Capturing my love for Minnesota

My husband and I moved from Georgia to Minnesota in August of 2024. We landed in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, right next to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Recently we moved to a bigger place in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis and love it dearly! We have fantastic neighbors, there are some really lovely and interesting shops (like Belle Weather and Love Token), as well as amazing places to eat (like Rincón 38 and Clancey's). Best of all, I can walk to all of them!

There’s so much I love about it here, both in regard to the Twin Cities and Minnesota in general. So much so that it feels like I’ve rewritten this post 52 times! Originally I was going to try to talk about why we left Georgia and what brought us to Minnesota but damn… there are so many reasons and does it really even matter?

The Twin Cities and Minnesota as a whole are so beautiful. The people, the places, the nature–the list goes on. The city skyline excites me, the fall colors leave me in constant awe, and the snow makes me giddy. All I really want to do is share with you some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken since moving!

The camera: I've been shooting photos with the Fujifilm X100V for over 2 and a half years and it’s hands-down my favorite camera I’ve ever owned. I’ve owned point-and-shoots, DSLRs, and mirrorless SLRs. I’ve also always loved the experience of shooting 35mm film on older SLRs. After a trip I took to the desert, I really wanted the intentionality of a 35mm SLR (setting up a shot with purpose, thinking about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc., and not having to edit photos) combined with the relief of not having to think about which lens to use, and the solid feeling of using a well-built mechanical device. I still use my Nikon FE 35mm SLR! But I decided on a Fujifilm X100V because it has all the mechanical-feeling controls like aperture, shutter speed, EV, and ISO; a fixed lens takes away the stress of deciding and swapping lenses; plus with the “recipes” and general image tuning you can do in-camera I rarely have to edit my photos to feel like I got something good. It’s my bestie tbh!

Franconia Sculpture Park: About an hour north-east of the Cities is this sculpture park with 100 sculptures. It's been around for 27 years and is open all year! It was such a fun time just wandering around, chatting with my friend April, and taking in the interesting and wild sculptures. This was so sick. Would recommend.

I'm obsessed with Fall...

...but even more obsessed with auroras. I had never once seen the northern lights until one night when two of my coworkers texted me and told me to go outside and look up! Lo and behold there they were! Faint, but still present, right above my home in the city. The next night I went out to Big Marine Park Reserve, about 45 minutes north-east of home, and got these shots. Without a doubt I'll be chasing the northern lights for the rest of my life.

Duluth: Since the day we stepped foot in Minnesota, everyone and their mama wants to tell us about Duluth, Minnesota! So this Thanksgiving we took a trip up and stayed in an inn right on Lake Superior. Here are our favorites from the trip!

• Va Bene for Italian food
• Enger Park and Enger Tower
• Lester Park
• Dovetail Cafe & Market for coffee, food, and local goods
• Aura Eye, a vintage/retro shop with some cool modern items too
• Goat Hill World Market is next door to Aura Eye and has a really rad and diverse selection of food items

Have some free shoe pics lol. So often when I go out to take photos I take a photo of where I'm standing during a really good shot. Why do I do this? Who knows. But honestly they end up being some of my favorite shots!

So there you have it I guess! I love it here. I don't imagine I'll ever move away from the Twin Cities. It has my heart in such a big way. 💗

Until next time, I love you! (Also signup for the newsletter! A new one is coming very soon about my everyday carry bag and items!)