Andrew A. Amundsen

In early 2016, after the death of my girlfriend, love and partner of 12 years to metastatic breast cancer, I made a sudden relocation to a third floor attic loft in a St. Paul, Minnesota neighborhood. During times of introspection and grief, adjusting to my new reality, I began making images from the skylight and other windows of my new rooftop views. It became a personal challenge to capture something different with each photograph from these narrow perspectives. A series developed from this daily practice of observation that I began calling my ‘Loft views’. Images mostly capturing the mood of the day’s light, weather and passage of time in these window framed landscapes.

June 2016

Spring break. My family wanted to go somewhere warm. Escape the Minnesota winter. We chose Los Angeles. Southern California, L.A., Hollywood, it’s warm there! As a nature photographer I wanted to find an exotic outdoor subject. The California guidebook showed Joshua Tree National Park close to L.A. Yes, the desert was perfect and unusual. There was even a photograph of the desert blanketed in fresh snow. Cool, now wouldn’t that be fascinating to see, I asked my family? Giving me a look as though I had lost my mind. Our trip was to abandon the cold and snow for a week, not wish for it! In L.A. we ‘enjoyed’ a streak of weather with high’s in the 50‘sF. Well, maybe we’ll find that warmth we sought in the desert of Joshua Tree National Park. On our drive there, when snow started falling at the higher elevations I secretly imagined that guidebook photo. I may just get my wish. The repeated bursts of snowfall and clearing we experienced while in Joshua Tree were a gift. The landscape is already extraordinary but adding that stunning, clingy snow to this alien land gave me a euphoric smile that no dispirited companions could extinguish. Ironically back in Minnesota they were experiencing a rare string of beautiful March weather as high as 80F. My family said Florida next time!