TC Birth & Baby Expo Tomorrow!

I'll have a booth at the Twin Cities Birth and Baby expo in Minneapolis tomorrow. The event will be held at Midtown Global Market (920 E. Lake Street) from 10-5 on Oct. 10.

If you make it to the expo, be sure to stop by to say hello!

More information about the event can be found on their website.

By the Light of the Moon

Joe went outside to get something from his car when he spotted this moon configuration hanging eerily surrounded by clouds.







Out in the chilly fall night photographing our quiet suburb I was thinking about the moon and my father, who died a little over a week ago. For a long time I have felt a closeness to my father while on nature-photo expeditions because he was the person who first inspired me to fall in love with the night's sky, lugging out his telescope and pointing out the constellations, Mars, Saturn and comets when they were near.

When we camped my dad would set up cots and we'd sit gazing up past tree tops at the magnificent show in the sky. A few days ago I found a sheet of paper on the ground on my landing. It containing an old memory I had written down while I was in college those nights camping. It reminded me that I often stayed gazing long after others had moved closer to the fire to talk or roast marshmallows. While my dad got me interested in the stars, I new my desire to observe quietly surpassed his. And so it is in nature that I recollect the ways in which he and I were the same and different.

And I carry him with me, as I always have, in moments like this. And although the memory of his death is new, I don't see these moments as sad. There is peace in having that kind of connection with a person that exists outside of physical existence. I am lucky to have had that relationship with him.

I am sure I will write more about him as I remember things. His memorial service will be held at his California ranch on Oct. 24.

Ed Fest 2009

This weekend our church held it's annual festival (Ed Fest) and Joe and I did our part as gate keepers of the Bounce Castle. Joe also cantored during the preceding outdoor mass during which time Truman explored another child's wagon and a tree, then made friends with a dog (who ended up making a little too good of friends with me).

Truman then found a series of different sticks and had a blast with them, went in the Bounce Castle three times, danced, played the drums for a minute, ate lunch, then promptly fell into a deep sleep.

It was fun to get back into shooting straight photojournalism. I miss covering events like this for a newspaper; but it was fun to actually enjoy a festival instead of just observing.

MN State Fair: No Place for a Jogging Stroller

If you are reading this and thinking, as we did, that your bike trailer that converts into a jogging stroller seems like the perfect companion for Minnesota's Great Get-together (with it's sun/rain hood and pockets to carry snacks and water) do yourself a favor and think again.

The plan looked good on paper, but we forgot that the site of all those people and things on-a-stick renders most fair-goers ignorant of their feet. People were tripping over the front wheel at every turn and one tween nearly fell into the stroller while we were stopped.

So this year's State Fair trip elapsed in two parts. Part One: Ballad of the Obnoxious Stroller, began like this:






We made one detour to the dairy building to recreate a photo from last year:







Then returned to the car to get rid of that stroller and returned for Part Two: Stroller Be-Gone.

Part two was much more fun and included an amazing fish taco, burger and fries, ice cream, pretzel, and Joe chugging two servings of all-you-can-drink milk (which he wouldn't want me to remark was "udderly delicious") and then one glass of chocolate milk for me, but only one photo, which appears above.

Verisimilitude, But Not Actual Verity

I started as a writer-turned-journalist-turned-photojournalist and have spent the last year immersing myself in non-journalistic photography. Specifically, the art of portraiture and all the technical elements that go into the art form. But when I'm shooting it doesn't feel technical. It feels familiar.

In the past, I've seen what I used to do as very separate from posed photography. But I have since refined the way I think about and execute these images and have found myself reaching for the tools from my previous life.

As a writer I control time. Real time is linear, elapsing quite orderly from the hour we are born until the moment we die. Occasionally it feels slow or fast, but it's always ticking away at the same pace.

On the page, everything is different. A writer with no sense of timing is quickly lost in a sea of quotations and plot devices. Masterful writers extend and contract, bend and twist time until they achieve what all artists are trying to achieve: not simply to tell a story, but to evoke emotions in their audience. Writers do this by creating the illusion of reality. How much of an illusion depends on where one lies between journalist and poet.

As a photographer I control what you see and seek to use these elements to create the same illusion of reality. It's a mixed media process, really, combining constructs that are visually evocative (light, color, backdrops, positioning) with real people and their own evocations (laughter, love, excitement, youth) to create art that looks effortlessly real.

I was thinking about this process while watching Gabe Askew's glorious fan video of Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks:

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

The video is computer generated but uses photographic elements to create a mixed media film that marries the realistic and the fanciful. We see what seems to be real dioramas mingling with animated fishes and birds creating a more beautiful image than either media would create alone. Then, what gives the video emotional output is the appearance that we really are traveling via film across box after box of cardboard cut-outs and the fantastical notion (and sight) of such a dramatic endeavor. (Read more about how the video was made here.)

