Anastasia in color and black and white. A seniors pictures shoot took Stasia and me to the University of Minnesota Arboretum and specifically to the Japanese Gardens. The location reminded me of the area surrounding the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. I used a single flash for fill and converted some of the images to black and white for their nifty graphic quality. These days, Stasia is training to be a registered nurse like her mom.
In the waning days of November, competitors swarmed bowling allies for the final Minnesota Special Olympics of 2018. Throughout the year, state Special Olympics competitions and fund raisers have focused on the abilities of special needs folks. If they didn’t articulate the joy they experience, it can certainly be seen in their determination to topple all 10 pins.
Having shot television new photography all over the globe since the mid 1970s, it was time for me to move on and in 2014, I transitioned back to my first love; still photography. I shoot weddings, family portraits and news events for an area monthly magazine, but this, shooting as a volunteer for a wonderful organization, is profoundly rewarding.
But first, has spring finally arrived?
Alli and Ryan were the perfect couple to shoot with. They were generous with their humor and excited to have their special day documented in Duluth on a hot and particularly humid day. An early 19th century landmark, the Kitchi Gammi Club was an ideal setting for Alli and Ryan to begin a new chapter in their lives together.
When a century old barn serves as a studio and natural light pours through a single window, the effect is pleasing and reminds me of the Italian painter Carravagio. It was a fun shoot with Amanda in Excelsior, Minnesota.
And they’re off! More than 900 runners, led by the Pied Piper, Mark Schnorr, dash out on a 5k race in Excelsior, Minnesota. Its an annual foot race and fundraiser, sponsored by the Excelsior Chamber of Commerce.
In the meantime, 124 runners registered for the 1 mile race, a quickie in town that was dominated by fleet-footed shorties.
A ” doodle” and her mistress were pleased to show the green on Water Street during the 5k run.
Brian Duggan and his earnest running mate Colin Fitzpatrick closed on the finish line, completing the 5k run in under 2 hours! Colin was no help at all, requiring a brief pit stop on the race course. That’s Colin holding up Brian.
Mike Poehler played tuba in high school and is a member of an area church orchestra, but on Saint Paddy’s Day, he’s returned for the fourth running to serenade anyone within ear shot. He prefers jazz riffs, he says.
The kilted ladies of Waconia. Jay Pomeroy and Fred Weppner decided to run several 5k’s a year and what better than in Scottish kilts? Neither has a drop of Scottish blood, by the way. No matter, they had great fun.
The proof’s in the pudding. A selfie will prove to the disbelieving at work that this greened-out trio did indeed run the Excelsior 5k and finished in under 5 hours.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey monitors the air with extended tongue a moment before he plunges into 32 degree water during a fundraiser for Special Olympics.
O-M-G !!!!
What are his chances of surviving a pancake entry? Hennepin County paramedics were standing by in the event he required patching up.
Minnesotans love spectacle and what could be more thrilling than to witness mass pain? Hundreds, in the name of Special Olympics, filled a standing room only space on the shoreline of Lake Bde Maka Ska, formerly Lake Calhoun.
Coppers too came out in force for the big chill beneath the hill in Minneapolis .
Led by meteorologist Ian Leonard, a flock of duck-people with flipper-feet were poised to join hundreds who dived, fell into, somersaulted and pancaked into nearly frozen lake water.
…………and until this time next year, keep your powder dry and dry socks on your feet.
Winter in Minnesota was in tilt boogie last weekend, blanketing the Mpls metro with nearly a foot of white. In the far west metro, Shorewood folks either dug our blew their way to streets and freedom from isolation.
Last summer a captain, with a boatload of passengers aboard, ran the 1906 steamboat Minnehaha aground in Lake Minnetonka. This winter repairs are made by volunteers, including a much needed patch in the starboard hull by Karl Newman with Steve Albrecht providing a running commentary.
” I’m gonna die right her”. That was Maureen Berende’s fear moments after she emerged from Lake Minnetonka on New Year’s Day. With temps a -14 and the windchill at 27 degree below zero, ice divers in Excelsior faced the second coldest fundraising event since its beginning in 1990.
Eight years ago, in 2010, 980 brave souls jumped and dived into Lake Minnetonka, but brutally cold weather pared the turnout to 352 in 2018 and some of them stepped to the platform, only to turn away, fearful of the 32 degree water. Those who braved the ice dive were lent a helping hand by volunteers, including Excelsior firefighters.
Its called Muck Ruckus, an all day slog though slime thats reminiscent of Marine Corps boot camp at Paris Island or Camp Pendelton. Its got to be the nastiest fund raiser I’ve shot over the course of 40 years as a news photojournalist. On the western reaches of Wisconsin hill country, hundreds of runners took on the course with all its exhausting challenges.
Muscular sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disease, brought competitors from Wisconsin and Minnesota to the Muck Ruckus challenge to raise money for research toward a cure for the disease.
