled a wintery mix of clips to help further promote the amazingness that the north shore is in the wintertime. Our primary focus has been Tofte and Schroeder with the Temperance River, Lutsen for Cascade State Park and Lutsen Mountains, and Grand Marais for the town and harbor shots as well as Artist’s Point.

Escape | Top Crosslake Video Production

This past week Buffalo Media Group was on location in Crosslake to cut some promotional material for the Crosslake Chamber of Commerce. We are new members and are jumping in head first with a lot of steam, enthusiasm, and energy. We have been warmly welcomed as members of the community and look forward to contributing many more videos and promotional material in the future. We are very excited to meet many fellow business owners and help out wherever we can. Here’s to a bright, successful relationship with the Crosslake Chamber of Commerce.

Legacy | Professional Resort Photographer Montana

Buffalo Media Group was finally able to get around to processing some 8mm footage from Nine Quarter Circle Ranch from our shoot with them in August. If you have followed some of what we have been doing with them as of recent is taking vintage 16mm and cutting them into short videos. How this whole process got started for us shooting 8mm started back in 2020, when we purchased our first 8mm video camera. We neglected to bring it to the ranch in 2020, mostly because I had just recently purchased it and it was still yet untested. This however did strike up a conversation about shooting vintage film for nostalgic purposes. This in turn led to talks about the Kelsey Family video archives and all the footage they had on spools just sitting in a box in storage. It was upon our request that they have them taken to a film restoration service and have them transferred to digital format. Thankfully they did and subsequently I was allowed the amazing opportunity to edit and “re-introduce” the footage to the next generation. So, now everything coming full circle, I did in fact bring the 8mm this year and this is what we captured. Quite honestly, not too much has changed in the environment and the ranch since those videos you may have seen from the early 1960’s. That’s the beauty of this whole project. This video, in association with the previous one’s, is part of a lasting legacy that has been carefully managed and conserved for the next generation of guests and family. Let’s hope this same story can be told over and over again!

In the wise words of Ernest Hemingway...“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” – Ernest Hemingway

Hopefully I did with my last sentence.

Community | Top Crosslake Video Production

This past year was a whirlwind and in that craziness we still found a chance to reach to local communities to help strengthen brands and promote tourism with local businesses. We had the great pleasure of meeting with, and subsequently becoming members with, the Crosslake Chamber of Commerce. Buffalo Media Group has been welcomed with very open arms. We are looking forward to so many exciting and creative business opportunities, not only with the Chamber of Commerce but with other local businesses to help create a unified look and style. Cheers guys…it’s going to be a wild ride for sure!

Throwback | Minnesota Advertising Videographer

Super 8mm Project - Around the Campfire Series

We are looking to promote hospitality and tourism alike by incorporating 8mm video into marketing.  8mm has a very vintage, nostalgic feel that conjures up true emotion and taps right a the core of imagination and thoughts of times past.

We have been receiving great praise and amazing feedback for our 8mm work this past year in northern Minnesota shooting for the resorts. We will once again be toting the 8mm with us on our shoots this year. We offer it as an add-on to photo/video packages.

Spawn | Top Wyoming Ranch Photographer

This past June Buffalo Media Group was on-location at Lazy L & B Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming. We had an amazing few days there shooting and we had a great time shooting the fly fishing piece! It’s amazing country and the fishing is spectacular. We can’t wait to get back out there and do a little fishing ourselves!

Misty | Alaska Fishing Video Production

This series on Kulik is one that we over at Buffalo Media Group will hold dear for a longtime. The entire trip was insane. From flying deep into the heart of Katmai National Park to touching down on Kulik Lake with the moody skies was a sight to see. The fishing on the Kulik was lights out and allowed numerous opportunities for landing giant rainbow trout. We certainly were able to capture plenty of fish being landed. This is a trip of a lifetime and Alaska Rainbow Lodge is your guide.