Whereas I began my career as a photographer trying to capture what I see, even in portraiture, I am now working more and more to create, instead, an artistic rendering of reality. I'm utilizing all the things lay observers and amateur writers take for granted as so-real-there-is-no-need-to-contemplate-their-explanation — things like intensity and color of light, the tilting of heads and subtle expressions — to create verisimilitude, but not actual verity, in my images.

Whereas I once sought strict fidelity to a collective reality, I am now courting photographs that reflect a world containing all those natural elements but appearing much more beautiful. I'm now making art.

Adventure Tuesday: San Diego

For our San Diego style adventure we headed to the New Children's Museum, which puts a modern art slant on museums for kids. Truman had a blast with his Nana, though much of the stuff was geared toward older children.







My mom pretending to be a rock-throwing giant in the toddler area:








They had a giant room filled with old mattresses to jump on and these pillows shaped like tires My mom took these lovely photos:

Objects of Curiosity: Book House

While in San Diego we had the awesome opportunity to see Aaron T. Stephan’s Building Houses/Hiding Under Rocks, a cube-hut of books that I was magnetically drawn to because it reminded me of The Raw Shark Texts (blogged here). Besides being an object of pure curiosity, the cube was built with great precision — none of titles of any of the books were visible because we're meant to forget that these are books. The center of the cube is carved into a sphere so carefully the interior acoustics are enhanced like a tiny amphitheater for one.

I suppose I'd be the perfect place to read over drafts of your own poetry aloud alone, letting your own voice, traveling through your own words, return back to you from the walls of books.

I could of stayed in there all day, but it was a behind-closed-doors exhibit at the New Children's Museum and we had to wander the rest of the place.

If I'm ever near another one of Aaron T. Stephan’s exhibits, I'll definitely want to check it out.

Clocky's illegitimate son, Andy

I'm sure you thought the Clocky Saga (featured here and here) had ended. Surely there can't be more clocks masquerading as men or acting as poorly chosen mascots loose in the collective consciousness.

Wrong.

Meet Andy, Clocky's illegitimate handyman son, whom I met in downtown San Diego last month:



Apparently Andy is so distraught over the distance between him and his father that he forgot how to use the letter "i," opting, instead, to spell words such as "time" and "smile" with a "y."

As if the clock character wasn't beating the we're-available-around-the-clock concept into our heads enough, they had to add a word pun. What's funny is that wherever I find a Clocky, I'm sure to find a terrible tag line. I call this The Curse of Clocky.

Adventure Tuesday: Minnesota Science Museum

(What's that weird thing bisecting the picture, you ask? Why it's Truman's painting I just happen to snap as it whisked to the ground.)


We cheated and did Adventure Tuesday on Monday this week with Sarah and Khai because the Science Museum runs a special Preschool Playdate event on Mondays. Kids under 5 are free and there are activities specifically geared toward little ones, such as watercolor painting and fun with wind tunnels, both of which we tried.

Truman loved just about everything and ran all around the museum like a banshee. Although I guess a banshee would probably float. He found a small living room built into the middle of the light exhibit where families cool read books and take a rest. He was having a good time there until he noticed that there was a tiny closet-sized office tucked into the corner that contained a computer and other office accompaniments. Of course, this quickly became the most interesting exhibit on display.

The museum worker was kind enough to show them some special non-exhibit items from the closet-office — a ball that lit up when you touched two metal segments on it and a strange puzzle that involved a glass tube, sand and a ball bearing that she challenged me to solve ("I bet mommy can't even figure that one out"). I was on my way to proving her wrong when he realized the light up ball, like all balls, looked great when you throw it and we began bouncing from exhibit to exhibit for a while.

We forgot to pick up the paintings the boys made, but here are some pictures of the painting process:















Oh, and he loved the musical stairs just as much as you would expect a budding audiophile to.

A bride & a baby

amount to a fun day of photography. Here are a few of my favorites from yesterday.

First I went to visit my friend (and Joe's co-worker) Jill to shoot make some photographs of her new daughter, Elizabeth:







Then I headed to the Sculpture Garden for an after-wedding shoot with the lovely Hannah and her husband Jon:







Thanks for the great day, Jill & Elizabeth, Hannah & Jon and my wonderful helpers, Sarah, Dean & Khai, who chased Truman around the Sculpture Garden while I photographed. Here's Dean wearing his own son and carrying mine:

My Husband Fritz

I guess I never thought I'd say that; but here's Joe dressed as Fritz Robinson, the oldest brother in the Swiss Family Robinson clan.

