Community remembers renowned Minnesota wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg
An award-winning Minnesota wildlife photographer is being remembered for his immense talent and gentle nature.
Jim Brandenburg earned National Geographic's Lifetime Achievement Award after globe-trotting the world for the magazine for more than three decades.
He died Friday of thyroid cancer and pneumonia.
"He just can't be gone," said Layne Kennedy, a friend and colleague of Brandenburg's. "He was too influential to too many people."
Kennedy counts himself as one of those people.
The two photographers knew each other more than 25 years, and Kennedy bursts with a childlike energy talking about Brandenburg's gift for taking pictures, particularly of wildlife.
"There was a visual poetry to his work and a musical quality to it as well," he said. "I don't know! I can't describe it. It's just different than everybody else's."
Kennedy says Brandenburg was never intimidating. He was easy to talk to and a gentle man.
Gov. Tim Walz wrote on social media, "Minnesota lost a legend", and shared a photo, 'Chased by the Light.'
WCCO profiled Brandenburg in 2023, stepping into his world of nature's most magical moments.
"You have to have passion," he said then. "I've always felt I have more passion than brains or talent."
Whatever the balance was, Kennedy says Brandenburg was the complete package.
"What a great life he had," Kennedy said. "The things he was able to see and capture and share with us is pretty remarkable. He'll live on forever. That's the beauty of it. Jim will always be with us through his work."
A post from his family on his Facebook page says Brandenburg was being treated for cancer for the last seven months.
The post says his son, Anthony, died in February.
