Joan (Ekdahl) Haara is a retired R.N., having held several varied career positions including Risk Management, hospital administration, Executive Director of an Assisted Living facility, and performing home health and hospital nursing.
About 8 years before she retired from nursing, she started studying and practicing her passion for photography. She has practiced her art for over 18 years and she has taken several community classes to improve her craft. She has won several contests and awards in regional and national competitions and art shows. She has her work displayed in several healthcare facilities nationwide, including Trillium House and Beacon House, in Marquette. Her favorite shots to take are of wildlife, landscapes, wildflowers and waterfalls.
Her husband Paul makes homemade birch bark frames which compliment her nature shots, and the two of them often display the framed photos at local art and craft shows throughout the U.P. Her home is in Michigamme, Michigan on beautiful Lake Michigamme from May through November. Every year and as soon as the weather gives her snow, she snowbirds to her home in Florida for the winter.