While camping in Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Kurt and I went and explored Dog Canyon in the Sacramento Mountains. We thought it would be a good setting for a UFO crash scene. This scene was directly inspired be an artist illustration of the debris field from 1947 and Kurt felt compelled to recreate his own version of the events.   

One morning we set out in the backcountry to shoot the scene.The sky was partly cloudy and the air was cool. It took us a very long time to navigate the prickly cacti and razor sharp thorn bushes. Eventually we found a wash that was conducive to our miniature photo shoot, the soil was sandy and free of bushes. 
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Kurt started to arrange the scene. I had to get really creative about how I would photograph Kurt because there were some challenges I had to deal with such as uneven terrain and tight spaces. Not only did we get some good images, we got in a good hike as well!

Kurt and I were excited to get back to the White Sands, our favorite National Monument! Our last visit was in 2014 so Kurt was eager to return and get started on his new series revolving around UFO and monsters.

We are currently camping in Oliver Lee State Park, a small park on the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains with sweeping views of the valley. From our campsite we can see the town of Alamogordo, the White Sands, Holloman Air Force Base and part of White Sands Missile Range. On occasion, we can even hear missiles being detonated on the range miles away from us. 
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The day Kurt got the shot with the UFO, we were fortunate to have a sky filled with contrasting clouds. After a quick lunch near the dunes, we got our gear ready and hiked up the first mound expecting to see rolling dunes. Instead, we were overlooking picnic shelters and a road, not exactly what Kurt had envisioned as a backdrop for his scene :) We decided to get back into our van and drive further into the park to seek out a more natural environment. 

We finally found our spot and Kurt worked on flushing out his idea. His original thought was to have a lone UFO fly over the dunes, in time he inserted a figure into the scene to add to the story.

As far as the weather was concerned we could not have asked for better conditions: the air was still, the temperature was comfortable and the light was soft and warm. The added texture and colors in the clouds added drama and energy to the final shot.

Here comes our biannual update ;) This winter, Kurt and I will focus our time and energy on our Un Petit Monde project, we plan to spend a few months in New Mexico. On a recent visit to Roswell (the site of a UFO incident in 1947) Kurt got inspired to photograph a series involving UFOs. ​

We spent Christmas in Minnesota with the family where we endured frigid temperatures. When we drove south the frigid air seemed to be following us! As far south as Amarillo, in the Texas panhandle,  the temperature plummeted in the teens overnight; we woke up to freezing fog.

These past couple weeks, Kurt and I have had a lot of joy recreating scenes from "the past" staging Civilian Conservation Corps workers, lumberjacks, etc. 

We learned a few things in the process:

- Most iconic buildings and structures in State and National Parks were built by the CCC boys (Civilian Conservation Corps)

- The original visitor center in Gooseberry Falls (built by the CCC) was still in use as late as 1996!

- The CCC program ran from 1933 until 1942 and no other federally funded program has been created since that rivals it both in its scope and degree of accomplishments.

- the North Shore's popularity is not new: visitors and outdoorsmen have been enjoying the area for over a century much like today

- Heavy logging and even farming used to take place in the Northland and large areas were depleted of their trees and left bare: CCC replanted many trees in the 1930s and brought back the landscape we enjoy today.

Looking at what the CCC's legacy: why couldn't there be  a mandatory program that would put the youth to work for a set amount of time on projects that up the quality of life for all of society? These young people would learn a trade of their choice, gain much needed life experience and the hours put in would pay for their college education! ​

...if you live in St Paul or in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you can find our Un Petit Monde postcards or Children's book at:

Corazon , which means "heart" in spanish, is our favorite place to shop for great gifts in the Twin Cities. The items there are unique and locally-made but most importantly the owner (Susan) and her staff are kind and really love art! Go check out this gift shop if you haven't already, there are two locations: in Minneapolis on Lake St. And Marshall and in St Paul on Selby Ave. and Mackubin next to Great Harvest Bread.

Sixth Chamber Used Books is located on Grand and Hamline Ave. a block from Kowalski's. There is also a sister store named Fox Den in River Falls, WI. The two book stores combined contain more than one hundred thousand titles, that's a lot of books!

