More fun with the phone camera!

I got a space-agey new cell phone for my birthday. The key feature seemed to be the built-in MP3 player, allowing me to discover the marvelous world of pod-casts. Until now, I wasn’t even sure what an MP3 was. So, that’s been the coolest thing.

Then I discovered how easy it was to shoot pictures with this thing and put them on my computer. Relatively decent images, resolution good enough for a small print.

This may open up a new level of playfulness for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to capture a pretty sunrise just for the heck of it. There are a lot of little moments I’ve passed by because I didn’t have my complicated equipment ready to go. Spontaneous snapshots are an opportunity to find a bit of joy in a moment, a chance to step outside of myself and notice that beautiful world around me. Wherever I happen to be.

My goal is to make at least one picture a day, Just for fun, and not great art. To reflect my commitment to this idea, I’ll post some of these images on a semi-regular basis.

Hopefully, I can catch Lisa and David before they jet out to Mexico for their honeymoon, and give them a sneak peak at their wedding photos: It began Saturday, at the Grand Hotel in downtown Minneapolis:

A quick first-meeting in room 601:

And off to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in St. Paul

The Sunken Garden is always beautiful and a wonderful setting for an intimate ceremony.

Even though the weather wasn’t on our side last Saturday, the Gardens provided the best backdrop in the city!

A few details from the reception at Solera:

David and Lisa: I loved being part of your day! Enjoy Mexico!  

Kyle and Pearl are truly at home downtown, so, at their suggestion, we used the city as a backdrop for their engagement portraits on Saturday. It was a beautiful afternoon, and nice enough to walk along Nicolet Mall before heading into the skyway for exploration. 

I’ll have more to add to this post– an interview is forthcoming– so be sure to check back. For now, I’m just too excited about these photos to keep them to myself!

It’s so nice to look back on Marcy and Brandon’s wedding. They were married last June at Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista. Hard to imagine right now, but it was a warm summer afternoon and the setting was perfect for an outdoor wedding. Their vows took place on the Overlook, with a tranquil view of Whaletail Lake; a beautiful backdrop for a ceremony.

Marcy and Brandon planned this wedding from their home in Portland, Oregon, and from my perspective, they created a very memorable celebration.

Marcy shares a little about their experience: 

Brandon and I met at work.  He was my supervisor and it wasn’t until Brandon left the company did we actually get a chance to hangout together.  On our very first date, we hit it off and it was like we had known each other for years. Since that first date we have been inseparable!  Often people tell us that we are in the newlywed stage, but we both know that the way that we see other and treat one another will never change!!

   Brandon proposed to me in Boundary Waters, while we were on a canoe trip (we came all the way from Portland OR!)  One morning, we decided to go canoeing. The water was perfectly still and we stopped on a island where from any angle you could see the whole lake.  Before I knew it, he was down on one knee, asking for my hand in marriage, to which I excitedly said “Yes.”

Yesterday, I cleaned out a closet that had been filled with photos– some family, some artsy, some older wedding samples (nice to note how I’ve found and improved my style over the years). I was pretty ruthless, but of course, I saved the family photos, and attempted to organize them. It was a daunting task, and mostly, I was just entranced with them.

It’s the same story on my computers. Now that I’ve been digital for a few years, I have several external hard drives filled with professional and personal photos. The professional photos are organized well, but personal/family work has always been left disorganized, unedited, put off for some mythical time in the future.

The thing is, every family image is a treasure. I am reluctant to throw away even an out-of-focus, poorly composed accidental photo, for fear that some tiny bit of information in that image might be irreplaceable.

It is often the background detail in an image that’s most fascinating to me. What’s that on the wall? That’s how we had the furniture arranged? Remember when Neilan played with that toy every day?

The most valuable images explode with memory and feeling.

Lisa and David will be married in April. We met at the Minneapolis Public Library last Saturday for engagement portraits.

Lisa tells us about their relationship and the planning experience so far: 

“We met through Match.com. I had been on and off the site for about a year, and while I had forged some friendships, I had not yet found someone I truly connected with. I had actually just cancelled my membership and was doing some email clean up when I saw David’s profile.

“Something about it just caught my eye and stayed with me. I sent him a “hello” note and we just hit it off! After countless emails and several 3+ hour phone conversations, we met in person for our first date.

“The rest, as they say, is history.”

“I really can’t remember when we first started talking about marriage. Within the first couple of months we both knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

“The day after Christmas in 2006, we were out running errands and having lunch. David just suggested we go look at rings. We ended up going to a couple different jewelry shops and had a fun time browsing and dreaming.

“Well, he ended up buying one of those rings and keeping it safely hidden. He tells me that he tried to propose several times but simply couldn’t find the “perfect” time to do it.” 

“My sister was coming for a weekend visit and we were frantically doing some cleaning in preparation for her arrival. David called me into the bedroom and asked me where I wanted him to put this box. I had not seen the box before so dismissed it. Well, the box turned out to be the ring, and he proposed then and there.

