Is it fall, or winter?

My last post (of long ago) talked about the pending change in the weather here in Minnesota, and now, about two months later, the change has certainly come. I was up in Fargo visiting friends last week (Andy and April - keep up the good work, you'll be doctors before you know it!) and it was nothing short of early winter up there...

I had flown up, and when I exited the plane, the jet bridge wasn't tight against the aircraft and there was a cold wind-a-blowin' - it was a bit of a shock to be sure. Soon enough I had on my jacket, and the cold wind that filled my lungs didn't seem quite so bad anymore. In fact, as I pulled on my gloves and hood (forgot the hat - not quite in the real winter mindset yet!), I couldn't help but get exited for the upcoming winter months.

I still hold onto the great (and sadly, unlikely) hope that this year, we'll have a proper Minnesota winter - you know the kind, right? With lots of snow and the good cold temps that have made generations of Minnesotans just a bit more, well, sturdy than our more southern brethren. We haven't had a really good winter since around 1997, give or take a year or so. But perhaps this one will be different, with fluffy white stuff up to our armpits and the occasional cold spell so crisp that it takes your breath away. That's winter, alright. I'm tired of this namby-pamby semi-winter business. I've got a down parka and I'm not afraid to use it!

Ah, winter...The season of the hardy - when cross country skiers wax up the old planks and head to the trails and ice climbers sharpen their ice axes, dreaming of that perfect flow. It's also the season when photographers like me pull out the cold weather gear and change all the batteries and start salivating over a winter full of great sports and the camaraderie that goes along with them all. There's the above mentioned skiing and climbing, but lets not forget winter camping, snowshoeing, snowkiting, ski-jumping (my new winter hobby), ski-joring and oh so many more. That's what I'll be shooting this winter, so check back often to see what I saw.

Regarding upcoming work, I'm happy to announce that I've been hired by Red Bull North America (you may have heard of them...I think they make some type of energy drink?) to photograph the Minneapolis opening of their 'Art of the Can' contest. I'm pleased with this opportunity to work with such a force in the alternative sports industry and am very excited to see what sculptors from around the country have crafted for the event. Additionally, the opening is being held at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota - it's an amazing building and should be a great night.

Just one last thing before I sign off - I've been using a great new service called PhotoShelter for the last few months. It's an online archive site which allows me to be able to upload my images to redundant servers on both the East and West coasts, thereby ensuring that even if I have a total system-wide meltdown of my computers and hard drives my precious images will still be safe, tucked away in some big digital vaults far far away. What it also allows is for me to access any of my images anywhere I have internet access which means I can respond to my clients needs more quickly - no more running home to get images off a hard drive. But maybe the best part of the whole deal is that I can now display many more images for people to view whenever they want. Most of the images are also keyworded, so searching for a particular sport or event is a snap. I'm in the process of moving many of my images to the site, and will continue to do so in the future. Please feel free to check it out at:

www.photoshelter.com/user/johnpedersen

Thanks for stopping by,

John Pedersen
Go Anywhere Lensman