Focus on Maple Grove

This picture placed first in the Activities & Events category for the 2018 Focus on Maple Grove photo contest.

It's that time of year again: The Focus on Maple Grove photo contest has returned for its 6th year of beautiful photos of our community. This photo contest, presented by Maple Grove Magazine, showcases the best photographers in our community—not to mention the subjects that give them inspiration.

We're looking for photos that show off the core values of Maple Grove in five categories:

In the 2015 Focus on Maple Grove photo contest, Kim Seeger won first place in the Pets category with this photo of her 3-year-old golden retriever, Levi. Last December, Levi parked himself in front of the oven in hopes of getting a delicious peanut butter cookie just in time for Seeger to capture the memorable holiday moment on her iPhone. Levi is often the center of Seeger’s photos as the neighborhood-friendly dog who loves sweet treats like peanut butter and ice cream.

The 2016 contest is now closed.

It's that time of year again: The Focus on Maple Grove photo contest has returned for its 6th year of beautiful photos of our community. This photo contest, presented by Maple Grove Magazine, showcases the best photographers in our community—not to mention the subjects that give them inspiration.

We're looking for photos that show off the core values of Maple Grove in five categories:

Every time she's near Weaver Lake Park, Mindy Gallagher is reminded of how grateful she is to live nearby. “We take a personal tone with the lake, we feel like it’s ours,” she says. When looking at Maple Grove houses five years ago, the Gallaghers found their current home. And while sitting by the lake, they noticed a big piece of wood at the shoreline. “One of my daughters picked it up and we took it home with us as a piece of art and a sign from this lake; we still have it,” Gallagher says.

Maple Grove Resident Adam Gallagher says he mainly focuses on documenting his life in photographs to reminisce down the road. Gallagher’s iPhone photo, Perfect Day to Fly a Kite, features his daughter Adelaene, now 9. Laid up after an ACL injury, he and his kids wanted to get out of the house so they took advantage of the nice, breezy day and went to Weaver Lake Park with their kite. “[After a while] my daughter got tired of hanging onto it so she went to hand it off to me, I fumbled and it just took off into the trees,” says Gallagher. “Every time we drive by now, we point and laugh.”

Mindy Gallagher has had a lifelong passion for taking photographs. “In high school, I took every photo class I could get my hands on,” she says. “My grandpa gave me his old film camera; it was a total amateur obsession with photography.” A Maple Grove resident of four years, Gallagher considers Weaver Lake a prime location for outdoor shots. She and her family enjoy running, walking, biking and nature in their own neighborhood.

Kaitlyn Walters has been part of the community since the age of 6. Recently married, she and her husband chose to stay close to home. When asked what she likes about Maple Grove, Walters explains the way she’s watched the community grow. “When I was a kid, it was a lot smaller,” she says. “I’ve been able to see everything bloom.”

Residing IN MAple Grove for 30 years, Kristi Bowman finds her photography inspiration on the trails at Elm Creek Park Reserve and in her own backyard flower garden.

Her photo, Finch, took second place in the Wildlife and Nature category and Bowman attributes the moment to chance. “Typically I scare them away when I come back outside with my camera, but I guess I got lucky when this one posed for me,” she says.

Welcome Back, Birds

For Chris Spah, daily work turned into a hobby. As a graphic designer, he is always using photos for the websites he creates. “I always need more photos than what is given to me, so I started [photography] in my free time and it turned into another type of art,” Spah says. He likes snapping pictures of what is around him every day, though he prefers nature settings to other photographic subjects, because he also has a passion for watercolor art, and he finds inspiration in the outdoors.