Click Here: The 5 Coolest Photography Spots in Greater Grand Forks

This past May, a Grand Forks resident and UND graduate named Vincent Ledvina was written up in Newsweek for a stunning graduation photo he took on the night of the lunar eclipse. Vincent stands in the dead center of the photograph, with UND honors and regalia around his neck and a blood-red moon hanging above his head. Vincent, who I know outside of Newsweek, is an extremely accomplished photographer. But taking photos like Vincent isn’t as hard as you might think, and Grand Forks has a ton of great photo spots to develop (pun intended) your skills. All you need is a phone (and occasionally a friend) to start taking amazing photos this summer. Here are five photography spots in Grand Forks and five skills to practice.

Enter the Greenway from 3rd Ave SE in East Grand Forks

Our first stop takes us to “Engagement Grove” in East Grand Forks. This place earned its nomenclature because of all the engagement photos taken there. Go at sunset and stand either on the Greenway path or up on the embankment. To take a beautiful photo of the trees and the sunset, turn your phone sideways and make the horizon (where the land meets the sky) go right through the middle of your phone screen. You want the horizon to be flat in the photo, so make sure it looks flat on camera. Now turn your body until the sun is about 1/3rd of the way away from the right or left edge of your photo. (You don’t want the sun dead-center.) When it looks good, snap a photo, and congratulate any newly-engaged couples you meet.

Start at 314 Kittson Ave in Downtown Grand Forks, walk north into the alley

You’ll need a friend and a sense of adventure for this one. Texture and grit make for beautiful photos, and the chipped brick and fading paint are like gold in Graffiti Alley. This means we’re going to take some portraits in the alley running between Norby’s Work Perks and Ely’s Ivy. (Grab a coffee at Urban Stampede or a slice of pizza at Rhombus Guys while you’re over there.) What you want is your friend to stand at least 7 feet away from a gritty, dirty wall. Next, put your phone in portrait mode and try to make any vertical lines on the wall look, well, vertical. You want your friend to be dead-center in frame for this. When the background is blurry (and straight), make them give you a smoldering look and snap a banger portrait for Instagram.

124 S 4th St, Grand Forks, ND 58201

Blurry backgrounds are fun, but now we’re going to learn how to make stuff blurry in the foreground (the area close to your camera). For this, we’re going to head to the beautiful courthouse on the southern end of downtown Grand Forks. When you get to the courthouse, look up and see the statue of Justice on the top spire. That’s what we’re taking a picture of. Now walk around and look for something to put your camera behind to take a photo. I used a tree. You don’t want to totally block the view, but you do want to have about ¼ to ⅓ of your picture filled with an obstruction. Click on your phone screen to focus on the statue of Justice and wait until the obstruction gets nice and blurry. Then, snap a photo!

Half Brothers Brewing 17 N 3rd Street, Grand Forks

Ready to play with your phone’s camera settings? Head into the dark at Half Brother’s for one of their underground shows, or go to Rockin’ Up North Fest after sunset. Or (if you’re patient) the Greenway Takeover Festival in the Fall. You want it to be dark and you want someone playing music with lights on them. Now switch your phone’s camera to “pro” or “manual” or whatever mode allows you to change things like shutter speed and ISO. We’re going to set the shutter speed around 1/50 – 1/100 of a second, and we’re going to increase the ISO (basically your camera’s sensitivity) to 3200 or 6400 – whichever looks better. Then use all the skills from our previous photos (keep the horizon flat, have a blurry background or foreground, pay attention to what is in the center or on the edge of the frame) and take as many photos as you can of the concert. You’ll probably get a great shot and a better memory.

Find a dirt road outside of town

Time to meet Vincent out in Greater Grand Forks. For this you’ll need a tripod or a phone stand to keep your phone still while you take the picture. We’re going to photograph the moon (and maybe you). Using everything we’ve already learned, try to recreate Vincent’s photograph. Notice how the horizon is 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom. Notice how the moon is 1/3rd of the way down from the top. Notice how he stands dead-center. Turn your camera’s shutter speed down to ½ or 1/3 (maybe even as low as a few seconds, if your phone allows), and put it on the tripod. Make sure everything is lined up. And snap a stunning photograph worthy of making Grand Forks famous.

I know I’m ready for Fall to come and can’t wait to explore all these activities! Hope you guys are just as excited as I am!