Conclusion | Top US Resort Photographer

Buffalo Media Group is so thankful this past year to work with so many amazing new and longtime clients.  We trotted the globe petty good.  We never thought we would be up to Alaska four times, down to Belize shooting for numerous resorts for a week and shooting in Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming.  We of course had our amazing Minnesota and Wisconsin clients on board as well.  We saw Hawaii Volcanos National Park and Katmai National Park for the very first time...both are beyond words.  We were picked up by Duluth Trading Company for a shoot out in Connecticut.  We also did product photography for Abel Reels, Winston Rods and Taylor Fly Fishing.

Our year started off with an amazing shoot with Mountain Inn at Lutsen.  Teri and James are such wonderful people to work with and a ton of fun!  From there, the next 6 weeks would be spent on the road.  We were next up at Grand View Lodge covering winter activities, then over to Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort, Boyd Lodge, Red Door Resort, and Chena Hot Springs Resort and Whitefish Area Lodging Association.  After a family vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii, Buffalo Media Group was back on the road down to Belize for shoots with Blue Horizon Lodge, Thatch Caye Resort, and Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge.

Buffalo Media Group partnered with Hospitality Minnesota, Explore Minnesota, and became Chamber members in Brainerd, Crosslake, and Pequot Lakes.

After a few weeks home planting our garden, some of you may have got some of our NORTHWOODS Hot Sauce, we were back on the road for a 13-Day, 4-flight journey which kicked off the first week of June with a flight up to Fairbanks, Alaska for a shoot with Chena Hot Springs Resort.  Next, it was off to Rawah Ranch in northern Colorado.  Then we left Rawah Ranch and flew into Jackson Hole for a shoot with Lazy L & B Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming.  We spent the rest of June shooting up in Crosslake for Whitefish Area Lodging Association and Boyd Lodge.

July started off with a very amazing shoot with Drowsy Water Ranch over in Granby, Colorado then onto Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort in Eagle River, WI.  The last week of July we headed up to King Salmon, Alaska for our first shoot with Alaska Rainbow Lodge.  We cannot begin to describe all the amazing shooting and adventure we experienced in a week shooting for them.  There would also be a follow up shoot we did for them in September as well.

Now we are into August and Buffalo Media Group was once again invited back by our friends over at Nine Quarter Circle Ranch to cover photography and video production.  We were so thrilled to be back there!  After that, we were welcomed by first time clients Leland Lodge over in Leland, Michigan right outside Traverse City along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Also in August we were hired by Cragun's Resort in Brainerd, Minnesota and Explore Minnesota for a shoot documenting the north shore of Minnesota along Lake Superior.

September brought about a ton of shooting over in Eagle Lake, WI for Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort and their other business.  Buffalo Media Group did our final shoot for Whitefish Area Lodging Association and our other shoot with Alaska Rainbow Lodge.  October brought about the great hot pepper harvest and hot sauce making parties in our driveway in Northfield, MN. November and December were busy editing and getting ready for the holidays.  We did pop over to Paris and London for 10 days to catch up on some well needed family time in November.

Aside from all our hospitality work, we still ran our portrait studio, Graddy Photography and our commercial studio at a very high volume.  We covered 15 weddings and 71 families sessions, seniors sessions, and corporate sessions.

Our commercial business,Graddy Commercial, welcomed many new clients this year such as Legends Golf Course, Liberty Plastics, Newport Academy, Variant Insurance, and Varitronics to name a few.  We also were hired by Hosanna Church! to cover stock photography of all their extended campuses....quite the honor.  

We are so thankful to have stayed healthy and have had so many safe travels via in the air or on the ground.  Many thanks to all our family, friends, peers, and clients (old and new) for your support and allowing us to do the job we love so much!  Cheers and here's to a great New Year!!!

Adventurer | Bristol Bay Resort Photographer

This past July Buffalo Media Group was on-location in Bristol Bay Alaska covering video production for Alaska Rainbow Lodge. We had already had an amazing couple days shooting at places like Moraine Creek and Kulik but nothing quite prepared us for an unforgettable experience such as that of Funnel Creek. Of course, we knew what to kind of expect after hearing from other guests that had been there in the days prior. Our expectations were quickly met upon our entrance into the creek itself. Lots of bear and lots of fish! This was certainly one of the coolest shooting experiences we’ve ever had filming! It was an experience like none other and one that can only be found through Alaska Rainbow Lodge and their expert guides.

