Big Changes...

Greetings all,

It's funny how much things can change in a short amount of time - I thought I'd seen some big changes in my life, but they were nothing compared to the last few months - and we're just getting started!

The main catalyst in all this flux has been the great news that my wife Maisi has been accepted into a graduate program for vocal performance (opera) at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore MD. The Peabody is a part of Johns Hopkins University, and is an absolutely top-notch program. For aspiring singers, it's a bit like making it into the big leagues in baseball.

Needless to say, while we're ecstatic that Maisi's been accepted to such a great school, it has been a bit stressful getting everything set for our big move to Baltimore. We've found an apartment, gotten funding for school figured out, reserved our U-Haul truck and started packing...Oh yeah, and I've gotten a new job.

Yep, after four + years as a freelance photographer, I've gotten a "regular" job. Actually, I'm extremely fortunate to have been approached by a great company that I've shot for for a couple of years - they were in need of someone to help them with the more creative aspects of growing their business and I was thrilled to oblige. I'm the communications coordinator, and I'm responsible for everything from overseeing the redeployment of their website to writing press releases and much more. I've been buried pretty deeply for the last two or so months, and I've got a long way to go before I'm caught up, but I'm really enjoying my new job. Maybe the best part is that I'll be able to work from home in Baltimore. It's the best of both worlds - I get the security of bringing my job with me, and the excitement of living in a new city.

Also of note, I've decided to undertake a new sport. I'm joining the novice class of the Baltimore City Rowing Club. The class is six weeks long and teaches newbies like me the basics of rowing in it's various forms. I'm very much looking forward to learning this sport, and hopefully being able to continue on to become an active member of the club. I think it'll be a great way for me to meet some new people and also to get back into better shape. Having a set schedule for this exersize will certainly help me stay more committed.

At any rate, I'll post a few shots below if I can dig some up. I'm still shooting, just not as much as in the past.


The two above are from Sarah and Tanner's wedding in Brainerd, MN. I can't say how much I enjoyed being a part of this wedding - it was one of the most meaningful, spirit-filled and downright fun weddings I've been involved in. I'm looking forward to getting started on putting together Sarah and Tanner's album - I think it'll be a good one!


These two are of our friend Erin and her daughter Mary. Erin was here to practice with Maisi for her upcoming recital and it was such a nice day that I suggested we take a few pictures in the back yard. Mary is a very cute kid, and probably one of the happiest little ones I've met.
This one is of my biggest supporters, and also my dad, Darrell. He's a pastor in the Brainerd area and has been working on his writing career as well. This shot was to accompany his bio in an upcoming issue of The Lake Country Journal, a beautifully done magazine that concentrates on Minnesota's lake areas. Dad's been published in the LCJ a few times before, and if you're a long-time reader of this blog, you might remember that I've been published in the LCJ as well.

My background in photography is pretty closely tied to shooting sports and news, so I always enjoy getting the chance to shoot for the paper that got me started - the Brainerd Dispatch. I often joke that I'm the "Twin Cities Bureau" of the Dispatch - over the past few years I've shot a lot of state tournaments for them, and this spring I spent a few hours at the state track meet. It was a stormy day to start but got really nice in the afternoon. I'll miss shooting for the Dispatch...

Well, OK. Here's a few.

So, it's been a while. Quick update:

Moved.
Traveled a bit.
Got tired of another weak winter.
Shot some cool stuff.
Started exploring some new avenues.
Went skiing in Colorado.
Visited friends and went skiing in Norway. (More on this later, I think.)
And a few other things, too. Of course.


This was shot while climbing late at night with my buddies Andrew (belaying) and Mike (climbing). What a fun night...Hope to do more of this, but I'll have to hurry.


Played with a little lightpainting while up in Sandstone MN for some ice climbing.


My old "T-Square Derby" partner from our college newspaper (and his wife, of course) had a brand new baby boy. These are his feet.


I shot this one of Trent and Laura at Como Park. They were really fun, and thier wedding was great too...I'll post some from the wedding soon.

Holiday cards!

