Greetings from Beyond the DMV

While our website normally focuses on people, sights, and events from the Washington DC metropolitan area, this week we are catching up with three photographers who used to live in our area but have since moved to more northerly climes, New York State and Minnesota to be specific. Brenton Davis, Stacey Lewis, and Lorie Shaull share some of their work and observations from their new locales.

Brenton Davis

[Editor’s note: Brenton is writing from Rome, NY. Brenton’s surreal photos are created from images he’s taken combined with his creative phone editing skills – making them much more personal and complex than AI-generated photos]

I found leaving DC to be both exhausting and liberating.

It was extremely hard to learn how to slow down.

If not for the virus, I fear I may have returned too soon.

Now, I am thankful and making art every day, and, am incredibly grateful for that.

DC will always be my home, but, sometimes you have to jump from the nest and trust your wings.

©Brenton Davis

©Brenton Davis

©Brenton Davis

Stacey Lewis

I was born and raised in Schenectady, NY. My hometown is in eastern New York, near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. It is in the same metropolitan as the state capital, Albany, which is about 15 miles southeast. Schenectady was founded on the south side of the Mohawk River by Dutch colonists in the 17th century, many of whom came from the Albany area. The name “Schenectady” is derived from the Mohawk word skahnéhtati, meaning “beyond the pines” and used for the area around Albany, NY. You may remember the movie The Place Beyond the Pines with Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes; it was shot on location right here in Schenectady. My parents were so excited because, up until then, Schenectady was mostly known as the HQ for General Electric and, in the late ’80s and early ’90s, for being the “Compton of Upstate, NY.”

I have many fond memories of growing up here. People were less in a hurry, we played outside all day in the summer, rode bikes, swam at the local pool, and only had to be home when the street lights came on. I wouldn’t say Schenectady is a small town, but in many ways it felt like it. After living in the Metro DC area for the past 20 years, I returned home after the sudden passing of my mother and it was definitely culture shock. I miss the diversity and activism of DC. I could get in my car (or Metro) and in 1/2 hr be right in the thick of the action. Not to say there aren’t great things about coming back home – smallish towns do have their advantages – but I miss the hustle and bustle of our nation’s capital.

Here are some photos I’m happy with since I’ve moved back home to be the primary caregiver for my grandmother (she’ll be 100 in April!!).

Lorie Shaull

I’ve been living in Minnesota full-time for a bit over 5 years now. My partner Tresa, who grew up in Northern Minnesota, and I originally intended to get away from the DC heat and spend our summers here. Oh, those wickedly steamy DC summer days! I have memories of heading off to work and standing in a packed Metro car in a damp, sweaty shirt with the occasional mild panic attack when the car went dim and stopped moving (remember ismetroonfire.com?). 

Our Minnesota summers grew into fall into winter. Tresa thought she was doing me a favor when she warned we should leave after the holidays because of the unbearably long, cold winters. But to me, a thick, dramatic blanket of snow seemed the most enchanting and intriguing season of them all and she agreed to rough it out for the sake of my curiosity. 

Winter explorations began to include winter activities like ice skating, cross country skiing and fat-tire winter mountain biking. Tresa indulged me in my winter curiosities and I threw boiling water in the air on subzero days to watch it turn into snowflakes, pounded a nail with a frozen banana, blew soap bubbles that turned into lovely crystal balls and even made an ice sword!

Minnesota winters are the best! Yes, some subzero days can be finger biting freezing and breath-taking cold but finding ways to get out to explore the dramatic magic often brings joy and exhilaration in the accomplishment. I take a certain amount of pride in knowing how to prepare and have finally found the right gloves for photography (battery-operated liners with chunky batteries that last for hours). 

The season I miss most are the beautiful spring days in DC when the cherry blossoms look like poofs of cotton candy. Sitting on the grass under those clouds of pastel pink is a favorite DC memory. I seem to have traded wandering through the museums on the mall for wandering in the northern woods but those daffodils and wisteria in DC can’t be beat.

Following is a little collection of photos from some of my winter explorations in Minnesota with a couple from nearby Wisconsin.