This project is my conversation with an old friend that I am only now starting to understand. I grew up in a tiny, central Minnesota town with a population that teeters at 554. Many would recognize it as Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon region. I moved back to Minnesota this year after being away for almost a decade.

That time away helped me appreciate all the things I took for granted as a kid. Little did I know that having cattle graze in your backyard wasn’t normal for most people. This project has been my way of reconnecting with a place I only knew as a child and young man. My time away has brought me a greater appreciation and understanding of my state. My childhood memories now serve as sparks in helping me rediscover a state I once again call home. The people and places I’ve photographed are helping bring my understanding of Minnesota to something that goes beyond only my eyes. No longer is it only a fragmented childhood memory.

By shooting film and using my Hasselblad I’ve been required to slow down and observe my home state in ways I never have. I stare and patiently compose thanks to being a bit older and wiser. Through my camera I’m immersed in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

In the end this project is my reunion with a state that I left, but that never fully left me.