Photography

Senior Photos

Photography

My cousin recently asked me to take her daughter’s Senior photos. We met at Centennial Lakes in Edina, wandered around and took some photos, then shortly after she changed outfits, it started raining. So we rescheduled and met at the Peace Garden in Minneapolis. I felt bad that we had to reschedule, but I’m glad that we did. We wandered through the Peace Garden, the Rose Gardens, and Calhoun, and I think we got a lot of good shots. And since Bre (my cousin’s daughter) is so photogenic, I barely had any outtakes, and the family had a lot of photos to choose from.

One thing I struggled with during these photo shoots was shadows. I had learned in school, and from experience, that taking photos with direct sunlight overhead tends to flatten out the image and colors. So I had specifically decided to take pictures in the early or late day. For both shoots, we were out after 5pm. Some shots were great, but I really had to up my ISO, so they are grainier than what I would have liked. And for other shots, I was struggling to keep harsh shadows off her face. Or keep my shadow out of the shot! I will have to practice more to combat those shadows so I have less Photoshop work in the future. I’ve also read about using flash outdoors, which I will have to experiment with in the future.

The photo above is one of my favorites. I think I like it so much, since it’s one of the only ones she isn’t smiling in. Not that she doesn’t have a great smile, but she was such a good model and smiled so easily, that this one was a rare one.

Forest Bathing

Miscellaneous, Photography

For August’s photo outing, Kristin and I combined a Forest Bathing class and photos! (Actually, we did Forest Bathing first and photos after that.) For those of you who might not know what Forest Bathing is (I had no clue until I read the description), it’s a form of Japanese meditation. The basic theory is that we don’t spend enough time outside in nature, so it’s taking the time to connect with nature, meditate, and just notice and be in the moment. The class was great, and I would definitely recommend it. It was offered at the Arboretum, through the University of Minnesota.

It was 2.5 hours long, and we were introduced to an activity, given 15-20 minutes to partake in said activity, and then we talked about it as a group. I think we did about 5-6 different activities. The space that we were brought to for our nature connection, was really beautiful and peaceful. The instructor was great as well. Some of the activities were a little more “edgy” (his words), but he never made anyone participate or made them feel awkward for not participating. My least favorite part was going around in a circle and talking about the activities. I’m not a huge fan of talking in front of a group of people. It was reminiscent of the first day of school when you go around in a circle and tell everyone your name and something about yourself. (Does anyone really like doing that?)

After the class, I was definitely more relaxed. Honestly though, I can’t say for sure if it was because I was in nature and meditating or if it was because I blocked off a set of time for 2.5 hours and had nowhere to be and nothing to do except sit in nature. Either way, the end result was fantastic, and I’m glad I did it!

Kristin and I had a quick snack and then wandered the Arboretum taking photos. Yes, I took a lot of flower photos (I was definitely in the right place for that!), but there were a few non-flower photos that I really love. I’m not exactly sure what it is about them that draws me in, but they are so interesting, that I had to share them:

For this month’s poster, I didn’t do a poster. I wasn’t pleased with how it was turning out, and I realized that a postcard was much more interesting to me. So I did the postcard that I used as the featured image of this post, and the one below:

dead flower with text Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in lower-left corner

The featured post one is more traditional to me, so I think that’s why I like this one better, and I kept it to show you at the end. Surprise!

St. Peter, Minnesota

Design, Photography

For July’s photo outing, Kristin and I took a trip to St. Peter, Minnesota. I remembered driving through their downtown on my way to my Grandparents, and I thought it might be a cute spot to take pictures. I also distinctly remembered a cute, wooden gazebo that was in a park there, that I think my aunt and uncle were married at.

On our way into the downtown area, we spotted a coffee shop and stopped for a coffee, lemonade, and a change of clothing, since it was much hotter than we had expected it to be. On our way out of the coffee shop, we spotted a water fountain and went to explore. There was a little park with a walking trail that led into the woods. The woods looked promising, so we trudged ahead! Turns out, it was pretty disappointing. The trail was not covered at all, so we were in the hot sun on an over 80 degree day. After a short walk, we could see there was no shade in sight, so we turned back.

Since downtown was fairly busy at that time, we thought it might be fun to go explore Gustavus Adolphus College. On the way there, we passed the park that had the little, wooden gazebo. Sadly, the gazebo had been replaced by a larger, not-as-cute gazebo (or I just completely remembered it as nicer than it was…that could be the case too). The college looked very ’70s. There was one building that was architecturally interesting, but otherwise, the buildings were all brick and rectangular.

Luckily, the college had an arboretum, which is where we spent most of our time. Sadly, there wasn’t any shade here either, so we got really warm walking around. I was concerned that it might be too warm, and our lenses might get condensation on them, but they appear to be fine. I got a lot of flower pictures, so that made the sweaty walk worth it!

After hours in the sun on a hot day, we didn’t have the energy left to go back and explore downtown. Maybe on another day trip, we’ll pass by there again and stop.

Caponi Art Park

Design, Photography

This is the poster for my June photo outing with Kristin. We both had very busy months, so we had to get together on a weeknight and had less photo time than we usually do. For this adventure, we went to Caponi Art Park in Eagan. Neither of us had been there before, and I had only caught a glimpse of it while taking a walk.

We started out of the parking lot on a trail that went to the South. After wandering around the trails for awhile, we started to wonder where the art was. Everything was just nature paths through the woods. It was nice, but not as art-filled as we had been expecting. So we back-tracked to the parking lot and went North instead. (I knew there were sculptures to the north, since that was near where I had walked previously.)

When I’m in a new place, there is so much to take in, that I sometimes miss obvious things. So there is a potential that we missed it, but I didn’t see anything that explained the art. I can’t remember for sure, but I think there may have been something to tell what the name of the piece was and who created it, but nothing about what they were trying to say. For some of the art, that was ok. For others, I really feel like I needed an explanation.

Because of this, I tried to mimick the feelings of not really clearly knowing what is going on in my poster. Some of the photos are easy to see and some blend into the others more. I also chose to hand write the name of the poster, rather than pick a font. Because I get the Caponi Art Park newsletter, and I see the snake sculpture all the time, I chose to make my text mirror the snake a little with curves. I realized after I finished the text, that the triangle on the end makes it more dragon-like, but I like it better when it tapered off.

So that was Caponi Art Park. I hope my poster inspires you to check it out!

May Photo Outing

Design, Photography

On Memorial Day Weekend Kristin and I went out for another photo adventure! This time we went to the Japanese Garden at Normandale, the Lyndale Rose Gardens, the Peace Garden, and the Lakewood Cemetery. It was a fun day filled with brunch, photos, and conversation.

Our adventure included trees full of hammocks, a baby bunny munching on grass, an accidental unflattering photo of a stranger, and a security guard stopping us in the Lakewood Cemetery. (Turns out I am still a 17-year old in my head, and I assumed we were going to be scolded in some way for being there with cameras, but he had stopped us to let us know about their app. So it is true…there is an app for everything!) And of course, flowers, flowers, flowers!

For my poster this month, I focused on the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden. My plan was to have photos in the background of the Rose garden that were flowery and had blurry backgrounds. In the foreground would be multiple photos cropped to mimic the pagoda in the Japanese Garden. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. I think it would have been better to have one image in the background or foreground and then multiple images for the opposite one. It got a little busy, and the pagoda didn’t stick out as much as I had hoped without an outline and drop shadow. Since I had so many photos to showcase, I opted to stick with the original design. Maybe I will revisit the idea in an upcoming poster.