Greetings all,

I wanted to post a note and let everyone know that I'm now offering some really cool holiday themed greeting cards. There are a variety of sizes and templates available, from 5x5 tri-fold to 5x7 flat and folded, and many more. Each set of 25 cards are beautifully printed on a selection of paper types and include envelopes for mailing. I'll post a few examples below:










The above are all the front sides of 5x7 cards. I'll try to post some of the other formats and sizes as I get a chance.

If you're interested in doing a really cool card this year, please let me know!

Thanks,
John.

National Geographic Adventure - Check it Out!

Alert: The following contains some tooting of my own horn...You've been warned.

A few months ago, I received an email inquiring about the use of some of my images to illustrate an article - not too uncommon, really, though I pretty much fainted when I saw the suffix of the email address - "@ngs.org" - as in National Geographic Society. Yep, that NGS. I kind of thought it might be a joke, since at least one of my friends has emailed me pretending to be a big-time photo buyer (and really, what else are friends for?), but it turned out to be legit. After looking through a few archive galleries, the woman at Adventure picked out the photo above, taken at the 2006 Mille Lacs kite crossing. Cool! It's funny though, because of all the shots she looked through, I wouldn't have guessed this would be the one they'd pick. Maybe it's that foreboding sky, or the vaguely "Fargo" nature of the scene, sans chipper-shreader.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad to have the image in NGA, and glad to have made another contact in the business. Even though it's a pretty small deal in the grand scheme of things, it's nice to know that I've met one of my goals, i.e. being published in an NGS publication, and not just published, really - that's nice, and certainly a plus - but the best part is knowing that in addition to having the shot run, I was fairly compensated for my work. That's a good thing indeed.

Thanks for reading!
John.

A word of thanks to my teachers and coaches...

The following is a letter I drafted in response to the failure of my home school district's referendum last week. I typically wouldn't use this, my business blog, to address matters of politics or the like, but I feel very strongly about the situation - strongly enough to put my feelings out there in the public eye.

Because this referendum failed, major cuts will have to be made by the next school year, including the following:

75 teachers will lose their jobs.
Two elementary schools will be closed.
18 0f 29 school league sports/activities will be cut.
Most (if not all) Advanced Placement classes will no longer be offered.
All junior high sports will be eliminated.

Obviously, this is a very big deal, and I'm at a loss for words that my former community wasn't able to recognize the importance of supporting our schools, teachers and administrators.

Without further ado,

I've been watching the buildup, and fall-out of the recent referendum question with much interest, albeit from a distance here in Minneapolis. I grew up in Brainerd, and benefited greatly from the wide variety of programs that used to be offered by the Brainerd School District.

So I suppose it comes as no surprise that I'm saddened by the "no" vote. Frankly, I'm more than sad - I'm crushed.

I'm not crushed specifically because the referendum failed - in all truth, as I watched the results come back on www.brainerddispatch.com I was pretty proud of my hometown, if for no other reason than the massive turnout. I wasn't happy that the referendum looked doomed from the start, but as I learned a long time ago in advanced placement American government and AP American history, the beauty of our democratic system is that all the people are entitled to their own vote, regardless of whether I not or agree with it.

I just hope that the kids who don't get a chance to take AP government and history are able to pick that up somewhere, because I think it's pretty important.

Mostly I'm crushed because when these cuts are made, it's very easy for me to see nearly everything that I excelled at in school disappearing. I don't look at those programs as cushy extras when I reflect on my high school time, rather as the building blocks for who I am and what I do even now, nearly ten years after graduating from Brainerd High School. Because I can imagine how difficult a time this is for those folks who've built their lives around teaching other people's kids I thought I should pass along some thanks to those who lent a hand to me along the way.

Thank you to Mr. LaShomb and to the Fifth Street Journal - it was in this class that I discovered my love for news photography. That's a "frill" that stuck with me, as I now make my living as a freelance photographer. I'm not rich, but I love what I do, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

I really hope this class doesn't get cut, but I'm afraid it will.

