Yesterday, Jordan resident Melody Monyok stopped by the office of your local newspaper, the Jordan Independent, to talk about and show me photographs of her church mission trip to Haiti. It is the second time Monyok has gone on a mission trip to Haiti, both times with Friendship Church of Prior Lake. This year, Monyok wrote this about the trip:

I have a lot of great memories and fun times in Haiti this
year.

Two of my friends from Mankato are the main photographers for the Free Press. These are annual award winners, fantastic photogs with keen eyes. I've learned a lot from them, but I can't do half of the stuff they can do with the camera.

Check out their favorite photos of 2007 at http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/mankatofreepress/flashpromo/slideshows/07_1230photogfavs/index.html.

Two of my photos are in the Star Trib today: Sports section page C6. They are with a story about Rushford-Peterson football and how they are playing despite Rushford looks like a warzone.

I guess there was a big storm this weekend. Maybe you heard it? I certainly didn’t.

Hey all,

I put together a portfolio of my recent work. I don't really know much on building one, but I figured I have to start sometime.

Here is a link to a website I have it on....

Do you flickr?
I do. Well I recently began to anyways.
Flickr is a photo sharing Web site for amateurs and professionals alike.
Check it out at www.flickr.com/.
It’s a lot of fun.

For some reason - for the last 2 months I haven't been able to get into this web site and see all the great photos everyone has been posting - I get the entry's in my email but have been unable to get

The Dog Disc Championship is my very favorite thing to photograph in Jordan.

We took a trip to Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks in late May. We were lucky enough to have two very different experiences for the week that we were there.

One of my favorite things about storms is the sky afterwards. I used my p&s to take these shots last night while sitting on my neighbor's front step.

My family and I took a ten day cruise back in March. Here are a few pictures I took in Manzanillo and Cabo San Lucas.

It's been four days in the southwest, but due to internet issues at the hotel last night, I wasn't able to post anything. It's too bad, too, because yesterday was pretty awesome.

I’m going to be going on vacation next week, and I’ll be doing a lot of hiking. Last time I went hiking with my camera, I carried a regular backpack and my camera pack over my shoulder.

Bon jour,

First off, it is hard to overcome the tourist in me and take amazing photos... at this point, I have just taken basic landscape and building shots to show what I have seen.

Attached below is an outdoors photography contest in which you might be interested.

One of the most difficult photography assignments for me is the ribbon-cutting ceremony. It's such an official event that it's often lost its uniqueness.

Does anyone else find it difficult to shoot photos in this weather?

I’m thinking of getting a new digital camera this weekend. I’m leaning toward a Nikon d80 – because then I can keep the lenses I have for my film camera.

Here are some shots I took during the April snow fall for a class assignment.

Enjoy.

Sometimes, in journalism, art goes by the wayside. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, the art in a newspaper has to send the message of the story.

I had an opportunity to take these shots today. Anyone care to guess how far away I was?

Hey, you should read about Andy Link in today's Jordan Independent.

Imagine photographing the only moments a person has to live.

Well, this group had died down a bit, but I'll keep putting photos up.

Hey all,

If any of you are interested, two of my sports photos of Winona State mens basketball are in the Star Trib's Sports section (Cover and inside cover page)

Why not make a regular online habit of checking the topics of the day in the Forums section of this Web site?

Here's a fun photo of a car buried in Winona.

The Webmaster for www.jordannews.com is constantly tweaking and changing things to make it easier for you to find news, to have discussions, and to have fun on this Web site.

So, I am in a gen-ed photography class that is extremely basic. Here are some of my photos from a recent assignment that was about visual elements and principles.

I needed to take a break from winter, so I visited the Tulip Show at the MOA this past weekend. Here are a few of my shots... Enjoy!

I've been meaning to stop out at Lagoon Park for a while to take a picture of the frozen falls. It was a little more snowy & frozen than I'd hoped today.

My showing for the January shootout was pitiful.

Take your camera with you this weekend and snap as many pictures as you can. Share them on the Jordan Independent Web site.

Believe it or not, it’s already the second weekend in January. Time certainly flies when you’re too busy to take a rest.

The weekend of Christmas, I went to my parents’ house to see family and friends in Platteville before I drove to my grandparents’ house in Sheboygan (about a three hour drive away). My family left Platteville the night of Dec. 23. I spent that night with friends and left the morning of Dec. 24. I wanted to get to my grandparents early enough to spend the whole day with family, so I left Platteville at about 7 a.m.

It’s been almost two weeks since the December shoot out, and I haven’t posted any of my pictures yet. There really is no excuse for that, so I won’t try to make one. Instead, we’ll just get right in to the nitty gritty of my photos:

I uploaded these images in a smaller format then the original. not wanting to waste anyones time waiting for them to download. If anyone thinks they should be bigger let me know. Still new to this and

My son got married in September and they asked me to do the photography for the wedding (along with being mother of the groom).
My nikon was in the shop for repair and cleaning but my friend Darryl from work lent me his identical camera (along with an extra battery and memory!) so the day was not lost.

All right, photographers. The third weekend of the month starts today, which means it’s time for a shootout. I was hoping there might be a little snow on the ground, to make the pictures a little wintrier. But I guess warm sunny days will have to do.

It’s the third weekend of the month, and time for another Photographers Guild shootout. Visit www.jordannews.com/node/620 to join the guild and find out more!

I typically don't like taking portraits. Mainly because I don't have a good eye to position someone and getting them to look comfortable. Dor a class last semester I had to take some portraits...

During the past year, the JI staff has taken many scenic shots of the Jordan area. I'm sure you have a few yourself.

Your local newspaper is looking for more scenic photos to go on the top of pages in the print edition. I'd love it if you'd post them on this site by creating a blog and adding an attachment.

Today was probably the last 50 degree day we will see for a while, so after I got up from my afternoon nap we headed down to the Minnesota River to get out of the house.

I rarely go anywhere without my camera ( a Nikon 8700 ).

For this first-ever shoot-out, I thought I’d have all sorts of great pictures. Instead, I found myself staying indoors for almost no reason. I did get out to snap a few pictures, though:

I started off on Saturday morning with an assignment for work. I had to take a few pictures for the Jordan Independent’s coverage of the Jordan area's Holiday Tour of Homes. The pictures "shootout8" and "shootout9" are from one of the homes. You can see more pictures in the Nov. 23 print edition of the JI.

How can I post pictures to share on the website? The only issue is that wont be of Jordan, but I'd like to share some good shots.

Thanks

For those of you that may not know me, I am Andrew (Andy) Link. I graduated from JHS in '03 and am now a junior at Winona State University. I am majoring in Photojournalism and will have a Geography minor.

The first in a monthly series of photography shoot-outs. Take your camera with you wherever you go, and take some pictures. Share those pictures with the rest of the Photographers' Guild on the

All right. I mentioned it in my last blog post, and I asked for suggestions and got none. Instead of waiting to hear when others think we should set a photography weekend, I’ll do it myself. I suggest this weekend as the first in a monthly series of photo shoot-outs.

Now that I’m a member of the photographer’s guild (which, by the way, is a great choice of name) I thought I’d share a little about my camera and the kinds of pictures I like.

I use a Nikon SLR 35-mm camera. I’m not sure just what the body type is, but it’s relatively new. I bought it new about four years ago. I use the lens that came in the start-up camera pack I bought, and a zoom lens my parents got for me as a college graduation gift.