This is the collector's print for fall 2004. To view the collector's prints for the other seasons, click here.

“Only a few times in my career have I made a picture that startles me, if not humbles me. This was one of those occasions. The notion that the cloud must be a sign was impossible to resist. I could sense various meanings coming from multiple directions.  Was the image a sign for the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation to purchase the adjacent prairie?  A sign from my recently deceased father saying that everything is okay? A sign that the filming of my prairie movie was complete? There were several convergences of circumstances that made this image important to me.
I was visiting Luverne because of my father’s passing a few days earlier.  I found it comforting, during this time of grieving, to go to a place with such positive beauty that overlooked the farm that I grew up on. I imagined my father tending his fields.  He would have glanced up and gazed upon the rocky ridge to the west, where I was standing - the area we now call Touch the Sky.This image was captured there, on Touch the Sky Prairie, a part of the 808 acres of untilled tallgrass prairie that we have acquired for preservation through the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation. Our foundation had just learned of some adjacent property that had become available for purchase to extend our prairie.Across the property line, the native gayfeather flowers caught my attention. I decided that this particular patch of native wildflowers would make a wonderful addition to my upcoming prairie movie. This image became one of the final scenes of the two-year project.As I was filming close-ups of the flowers, I took my eye off the viewfinder and looked up into the sky. There it was - an enourmous cloud in the shape of an eagle spreading it’s wings.  Startled, I hesitated and quickly decided that it would make a better vertical still image.  I needed my camera.  I put down my filming gear and rushed to grab my camera.  I had just enough time to shoot 4 or 5 frames when the typical intense prairie wind blew it away.Within a minute, the eagle was gone - but I had my record.“ - Jim Brandenburg