All I know | Woodbury, MN Portrait Photographer
As a creative Minnesota photographer, I love connecting with my clients, both with personal branding portraits and general portraits, to get an authentic image. Do you know what else I love to connect to? Music!
Music is another creative way to connect. Singing, songwriting, photography…these are all expressions of feeling or of being. Literally giving a voice on things so many of us feel but can’t quite put words to.
I love music. It’s melody will make you want to dance during the best of times and it also sees us through the worst of times. (And I love that song by the artist, P!NK, called That’s All I Know So Far which is why I chose that for my title of my blog post. I take ZERO credit for her message but love it.)
I can still recall the amazing days of yesteryear when I was in choir at South St. Paul High School with Ms. Beth Preston as my choir director. Best. Choral. Teacher. EVER. She brought out the best in us kids back then. She was definitely a light that knew how to help us reach our inner high notes!
I don’t know if I can still read sheet music (nor do I think I ever really could that well). I love singing. I wish I did more of it. I still sing sometimes. I was doing karaoke a few years back, but Covid really put a kabosh to a lot of those types of outings…I haven’t ventured back into it. (see a candid pic of me below) But I still belt out a song here and there on my own. And it makes me feel good.
Me singing like 10 years ago.
Here’s what else I know. When I think about it, music has gotten me through A LOT of emotionally charged times in my life. I know I’m not alone in that. Think of those late 80s-early 90s Monster Ballads. All about love and heart break, I mean perfect for the teen years, right?! Singer-songwriters are an amazing group of individuals out there with a unique gift and I am so grateful they honed-in on their talent, because wow. The words to some songs out there - touch all of the feels.
As I get older, I find I’m drawn to all sorts of music styles, paying attention to how it makes me feel, how it makes me think, and really listening to the beat to where that leads my soul. I’ve also realized many of the artists I grew up with are getting older and not performing as much, and so when they go on tour, I have this fear that if I don’t go, I’ll never get to see them perform. (can you say BUCKET LIST?)
I was lucky enough to see the legendary Mick Mars still perform guitar on tour twice with Motley Crue before he had to retire due to his health. (or whatever the controversy is. Either way. I got to see him live!) Nikki Sixx is also one of my favorite artists…he is also a creative marketing genius and a photographer.
These two images were from my cell phone during their summer 2022 rescheduled tour in MN at Target Field. They toured with Def Leppard and Joan Jett, and those guys were also awesome to hear.
Speaking of which, do you recall “back in the day” when a certain song would come on the radio in your car or wherever you were and you’d either scream or freak out and turn the volume up? Yes. Glorious! Nostalgia. I absolutely love that feeling to this day. When thee song plays on the airways - I’m crankin’ up the volume!
Well, thank you for listening to my randoms. Thank you to the musicians and song writers of the world to have a gift to share with the rest of us.
Until next time,
Fondly,
Monda the Photographer
