I was pretty thrilled that the first photoshoot in our new Northfield home was with Miranda.
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Overlooking Jordan Pond from North Bubble
Maine // Penobscot Bay
In the fall of 2019, we took what felt like a very grown-up vacation to Maine. It was rainy, moody, and quiet. It was also so beautiful and filled with vivid pops of reds and golds, subtle pinks and faded blues, and deep, seaside greens.
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Jenni
Jenni and I met through work. Before we were officially coworkers, though, we met up for a hobby trade. I took her headshots and she read my Tarot cards. Through this shoot, I got to see how fun and varied Jenni’s personality is, and also how varied the textures and colors are along 38th Street are in Minneapolis, right near our apartment.
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The view north from Palisade Head
The North Shore: Grand Marais + Cascade River State Park
As an evangelist for the southeastern, driftless region of Minnesota, along with the western prairies, I have a confession: I'd never been past Two Harbors. I've seen the plunging shoreline photos, had friends rave about Grand Marais, but just nodded politely, assuming THEY were the ones missing out. So, to back-up my claims that SE is where it's really at, I knew I had to give the other regions a fair shake. About a year in advance, we booked the best pack-in site at Cascade River State Park and spent a long weekend literally camped on the shore of Lake Superior and poking around Grand Marais.
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First Christian Church, designed by leading Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, built in 1942. Also pictured: Large Arch by sculptor Henry Moore.
Columbus, Indiana: A Tale of Architectural Philanthropy
When I say “Columbus” you say “Ohio?” And I say, “No, Columbus, Indiana!” Then I’ll tell you to watch Kogonada’s 2017 film, “Columbus,” set in Columbus, IN. You probably won’t, and it’s also not likely you’ll find yourself in the middle of Indiana anytime soon (unless you have the Exit 76 Antique Mall on your bucket list, in which case we’re kindred spirits and should be friends!), so let me tell you about it.
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Linnahall in Tallinn, Estonia. An event venue built for the 1980 Olympics hosted by the Soviet Union. Abandoned in 2010, it’s currently undergoing renovations and should be completed in 2019.
Tallinn, Estonia: A Quick Glimpse of Post-Soviet Reality, 2017
When trip planning for Scandinavia, I had no real plan of going to Estonia. The guidebooks all mentioned that Tallinn could be an interesting stop, but only if you had time. Perhaps that underdog/under-explored factor is what tipped my decision to convince J we should go.
More than a year later, it’s still the city I think about most, even though it was the only place we visited where we didn’t also spend the night. We took the 2-hour ferry ride from Helsinki through the Baltic Sea to Estonia’s capital city. We had done little research and were not sure what to expect. Our blank slates probably contributed to our continual state of surprise and delight.
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Field Sketches, Sarah FitzSimons
Fermentation Fest // Farm/Art DTour
What better place for art installations than the driftless hills of Wisconsin? One of my favorite art crawls is Wormfarm Institute’s Fermentation Fest + Farm/Art DTour.
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Our camp-in site at Lac qui Parle State Park
Prairie Parks of Minnesota
Having grown up in the less-lovable but more farmable plains of southern Minnesota, openness and waving grasses and a clear idea of where I’m going for the next five miles all make me feel most at home. So, my secret confession: the prairie parks of western and southern Minnesota are the most beautiful.
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Photo and story referenced by Mike Belleme, published in The Collective Quarterly, Issue 4.
Staying Put
I've shot guns, and dead animals were a part of my childhood, but I can't imagine scraping the brains from a deer hit by a Ford pickup as my sustenance. And I guess that bothers me, too: that lack of imagination, or rather, my own weakness.
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Our morning view in the driftless
Goldenrods
While I'm quite good at names of people - the ones I know, not famous ones - I'm so bad at the names of other things: plants, flowers, birds, streets, clouds. Which is fine. For our mini-moon, we escaped to the driftless region of southeast Wisconsin. For a long weekend, we were surrounded by a field of yellow.
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