“He said he loved me and wanted to be with me forever. It was wonderful.

“I like that he didn’t plan some elaborate surprise or whisk me away on some romantic trip. Instead, he proposed on a regular night while we were doing typical tasks together. Again, it felt easy and natural and totally us. I loved it.”

“Our ceremony is going to be at the Como Park Conservatory, in the Sunken Garden. Spring just seemed like a great time to for our wedding. Renewal, life-affirming, newness are all attributes I associate with Spring, and our marriage fits in with that theme.

“The garden is beautiful. The abundance of flowers and the smells of Spring will be everywhere.”

“Our reception will be at Solera in downtown Minneapolis. We picked this for a couple of reasons. First, it was the location of our first date. Second, David lived in Spain for two years and has a special place in his heart for the Spanish culture, language and food. We thought the Spanish restaurant would be a great place to celebrate all of these things and add a special touch to our event.”

“We’ve really enjoyed almost everything about planning our wedding. My favorite aspects have been just thinking about ways to make our special day a memorable and intimate one, and sharing that with family and friends.

“I’m having my wedding dress made and that has been a fun experience so far. Every time I go in for another fitting I’m able to see the dress slowly taking shape and look more and more like a real bridal gown. I would highly recommend Kristin Olson at The Dressmaker in Edina, MN.

“We decided to forego the traditional wedding cake and, following the Spanish tapas, or finger-food theme, we are going to serve cupcakes instead. Tasting all of those yummy cake flavors was oh-so-delicious, and working with the staff at Buttercream has been great.”

“When I think about it, all aspects of planning have provided their own unique pleasure. I particularly like the aspects that David and I have been able to participate in together. I must say our engagement photo session was undoubtedly one of the highlights for us!”

–And for your photographer. Thank you for sharing, Lisa!

Just received a cool save-the-date gift from Megan and Matt. A nice surprise, and a great idea:

It’s never a bad idea to send your photographer some candy!

Thanks, Megan and Matt. I’m looking forward to documenting your day!

I haven’t integrated personal projects into my professional website yet, but here’s something that’s been in the works for a couple of years: www.gstphoto.com/goe1 . 

Of small-town heritage, I now consider myself moderately urban (Minneapolis urban, definitely, not New York urban), more interested in people than landscapes. I know next to nothing about organic farming. But a good friend, Barth Anderson, got me interested in Gardens of Eagan farm. He had strong connections to the place through his position with The Wedge Coop in Minneapolis, and convinced me that the farm’s owners, Martin and Atina Diffley, would provide a very interesting story.

On our first visit to the farm,  Atina met us at the driveway. She quickly directed us to jump on the back of her truck, and bounced us out through the rutted spring fields. We held on by our fingertips and laughed at each other when it seemed we were about to fall off. In one untilled field she had us plunge our hands into the dirt (soft, sweet smelling stuff, actually), and led me to taste the green manure (a clover, I think) that was aerating the soil.

Then she invited us inside for conversation over a fresh green salad plucked from her personal garden. Delicious.

Barth and I thought we had a plan for a project documenting her farm. Martin and Atina seemed to like the idea, and quickly– though not naively– said I could come out and photograph whenever I pleased. It was a summer of turmoil for them, though. A gas pipeline was scheduled to be routed through the farm, threatening their organic accredations, ruining all they had built over a lifetime.

The Diffley’s were just beginning to fight that fight (which they won, by the way).In addition to the thankless hours of managing a farm and a business, Martin and Atina had to mount a legal, political and media battle against the pipeline. Yet, whenever I came out, they always made a path for me, encouraging me to explore and experience their land in an intellectual, artistic and spiritual manner.

Ever have an epiphany in a corn field? 

Wandering the fields that summer, I never had a real game plan. I wasn’t shooting a journalistic story. The pipeline issue couldn’t really be told in photographs; I was on a more personal mission. Like a babe in the woods, it was simply fascinating to be there, to absorb how it felt from one field to the next. Atina encouraged me to camp out and experience a sunrise in an open field.  I may yet do that.

This project has not reached a meaningful conclusion. It turned out that Barth had too many projects on his plate (family man, novelist, organics certification specialist– everyone wants a piece of this guy) to write for this one. Atina is interested in writing, though, and we may yet figure out how to pull it together into a book.

Dave proposed on Oct.19, 2007.  Dave met me at my apartment after I had gotten off work, and he had gotten down from St. Cloud. We were in my bedroom trying to decide what to do for dinner. Dave said, ” I think we should go out to dinner.” I said, “Sounds good, where do you want to go?” Dave said, ” I don’t know, but I think we should celebrate.” I asked what we would be celebrating, and when I had turned around, Dave was on one knee, taking the ring out of his pocket!! I said YES!!

How did you decide on the format of your ceremony, the traditions you chose to follow?