Let's GO! • 2025 Greatest Hits • Deb Haaland for Friends of the BWCA magazine • Sir Elton John and Chris Tucker for the Starkey Hearing Foundation • The Birds of Longfellow Gardens featured essay Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine • Editorial Work for the Family Housing Fund and the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless- Rochester Civic Center • portraits for Dodge Nature Center Staff

All birds were photographed using my Nikkor 400mm f3.5 lens (sometimes with a 1.4 teleconverter). The lens is manual focus , so I needed skill, patience, and luck to get these captures. It’s also possible the birds felt sympathy towards my predicament. Special thanks to Tom Connor and Paul Helgeson.

This 9 page spread started as a passion project and a lens test.

At some point- creative collaborator, Jon Maichel Thomas exclaimed, “Hey man- why are you sending these dope bird pics to me? Submit them to MCV or somewhere!”

With that nudge, I did just that. I was happily surprised when Art Director, Lynn Phelps, responded. I thought they’d be impressed by some of my bird pics from far away destinations. I was surprised to learn that my favorite neighborhood wetland, the Longfellow Gardens, was a place they wanted to feature.

MCV Writer and Editor, Keith Goetzman, interviewed me by phone. It was a blast talking about my Close Encounters of the Bird Kind. I just made that up.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2025/jul-aug/longfellow.html

• Rosie Johnson •

Dodge Nature Center, November 2025

Rosie is the Communications Associate at Dodge Nature Center. She has a lifelong passion for protecting nature and educating youth.

This new portrait series features conservationists and educators photographed in the areas that they work in and protect.

My goal is to create lush, immersive images that invite the viewer to experience not only the portrait, but the place as well.

https://www.dodgenaturecenter.org/