I took this last night while working on some photos for the press material to promote the Mille Lacs Area Players performance of the musical Swiss Family Robinson, which runs August 13-16 and 20-23 at 7:30 p.m. in Milaca, mn.

A few other photos can be found on picasa.

Mill City Adventure Tuesday

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I met up with my friends Pat and Heather for an educational Adventure Tuesday at the Mill City Museum, where we were treated to this gorgeous view of the river. After watching me snapping away with my lens nudged against the glass, the tour guide kindly pointed me onto a balcony. My lens and I were thankful; these were the result:













The museum, housed in the old Gold Medal Flour mill, offered more than just a pretty view. We learned a lot about the history of the mill and Minneapolis. Did you know that for a while Minneapolis milled more flour than anywhere else in the world? There were lots of hands-on activities geared toward older children; Truman's favorites involved water (no surprise). We also road the excitingly named "flour tower," which was a lot less like the Power Tower than some would hope, but much less nauseating.

In fact, we left the museum hungry, on our way to The Spaghetti Factory for lunch.







This is what I would look like if I were insane, but enthusiastic (notice the thumbs up?) living in a giant field of wheat:




This is what it looks like when play food at a play dinner table is inexplicably glued together and you try to indulge in a nice slice of felt bread while your child wonders where their bread is:




Not enough pictures of me looking crazy for you? After the museum, Pat and Heather headed home and we went to visit my friend Vanessa, where I became a robot:



Or maybe an iPod, depending on your preference.

A Musical for the Whole Family

As most of you know, our very own Joe will be playing the role of the eldest son in the Mille Lacs Area Player's upcoming production of Swiss Family Robinson, which runs Aug. 13-16 & 20-23 in Milaca.

But you may not have known that I have been hard at work behind the scenes creating some pretty posters to publicize the show. For more details about the show, see the above poster. A factoid for the photoshop nerds out there: most of the design elements on the poster come from brush sets created from scans of actual antique maps.

We'd love to host anyone who wants to come up and see Joe in action. Just let us know when you'd like to visit so we don't over-book Hotel Walsh.

Although, as long as you don't mind sleeping on an airbed it is pretty hard to overbook the expansive Hotel Walsh.

Happy Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE!

Joe has work and play practice today, so we won't have much time to celebrate. When he forgot a few things at home today, I took the opportunity to ambush him with balloons and sing him our crazy version of Happy Birthday, which involves lots of Punk Rock screeching (the one from Truman's birthday).

Happy birthday, my love!

The "Intruder"

While driving down our street last weekend we noticed the usual suburban ornaments — our neighbor's lawn windmill, the black decorative street lights that invade my bedroom with light at night, the giant trampoline near the stop sign — and then we saw something new, an RV called "The Intruder," parked in front of our neighbor's house.

It looked like this: Intruder picture.

I guess it's the RV for the horribly annoying guest.

Seriously, who names an RV "The Intruder?"

Hat and Onesie for Jill

I made these for my friend Jill who is expecting a little girl sometime this month. I can't wait to see her in the hat.

Thanks, Amy, for teaching me the joys of applique.

Mothers Day Lake Maria hike

This photo is just a few matching shirts away from Awkardfamilyphotos.com, but there is something about it I love. Maybe it's the look on Joe's face. Maybe it's my hair in Truman's hand or my half-face. Somehow that combo really reflects our life right now.


It didn't happen on Mother's Day, but we headed to Lake Maria State Park in celebration of motherhood. It gave us the chance to try out our new hiking pack (Joe gave it a good review) and gave me chance to photograph the forest while risking life and limb to a bunch of starving ground mosquitoes.


The reason I'm a mother:

Flight (words)

Have you ever noticed that there is a point right before a bird takes off in flight where they pause, glancing upward, then bend and push off on their pointy bird-feet to get the leverage to fly? Watching that quiet moment outside my window gave me the kind of deep recognition you only get from seeing someone do something you've actually done before.

We all try to gauge how well something will go before we jump into it for the first time, but flight seems so intrinsic to being a bird, I assumed they could do it with their eyes closed.

Now that I have the time to think and notice these kinds of things I've been amazed by the sheer effort it takes to accomplish most of the tasks we take for granted — mental and physical. That is, until we can no longer do them easily. I've been resolving to take with me into my everyday life the kind of mindful-appreciation it takes to wonder at the magnitude of each moment without dwelling so that I can actually live in the moment. Just as difficult to do as it was to say.