Thank you to Ms. Carder and Mr. Thompson for their work in the outdoor education program, which was a part of the physical education program at BHS. It was in these classes that I learned to safely rock climb and rappel. I couldn't have known it at the time, but the knots, tips and safety procedures I learned all those years ago have been the foundation that allows me to photograph not only rock and ice climbing, but whitewater kayaking and several other sports as well. I'm able to set my work apart from my competition because I have the skills and knowledge to safely and effectively work and play in a very unique set of circumstances.

I really hope these classes don't get cut, but I'm afraid they will.

Thank you to coaches Meyer, Lyscio, Humrickhouse, Ratzloff, Hanson, Herath, LaShomb and any others I may have temporarily forgotten. These amazing people put in nearly endless hours coaching and supporting myself and my teammates in nordic skiing and cross country running. I wasn't big enough for football and I couldn't dribble a basketball to save my life (still can't!) but I could run and I could ski, and they taught me to be better at both. I made great friends that I would never have met in the classroom and I learned to push myself beyond where I thought I could go. Through these non-traditional sports I found athlete role-models that didn't get arrested for drugs, didn't serve time for abusing other people and weren't solely motivated by huge sums of money.

I really hope these sports don't get cut, but I'm afraid they will.

Thank you to Mr. Hunt and Mr. Razidlo, in whose offices I spent quite a bit of time. Not because I was in trouble, but because somewhere along the way I figured the school could be doing a better job with recycling all the cans and bottles produced by thirsty high schoolers. For a while there I became a pretty regular visitor to the offices of the Principal and Assistant Principal, as I lobbied to have proper recycling bins added to our hallways. I'm not sure if they thought it was a really good idea, or if they just wanted to get some work done without me always dropping by - whatever the reason, the recycling bins showed up and were nearly always filled to the brim. Thanks also to the custodians who took on the extra work of emptying them.

I really hope the public can begin to appreciate the difficult job our administrators and staff face everyday and stop complaining about them making a decent wage, but I'm afraid they won't.

Thank you to Mrs. LaShomb and Mrs. Niemi, who taught AP literature and composition. The lessons I learned in those classes helped me to do better in college than I had in high school. Being able to clearly and emphatically articulate my feelings in writing and speech is probably the best gift I've ever been given, and it serves me well to this day. Knowing a little bit about good books has helped a bit along the way too. Although I must admit with a heavy heart that it once inspired me to become a thief. I believe it was in AP Lit that I was assigned to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I loved that little book - so much so that when it came time to turn them back in, I stole my copy. I've read it several times since, and while I'm not too proud of my actions, I have a suspicion that my teachers will forgive me - they're good people like that.

I really hope these classes don't get cut, but I'm afraid they will.

There are literally hundreds more that I should thank, from the support staff to the bus drivers and the coaches to the lunch ladies that had an immeasurable impact on me and lots of kids like me - so to all of you, I say thank you. Thanks for all your work and all your sacrifices. You are not forgotten, and I deeply regret that I wasn't able to cast my vote in support of the fantastic work you all do. If it was up to me, I would gladly pay more taxes to support you, for after all, you support our future.

Sincerely,
John Pedersen
BHS Class of 1998
Minneapolis, MN

Not too many words, just some photos...

As the title implies...

Bad A** Joe, and More to Come!

Just for fun, and because I haven't updated in a LOOOOONG time, here's a couple of shots of my buddy Joe. Joe and I go way, way back - junior high, actually - and he's frequently aparty to my crazy schemes, zany ideas and wild hares. Joe's recently acquired a new motorcycle - a hog, to be fully accurate - and we shot a few photos the other day. Well, first, we met for lunch at our standard spot, and because I had walked there, and he had ridden his hog we "car-pooled" back on his bike. Let's just say that we probably looked a little, um, silly on the short ride back. Neither of us is a little guy, and the bike is not huge, so we were pretty friendly. ANYWAY, we got back to my place and I conned him into a little portrait shoot. He wasn't too stoked for it, so I suggested he keep his "armor" on, and really - I think the glasses add to the shot. This is Joe with his tough face on. Below, the man and his machine. It was a fun afternoon - thanks, Dude!
John.p.s. - I've been shooting lots of fun stuff lately, and I promise to get a fair amount of it up here on the 'ol blog. Thanks for stopping by!