The used book stores I'm familiar with smell mildewy, are dim-lighted and cluttered. Sixth Chamber is far from that description. In fact, it feels more like a small library: the aisles are narrow, full of books mingled with puzzles, stationary and a sizable collection of toys, educational toys.

James, the owner,  is a really great guy but in our opinion " Jem " is the star of the place. This litte dog was so friendly to everyone stepping into the store that Kurt had to take his picture. It seems that book stores like these are becoming increasingly rare, which is a shame. If you prefer real books (not digital tablets) go to either Sixth Chamber or Fox Den and lose yourself for an afternoon!

We used to spend entire afternoons reading books at Common Good Books when they were located beneath Nina's cafe on Selby and Western. That was part of our routine when we lived in the Cathedral Hill area years ago. They are now located on Snelling Ave and Grand next to Breadsmith and you can find a copy of our Children's book titled "Welcome to the Small World a Book of Big Surprises" :)

Kurt and I are happy to have been included in the June/July issue of American Craft magazine! Our Un Petit Monde project was mentioned in the Collective Unconscious Department among other artists working in miniature scale: Peter Fritz, Ayumi Shibata, Yelena Synkova, Sean Cummings, and Matthew Albanese...nice!

When Kurt photographed the man and his bicycle standing in the road and flagging down a vehicle, we were right on highway 74, outside of Palm Desert. The area has drastically changed since the movie was filmed 54 years ago. Instead of a dusty, barren desert, it's now  lush and developed.

I can't believe 6 months have passed since our last update. Kurt and I have kept busy for the most part with a little idling in between. 

During the summer, Kurt and I hosted various family members and friends at Gooseberry Falls where we campground host. We made our Barebones wall tent into a cozy cabin complete with inflatable queen size bed, reclining chair and mini fridge. Some of the activities our guests enjoyed included hikes in the woods, agate hunting on the beach, chatting around the campfire and touring the shops and the eateries along the north shore.

Early fall, we published our third postcard set titled: the American Southwest. Kurt designed the postcard set to look like a miniature magazine with each title describing the postcards inside the set. Our collection of postcards photographed in a handful of National Parks happens to coincide with the National Park Service 100th anniversary!

We spent a couple weeks in the Twin Cities and then headed to the Southwest for the winter. On our way to Death Valley we made stops in Arches, Bryce and Zion National Parks. While in Utah, we also made a quick stop to see dinosaur tracks just outside of Arches. Before we knew it we were back in Las Vegas and it felt as if we had never left.
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Kurt and I are currently volunteering in Death Valley National Park, photographing for the park. Here are a few photos of our travels and our work in the park:

Kurt was commissioned by Entertainment Weekly magazine to photograph a beach full of miniature people lounging in front of giant books to introduce the Summer’s 10 biggest reads. (June 3/10, 2016 p. 72-73)

DAY 1
It’s mid-day, we finally found the beach we were looking for. Kurt took a quick test shot on the edge of the lake and confirmed that it was the right spot. We propped up the books on the sand as close as possible to the edge of the water so that the lake would show up in the photo. Occasionally a boat would trigger a series of waves but fortunately none were potent enough to soak the books. 

Kurt positioned the miniatures to make up several story lines and proceeded to photograph for the next several hours. Unfortunately we were facing a couple major challenges: for starter, the sand was too dark and too coarse so the miniatures did not show up very well. Also, the books were casting a shadow onto the scene and there was nothing we could do about it. After struggling all afternoon, Kurt admitted that it would not work and we packed it in for the day.  

DAY 2
We woke up early with high hopes and ready to do good work. At 10 a.m. we were back on the beach and had it all for ourselves. We propped the books up in the sand and Kurt sprinkled some medium grain sand onto the foreground. Kurt worked on creating a beach scene, arranging the HO scale figures to create new story lines. By the time we were ready to shoot, the sun was practically above us, illuminating both the books and the miniature scene. Somehow, clouds managed to show up at the right time to complete our beach scene. We were very happy with the end result!