Today I visited Gale Woods Farm, where I found a little of everything to photograph: livestock, landscapes, and of course, insects.

I took advantage of my day off on Monday to explore the St. Paul Brickyards, a.k.a. Lilydale Regional Park.  The park includes a nice (but short) hiking trail, a few waterfalls, and lots of fossils.  While it is one of the least photogenic places ever, it did have more spiders in one location than I have ever seen!  The skittish creatures were not used to company, however, and quickly dispearse; the extreme slope and soft soil added to the challenge (especially where changing lenses was concerned), but it was fun nonetheless.

I did get quite a few sweeping panoramics of the St. Paul skyline, and will post those when I have the patience to deal with them.

Here are some pictures from a great senior photo session.  Guys tend to be more low-key than girls as it is, but this young man was particularly good natured (and brought a few fun spectators as well), which made for a nice, relaxed photo shoot…Despite the fact that our location was swarming with people headed to a concert in the park.

This weekend, I took a trip to one of my favorite fields. What makes a field a favorite? Well, this one has a giant log pile that makes for a comfy, sunny reading spot, and is even better as a vantage point when deer come out to feed. While Bambi and friends were oddly absent that night (I’ve never before gone there without seeing at least one deer; usually there are upwards of twenty. Perhaps they too were up North for the holiday weekend), I found lots of bugs! When I leaned in to get a picture of a beetle, I looked up from my camera to find the giant spider inches from my face – good thing they’re docile. I did bring more ticks home with me though; boo urns on that account.

I had the pleasure of photographing this adorable little girl, Senja.  The only problem was that she did not like to look a the camera; she was much more interested in the flowers and fountains.  Still, I was able to get a few usable portraits.