Back in December I was introduced to a photo sharing website supported by Twin Cities Public Television called Capture Minnesota. It’s in similar style to Flickr but different in that it focuses solely on photos taken within Minnesota. The overall goal of the project was to collect the best of the best images of Minnesota and use them in a book to showcase how awesome our state is. Users are encouraged to comment, vote “Dig” or “Nix”, Love or even critique each others work.

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Add to Cart

Add to Cart

After reading the terms and conditions I’ll admit I was a little leery of my work being used by TPT and CM at their leisure, but ultimately decided to go with it and support public television in what little way I could. With +15,000 users, it wouldn’t hurt to promote myself a little bit as well.

The guidelines were simple: Your photos must be in MN, and you must be the photographer. After checking that I met all of the criteria I started uploading some of my work. not knowing what to expect. I was surprised by the amount of feedback I received almost immediately and realized that this was a group of people that not only loved to shoot, but loved to interact and see other people work. I feel like it being restricted to a specific region aids in this, unlike Flickr which has little restriction and has seemed to turn into a dumping ground for 40,000 image catalogs. Capture MN has quality.

The end result was the book, which was released at Barnes & Nobel last weekend on the 21st. Awards were given, the Editor’s and Cover choice were announced, and everyone finally got to see which of their images had been published. Up until this point you only knew that you had at least one chosen image, but how many or specifically which one(s) were kept secret until the release.  It added to the excitement.

I was really happy to contribute, and even happier finding out that not only one, but three of my images were chosen for the book. One was even used as a full page spread which was pretty cool. The book itself is hardcover with a classy dust jacket and is wonderfully laid out.

Congratulations to Craig Marble and Andrea Herman on earning the Cover and Editor’s Choice shots, they both capture the essence of Minnesota perfectly.

A big thanks to TPT for putting this together, it was fun contributing and I hope you make a go for Volume II. For those who have not already ordered their own copy of the book you can do so here. If you haven’t already signed up for the site, please do so and start contributing!

For anyone wanting a frame ready print, I’m offering a special on the 3 images that made the book, shown at the top of the page.

About a month ago I was able to make my first trip to a foreign country where I couldn’t read or speak the language. Luckily enough, I was visiting my sister who is finishing up her two years with the Peace Corp so I enjoyed the language barrier.  After all the flights, layovers, and train riding my favorite destination in the country was the town of Bansko, home of the Pirin mountain range.  It was a 5 hour train ride each way, but being the first time in the mountains where I’m old enough to appreciate it, made it all worthwhile.

We stayed at a hotel just walking distance from the town’s center, where a good portion of our time was spent sipping on Coke, exploring the shops, or being coerced into one many of the restaurants.  Our plan was to hike in the Pirin National Park but was easily foiled due to it still being ski season. We were able to take the gondola up to the ski lodge, but there wasn’t much to see aside from the skiers.

As night fell and the stars came out, I tried to set up a long exposure shot as the fog was moving in over the mountain tops. It made the peak tough to see but it’s still just visible.

Even with a population that exceeds 13,000, it had the feeling of a small town with friendly people, and a view even the birds enjoy waking up to.

The North Shore winter was fantastic as usual, with it’s sub-zero temperatures and every changing scenery. I didn’t spend as much time out as I have in years past, but I feel like when I did get out nature was always good to me. There was plenty of ice, snow, and dramatic skies.

In February I was fortunate enough to have my own display at the Duluth Photography Institute, for what I consider to be my first serious showing. I’ve done plenty of group events, which are fun, but it was extremely satisfying to have an entire half of a gallery all to myself. Thanks to everyone that was able to attend while my work was up, from the first people in to the  kids from work that waited until the very last minute before tear-down, I appreciate your support.

June brought the beginning of a record number of art/craft shows for me in one year. If my counting is correct, I had 10 shows and it all started with the Park Point Art Fair. This year I decided to get a little more serious with my display and ended up building my own carpeted walls. What a pain to haul around, but they sure look and work great. A well deserved thank you to my wife for always helping with show set up and tear down, as well as religiously proclaiming “Free cheese curds all around” after my first sale of each show. I suppose I should give a shout out to our Border Collie Ace as well, his dog head lured in many attendees at the outdoor shows and I probably owe a few sales to him.

September brought an end to one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever faced. After 26 months, my wife’s brother Shane was finally released from prison in Tehran after being detained for an alleged illegal border crossing. Nicole and I are finally able to live our lives without the added stress, and as we see fit; not having to plan and schedule around never-ending meetings, interviews, conference calls and the like.  Thanks to the courageous Masoud Shafii, my friends, family, and strangers that stepped up and helped end this chapter in our lives. Onward…..

The Year of the Rabbit ended with a bang. I was able to do four shows in four weeks, the highlight being the end-of-the-year event at the Duluth Photography Institute with fellow bro-tographers Shawn Thompson and Travis Melin. As great as the December shows were, and as awesome as Christmas always is, my favorite moment was being able to see my wife not only graduate from college as a certified massage therapist, but to also see her receive the “Most Inspirational Student” award as voted by her peers and instructors. It was much deserved, and I can’t think of a time when I prouder. Congrats, Nicole.

I already have several goals in mind for the new year both photographically and in my personal life; the only one I’m going to divulge right is to be more regular with my blog posts. With that said I’ll leave you with some of my favorite shots from 2011.

Nate