After my long weekend with STREAM Girls, I was absolutely exhausted. I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30!
Luckily, I woke the next morning refreshed, and I was able to help Brian work on our new back deck- I was using power tools and everything! My mom would be so proud. 🙂 Our deck is really coming together! I can’t wait to have dance parties on it and do yoga and feed my friends.
We took a break, cleaned up, then ran up to Wausau to celebrate Father’s Day with my mom’s family, and I gave some special love to Grampie. ❤
I started the next week with yoga with Carmel, back up at CSY. It was their four year anniversary, so they had a little party, and brought in a photographer. I love these images! Thanks to Miranda Photography for capturing our sweaty, happy selves.
Whenever I leave a hot yoga class, I have a total new sense of purpose and lots of energy! It seems counterintuitive, but yoga makes me feel more productive (and happier!) for the rest of the day… and it was made even better when I heard through the grapevine that the northern lights were going to be active Tuesday night. The Aurora Borealis is notoriously fickle and hard to predict- when the best experts attempt to predict it, sometimes it’s not visible, and sometimes they don’t predict it, and you can see it with the naked eye.
Several times, my shooting attempts have been foiled by clouds- it was predicted, and appeared, but I couldn’t see it through the overcast skies. I saw the forecast, and I was a little excited, but as sunset approached, so did a storm. It rained from 8-9:30ish, and I thought for sure the clouds would be in my way. I sat down and watched the 10:00 news with Brian, and kept anxiously peeking out the window every five minutes, until I finally decided to head out around 10:30 and give it a go.
My first stop was a short drive away, at Sunset Lake. When I got there, I wondered if the park was closed, since it was dark. I hoped not, since the gate was open, and I drove down to the water’s edge. I pulled out my tripod, and my camera, and the bug spray, then got set up. My eyes had finally adjusted to that extra-black-feeling darkness of playing in the country late at night, when a boat showed up. They were fishing with a giant light in their boat, and I knew it would be hard to work around their light as I was setting my exposure to the skies… and just when I thought I better shoot fast before they entered my frame, they shone their light right at me on shore, and I could no longer see anything. 😦 It’s a good thing that I know my gear like the back of my hand, so I could operate it without actually looking at the buttons and dials.
As soon as I set up the tripod and camera, I knew I wanted to be lower to the ground to get the angle I wanted. I sat down in the soft earth next to the water, and before I knew it, I could feel the warmth of the recent rain seeping through the fabric of my yoga pants. Oh, well… I guess that’s a sacrifice that I had to make to get these shots.
I love that the big dipper was so prominent! I was only shooting there for about 15 minutes before I packed up and headed home. I wanted to go to the river’s edge in my neighborhood to capture just how truly beautiful Stevens Point can be. This image was taken three blocks from my home, in Bukolt Park. 🙂
The next day, I charged my batteries, grabbed clear memory cards, and headed down to Madison to meet Amanda and Mark for their engagement portrait session. We had such a fun time! We started at the Capitol…
…then wandered to Monona Terrace…
…and we ended the shoot with a walk down State Street to the Memorial Union, where they had their first date, quite literally on that wooden bench!
Congratulations on your engagement, Amanda and Mark! It was wonderful to work with you, and we can’t wait until your wedding next year! 🙂
The weather has been so beautiful that I’ve been really enjoying my runs. One of my routes this week wound through campus to the track and back, and I was reminded that, indeed, it is a great day to be a Pointer!
I recovered from my run with a green smoothie on the back deck. It’s coming along, and I’m so excited!
As always, thanks for reading, friends!
Miles this year: 298.1
artist & athlete | a glimpse into real life, Heidi style 