Excursion | Alaska Commercial Video Production

This past July Buffalo Media Group was invited up to Alaska Rainbow Lodge in King Salmon, Alaska to cover commercial video production and photography. We had the great privilege of exploring many different river systems and creek, all amazing fisheries. This here is Moraine Creek right on the fringe of Katmai National Park. The creek is fairly swift flowing teaming with excellent rainbow trout fishing and wildlife.

Fabled | Top Alaska Lodge Photographer

This past September Buffalo Media Group headed back up to King Salmon, Alaska for our second shoot with Alaska Rainbow Lodge. We were so thrilled to be back in one of the coolest places on this planet. The legend of the giant fall rainbows were what we were after. We spent three days total covering a few different rivers. The Flats were the most popular destination choice for the guests. We are very proud of this quick video. This is the first part of a mini-series we are putting together to highlight the individual fishing locations.

Snowbound | Top Montana Resort Video Production

As of recent, Buffalo Media Group has been granted a unique and most extraordinary task of helping tell the story of the Kelsey Family out in Yellowstone country in the mid-60’s through the eyes of Howard Kelsey himself.  Howard Kelsey was the original owner and founder of Nine Quarter Circle Ranch in Gallatin Gateway, Montana.

We have been awarded this most magnificent responsibility to help edit lost footage that many have never seen and in most circumstances, is the first time any of this footage has seen the light of day.

It was upon our personal request that the Kelsey Family dig these out of the family archives and have them reproduced into digital format.  

It is with great respect to the Kelsey Family that we are entrusted in a manner to help tell this amazing story of life in Montana and Wyoming.  All footage was captured by the Kelsey Family using 16mm cameras and film.  This is their story.

Robust | Top Minnesota Resort Photography

Buffalo Media Group has concluded our year long shoot for the Whitefish Area Lodging Association. It has been a wonderful experience to say the least.

Our first shoot started over the first weekend of March.  We were able to capture events and outings despite numerous Covid-19 restrictions and concerns.  This was certainly one of the biggest challenges we faced from square one. There was still plenty of fun to be had like ice-skating, bon-fires, snowmobiling, and good ole-fashioned snowball fights and building snowmen.

Our next shoot took place over the Minnesota Fishing Opener which we picked because of the cultural significance of fishing in Minnesota and that weekend in particular.  The shoot ended up being a huge success.  The weather was more than cooperative, reaching into the low-70’s which made for some hot fishing action.  We were able to capture people landing big northern pike and monster walleye right at the dam in town.

The third shoot was the summer session for the Association.  We were able to capture summer fun on the lakes at its best.  There was plenty of sunbathing, water sports, tubing, and just casual cruising on the chain of lakes going on. Plenty of boat traffic in front of The Wharf and Moonlite Bay made for some great photos and video.  The endless summer evenings made for exceptional footage and really encapsulated a northern Minnesota evening on the Whitefish Chain of Lakes.

Lastly, we rounded out the final portion of the shoot with the autumn session.  We specifically chose the weekend that we thought would have the highest peak in color.  We had great fall foliage and there were plenty of hikers and bikers out.  The fishing action was in full force as anglers were squeezing in the last of the nice weather before winter would arrive again.

Buffalo Media Group handled all the pre-production, storyboarding, conceptualization, model usage, direction, production and post-production of all the shoots.  We were solely in charge of providing the finished product deliverables after each respective shoot as well as doing our part to host the images and video on various social media platforms. 

Reflect | Minnesota Hospitality Video Production

Buffalo Media Group spent a great deal of time in the north woods on the Whitefish Chain of Lakes this entire year. We were able to capture enough footage for this three part, mini-series of vintage 8mm throwback films. We loved creating this body of work and finding the music selections to fit the mood and culture that is life in the north woods of Minnesota!

Pastimes | Central Minnesota Resort Photographer

This is our second installment of “A Crosslake Story” shot in vintage 8mm film. Buffalo Media Group spent a good part of our summer shooting for resorts and local attractions in the Brainerd Area of Lakes alongside the Whitefish Chain of Lakes in Crosslake, Minnesota. We hope you all enjoy! More Crosslake Stories coming in the future!