photo contest

For over 25 years, Debbie Hartmann has pursued her passion for wildlife and nature through photography. In her winning photo, Evening Paddle Through the Marsh, she captured a shot of her Mahtomedi Community Education dragon boat team from the vantage point of the Manitou Island Bridge on White Bear Lake. “I like to take pictures when I can so … they will have a visual memory of their experience in the boat,” she says. “The paddlers were taking a rest from paddling, and the water was very calm, so overall this is a very peaceful image to me.” 

Read more about An Evening Paddle

On a clear summer evening, Craig Drake, who placed first in our 2021 Lens on the Lake Photo Contest, captured this image of his grand-dog, sitting happily at the end of his family’s dock on White Bear Lake. “It was a beautiful day, and we were dog sitting our grand-dog, Tommy. He loves the water and was very happy being on the dock,” Drake says. His favorite thing about the image? He says, “The playful look on Tommy’s face!” Drake is a self-proclaimed “casual photographer” and says he happened to catch Tommy at the right moment. Read more about Ready to Play

Stephanie Herington nabbed this shot by Manitou Island, near where the dinghy boats are stored in the summer. She says, “I really loved how the ice had piled up on shore and how the rugged ice contrasted against the smooth blue sky. I like to shoot from atypical angles, especially a low and wide angle. Pro tip: If you have the wide angle feature on your phone, flip it upside down and shoot down low, it makes for a dramatic image!”

Photographer: Stephanie Herington Read more about Ice, Ice, Baby

It has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic upended all of our lives. The unanticipated lifestyle changes took a toll on all of us; however, people didn’t lose all hope. 

In April of 2020, during the state’s shelter-in-place order, Michael Lovett and his wife took long walks nearly every morning. During these walks, going a little further than he typically would have before, Lovett began to notice what was different when life was put on pause. Read more about Hi Friends!

It's that time of year again: The Lens on the Lake photo contest has returned for its 8th year of beautiful photos of our community. This photo contest, presented by White Bear Lake Magazine, showcases the best photographers in our community—not to mention the subjects that give them inspiration.

We're looking for photos that show off the core values of White Bear Lake in five categories: Read more about Lens on the Lake 2017

Summer in the land of 10,000 lakes wouldn’t be complete without spending the nicest days fishing off the end of the dock. Fishermen and women, young and old, flock to the shores of White Bear Lake with the hopes of catching “the big one.” White Bear Lake resident Penny Rendall used her iPhone to capture this snapshot, Going Fishing, of her then 3-year-old grandson Tanner, his fishing pole and tackle box in hand. “We remember taking our son and daughter fishing,” says Rendall. “We just continued the tradition.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Going Fishing

Summertime in White Bear Lake means the races begin at the White Bear Lake Yacht Club. It was on a Monday evening last June that Jay Rendall captured this shot of an A-scow crew “hiking”—balancing the boat against the push of the wind. The photo, entitled Hiking, took first place in the Activities and Events category of our Lens on the Lake contest. Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hiking

Garnering an honorable mention in the City Landmarks category, Dale Grambush’s photo, Nearing Ice Out, caught White Bear Lake in seasonal transition. “There’s still ice on the lake,” says Grambush, “but not around the docks.” Grambush says that the shadows of the dock and the fog in the distance prompted him to stop and snap the shot; he took the photo near Boatworks Commons with his cellphone one morning late last March.

Driving along Lake Avenue South, Grambush looks out onto the lake nearly every day on his commute. He enjoys photographing the lake throughout the seasons. Read more about Lens on the Lake: Nearing Ice-Out

Julie Orloske was at her White Bear Lake home when she took the photo Hi Neighbor, which took first place in the Pets category of our annual photo contest. Orloske was standing on her driveway in the late spring when she saw her neighbor’s dog, Crixus, peering out through the crack in her fence. Placing her Canon 70D camera on the ground, she captured the dog in action. “This is Crixus,” Orloske says. “This is how he is.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hi Neighbor

Julie Orloske was at her White Bear Lake home when she took the photo Hi Neighbor, which took first place in the Pets category of our annual photo contest. Orloske was standing on her driveway in the late spring when she saw her neighbor’s dog, Crixus, peering out through the crack in her fence. Placing her Canon 70D camera on the ground, she captured the dog in action. “This is Crixus,” Orloske says. “This is how he is.” Read more about Lens on the Lake: Hi Neighbor