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Pictures reflect a fact of life and that fact will live forever. This is the dedication of Marian Segersten of Crosby, a retired media specialist who can now totally focus on her creative photography. “I love taking photos and have a camera with me most times. Sometimes I feel like the camera is part of me!” she smiled. Growing up near Blackduck, Minn., Marian’s first photo as a child was taken of the real “Blackduck.” One of her best memories was developing a 4-H photography project. Back then one of her favorite cameras was a black and white Polaroid. Remember those? For 28 years Crosby-Ironton media specialist Marian taught students a wide variety of projects and really enjoyed learning online to teach them how to creatively edit digital photos. Digital photos armed Marian with a new technique which incorporates a
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WINTER 2012 | her voice
Once a media specialist in the Crosby-Ironton schools, Marian Segersten is now a photographer in her own right. A photo of the Crosby serpent (top left) sent to the Brainerd Dispatch was the start of her business.
vast variety of styles. Nature and landscape photos became her favorite category but she says, “Yes, there is a toss up between general outdoor photos, flowers, arboretum gardens and people.” The Brainerd Northland Arboretum is one of her favorite photo locations. Now that she was not in a classroom, Marian is everywhere taking photos during each season. (Yes, she appreciates spring: “It’s fresh and new, a rebirth of life.”) Walking up the Pennington location outside of Ironton provides many photo options. “Being on the Overlook recently I saw the huge mess from the rain but it was also awesome to see the nature, trees just hanging off the side of the hill.” Photographer Marian has been scheduled to take pictures at many events including the Mountain Bike Festivals, Spring Chamber Dinner and this year’s C-I Pageant. Over the past four winters she also took
Christmas in the Park festival pictures in Crosby. (Enjoying that event, she reminds us that camera batteries drain faster in cold weather.) Now Marian is our teacher: “Cloudy days can be one of the best times to take outdoor pictures. But I also like seeing the sun reflections in the water (especially on the clear mine lakes). Misty pictures are fun because they cause a muted background!” “After downloading photos on your computer, name and date each picture for your future use, crop and delete pictures you don’t like to save room for more photos,” she continued. “Edit for correct lighting (Marian uses Adobe Photoshop Elements) and color tones…and always remove red eyes which I told my students was so fixable!” Certainly we can often print photos on our own printer, send it in to local businesses