Kent and Laurie Anne Runge feel blessed to be residents of Otter Tail County Minnesota. Laurie grew up on a farm south of Glenwood, Minnesota, and Kent grew up in a suburb south of Los Angeles, California. They met in Grand Junction, Colorado, where Laurie was exploring the possibility of living in the mountains she dreamed about and Kent was hoping to escape the hectic lifestyle of Southern California.
After ten years of living in Western Colorado, Laurie learned that though the mountains are wonderful to hike, backpack, camp, ski, and four wheel through, nobody but millionaires can afford to purchase land there and Kent discovered that nearly everyone else from California had moved there too; so they spent a month traveling all over Minnesota and Wisconsin looking for a new place to live that would be quiet, beautiful, affordable, and have a “real winter.
After spending a week in a borrowed cabin on Star Lake and exploring Otter Tail County in October of 2000, they both fell in love with the beauty of the area and the rural, friendly atmosphere. They sold their home on a lot in Montrose, Colorado, and moved to their home in the woods east of Erhard, Minnesota, on January 3, 2001. A year later, they purchased their first canoe, joining many fellow Minnesotans in the quest to enjoy the beautiful lakes and streams.
Kent currently makes a living as a Services Coordinator for Synstelien Community Services in Fergus Falls, which provides residential care for people with disabilities and Laurie stays at home to focus on marketing and selling their photography as well as producing the mountain of paperwork needed to accomplish an international adoption.
Kent first became exposed to photography through his father and grandfather at about the age of ten. By high school he was involved with both the newspaper and yearbook and had built a home darkroom with the help of his grandfather. While still in high school, he graduated from the Nikon School of Photography and Weston’s Zone System Workshop. Two of the heroes of his youth were photographers, Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell. In the late 1970’s Kent contemplated a major in photography but “fell back on psychology as the “safer career track.
Kent “shelved photography for more than twenty years but after reading What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles, The Call by Os Guinness, and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, he decided to pick his “art back up. Something had been missing.
On September 26, 2003, Kent picked up his new Canon A70 and wandered into the woods to find out if he still “had it”. When he downloaded his photographs to his computer he was stunned at what could be accomplished in the digital medium and, at that moment, left film behind. In the two years since that day, Kent and Laurie have created over 10,000 images together and have recently begun using a Nikon D70 SLR for capturing digital images. Currently they use PhotoShop Elements for image processing and an Epson R200 for printing their photographs.
Laurie’s fascination with creation allows her to “spot the subjects that Kent photographs and her eye for color and symmetry helps Kent with his composition. Together by Design, they are a team…Laurie the spotter and Kent the photographer. Most of their images are found while canoeing or simply hiking or exploring the back roads of Minnesota in their truck, packed with camping gear and loaded with their exploration toys.
As you view their photography and read their writings, it is Kent and Laurie’s hope that you become as delighted as they are by the intricate detail of our surroundings; that you realize it was designed with your joy in mind; and that you join them in thanking the true Designer of all you see in their photographs.
