From the moment the music began the room started churning, mixing familiar faces with unfamiliar friends to create an air of acceptance and understanding.  Elbows, chests, fists, and voices all working together to express grievances both current and long forgotten.  I saw love, and it was aggressive.

Born on the banks of the Mississippi river, Lee’s family later moved to Minneapolis. Following the death of his father in a motorcycle accident when he was 12, Frankie immersed himself in the city’s music scene, appearing onstage with local heroes Slim Dunlap (The Replacements) and Curtiss A at the impressionable age of 14. After inheriting records and instruments from his father’s collection, Lee was – as he sees it – “taught to play guitar by a ghost”. He continues, “I was raised on stage. These guys would bring me into the clubs, sit me behind the soundboard and give me all the coca cola I could drink until they’d call me up for a song or two at the end of the night.”

This was my first year attending Country Fest. I was supposed to photograph the full festival but ended up having to leave early. However my first day was a blast! The stage had amazing production and the after party's were a lot of fun. It was great to see a lot of people I know as well as documenting some of there fest experience. These are photos from the Dierks Bentley show and the Yellow Bar party. 

Today I headed to Winona MN, to photograph some menu items for the Winona Family Restaurant. We had a total of 30 dishes to photograph and edit in a total of 4 hours. Cloudy skies gave us little to know room for error on this project. Before the shoot we stopped at the local Shopko and picked up some white bounce boards to insure that we would have enough light on all side of the food to make the food pop right off the page when printed.