Do I wish I had a picture of the bird crouched just before take-off? Perhaps. Do I wish I had photographs to stand as place markers for the millions of poetic moments my prose-speaking-mind fails to capture metrically? Sure.

But all of these moments live somewhere in my mind waiting to be recalled and used as fodder for a future creative endeavor. And sometimes it's nice to write without pictures in order to remind you all where I started. Sometimes its nice to diversify my creative energy even if just for a moment before I plunge back into the world of shutter speed and light.

Spellbound Baseball

My nephew's little league team has a stylish color scheme going on. Oh, they play some good ball, too. The Mets won their little league championship yesterday and luckily I was there to capture the action. Way to go Mets!

See all the photos on SmugMug.

Hiring me to come and shoot your son or daughter at a sporting event can make a unique alternative to traditional portraits. We can even squeeze in a few more traditional portraits before or after the event. Pricing is similar to traditional portrait pricing. Contact me for more details.

Bingo Baby

We headed to the Saint Stephen's carnival in Anoka today to play bingo with the Walsh clan. Before I took the photograph below I said I was excited to compile all the images I have taken of my nephew Joe at his high school graduation open house (which is quite a few years in the future). This one will definitely have to make the cut.

Stairway to Heaven: St. Louis Arch

Last week I was down in Missouri, land of relentless humidity, where I discovered that the St. Louis Arch looks a lot like a stairway, or escalator, to heaven while on an adventure to do something entirely different in the city.

We got lost on the way to this museum:




And decided to head toward the most recognizable element in the downtown skyline:







Where we also enjoyed lunch and walked under a nifty bridge:

Climbing trees, scaling rocks, taking pictures

That's what I did today with Nick, who celebrated his last day of high school today. This was the most adventurous portrait session I have done yet. Thanks for all your effort, Nick, I think it was worth it.

















More from this Coon Rapid's Dam portrait session.



It really is the perfect time of year to take senior portraits. The weather is great, the light is beautiful and the bugs haven't joined the party everywhere yet. If you're interested in booking a senior portrait session, call me at (763) 389 • 8733 or email me at brooke [at] spellboundjungle.com.

Cooking with Brooke: Profiteroles with "no business being this good"

Sometime a few years ago I fell in love with profiteroles we had for dessert at Chez Danielle. We've returned on various special occasions, often with profiterole-virgins in tow, to eat this dessert. You'd think it be something terribly elaborate to entice us so, but in reality it's just a vanilla ice cream-stuffed cream puff shell with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. But, my friends, it is amazing.

We made it for our friends Derrick and Carrie this weekend and all came to the conclusion that it's really better than it should be.

Joe: "It has no business being this good."



Cream Puff Shells:

• 1 cup water

• 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter

• pinch of salt, if you like

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/4 a cup whole wheat)

• 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375. Bring water and butter to a full boil, stirring. Add flour, stirring until it forms a ball in the center of the pan. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before adding eggs (so they don't cook). Beat in eggs one at a time.

Place on a greased cookie sheet aproximately 2 inches apart. Squish down any points. Bake for 25-30 min. without opening the oven.

Makes 12.

While they bake make the chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Chocolate Sauce:

Melt 6 ounces of good chocolate (we have an on-going feud in our house of milk v. dark, but agree on Ghirardelli) and 1/2 cup of water in a heat-safe pan over simmering water until the chocolate and water are combined and y
item, if you have a fast mixer.

Profiteroles:

Cut the cream puff shells in half, place a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom half. Place the top half on top, cover in chocolate sauce and dollop with whipped cream (or use a pastry bag and tip to make it pretty, as I did).

And there you have it, a dessert so good you won't believe it.

Thanks for coming to visit Derrick and Carrie! And for anyone else who's been contemplating a visit, I hope this tempts your tastebuds.

Lake Mille Lacs Part Deux

We headed back to lake Mille Lacs while Joe's parents were visiting. This time we drove all the way around the lake, stopping for garage sales and view points. We attempted a hike but the bird-sized mosquitoes scared us off for now.

We also returned to the giant guided fish. Then stopped at roadside Happy's for some ice cream. If you're headed up I-169 I'd recommend a stop; they have outdoor and indoor play areas, a basketball court and, right now, bunnies!

Spring-time garden planting

Don't let the sweatshirts and winter hats fool you, it's spring. We were down at the Walsh Farm for Mother's Day where Truman got his first taste of wagon rides and good old Southeastern Minnesota soil.






















Truman training for the hands free phone usage portion of the Microsoft customer support training test:













More garden:








































As if we hadn't worked Josh hard enough in the garden:




The diaper Houdini strike again:


(notice he also has a phone in his hand.)