EVERYDAY LIFE presents snapshots of ordinary moments worthy of documentation. So, when I’m out and about in public places, I look for those unique storytelling moments. To capture them with my camera gives me a sense of satisfaction. To share those images is to share a slice of life.
Defined, this is candid street photography. People just going about their daily lives when I take a photo unnoticed. I’m always respectful in my photography, often opting for side or back images. Occasionally I ask for a posed portrait. But my preference is always natural, unscripted.
Recently, upon a return road trip from Rochester, Randy and I stopped in small town Kenyon to shop at a downtown thrift store. But before we could even exit the van, I noticed two guys across the street standing by a mid-1950s International Harvester Farmall tractor chained onto a trailer.
I can only guess at their conversation. Perhaps they were bartering over a price, talking repairs or reminiscing. But the scene was so typical rural Minnesota. Guys dressed in their work-worn jeans (one with suspenders), sturdy work boots and everyday shirts engaged deep in conversation. Only their seed corn caps were missing.
The scene was decidedly different in Faribault the next evening. While attending Car Cruise Night, two Somali women crossed my path on Central Avenue. I smiled and greeted them as they continued down the sidewalk. They carried textiles similar to those I’ve seen in storefront windows of some local Somali-owned businesses.
I appreciated the moment because the women reflect the cultural diversity of my community. The demographics of Faribault, of Minnesota, have changed a lot in recent years and I’m happy to showcase that in my work.
Some 135 miles to the northwest in Willmar, I once again saw the cultural diversity of a city which is home to many Latinos and those with East African roots, especially Somalis. A short walk and drive about the downtown confirmed that.
While photographing an artsy street bench, I encountered a young man sitting on a large planter box. I noticed his patriotic-themed shirt featuring a liberty bell against a backdrop American flag and the message, Let Freedom Ring. “I like your shirt,” I said, as he pulled out his ear buds and then invited me to take his photo. I jumped at the chance to photograph him, creating a memorable portrait. He reflects the diversity of his community. And his t-shirt made a strong statement about liberty during this, the 250th birthday year of a nation built by immigrants.
Up the road some 20 miles northwest of Willmar, I took a street portrait, literally in the street, outside the Kerkhoven Civic Center. The building houses city hall, the library, a heritage room and a community gathering space. It’s just down the street from an ice cream shop along busy U.S. Highway 12.
After enjoying bowls heaping with scoops of key lime pie ice cream and maple nut ice cream from Sweets Ice Cream, Randy and I headed for the van. That’s when I saw a guy leaving the civic center with a crockpot in hands. I stood in the middle of the street—you can do that in Kerkhoven, population around 800—and took his photograph.
If anything says “Minnesota,” it’s a potluck. I didn’t track the guy down to ask if he had any leftovers. I wasn’t hungry after eating all that ice cream. But I was delighted to photograph him in this signature Minnesota moment.
Candid street photography tells a story within a moment of time. History. A record of everyday life. And when I can snapshot that, I feel a sense of accomplishment because I’ve documented a moment worth honoring, worth sharing, worth much more than a thousand words.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Politics, passionate voices & peach pie at a potluck September 9, 2025
Tags: America, Ben Schierer, commentary, democracy, DFL, DFL Garden Party, freedom, Martha Brown, Matt Little, Minnesota, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, Minnesota Senator Erin Murphy, opinion, political candidates, politics, potluck, Rice County, southern Minnesota
MONDAY EVENING I GATHERED in rural Rice County with a crowd concerned about issues ranging from healthcare to immigration, agriculture, education, the environment, diversity, gun violence, the SNAP program, tariffs, voting rights, veterans’ benefits, the economy and much more. All current-day topics worrying many of us, including me.
I’ve never been politically active. Until this year. To stay silent now feels complicit. I care enough about this country, about freedom, about democracy, to let my voice be heard. I’ve participated in three pro-democracy rallies, including the NO KINGS Day Rally in Northfield and two on Labor Day in Owatonna. I’ve volunteered at a DFL Sweetcorn Feed in Faribault. I’ve donated to the DFL, called and emailed my legislators in Washington, DC. And Monday evening I attended a potluck, billed as a DFL Working Families Garden Party. This all from someone who previously voted primarily Republican. But no more, not in the past four Presidential elections or in some other past elections. I’ve always looked at candidates, their character and their stances on issues before voting. I still do, but party affiliation now matters to me, too.
DEEP CONCERN
At all of these recent events, I’ve heard—whether from politicians, candidates for office or ordinary people like me—a deep concern for our country under the current administration and those who go along with whatever our President says and does. This concern comes from good, decent people. Farmers, teachers, business owners, lawyers, blue collar workers, college students. People who carry crockpots of pulled pork and baked beans, bowls of creamy garden-fresh cucumber salad, peach pie and bars to a political party on a rural acreage.
As I sat in this bucolic setting Monday evening listening to short speeches from candidates like Martha Brown of Faribault, running for Minnesota House District 19A on the slogan of “Common-Sense Leadership for Working People,” or fiery Matt Little from Elko New Market who embraces the label of “radical” and who is running for Congress in the Second Congressional District or Ben Schierer of Fergus Falls, campaigning for state auditor and vowing to represent both urban and rural communities, I felt hope.
COMPASSION & HOPE
I felt hope, too, when I heard Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon talk about protecting voter information, voting rights and more. I felt hope when I heard Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy speak. As a nurse, her care and compassion for others threads through her speeches, shines in her political life.
Most notable in Murphy’s talk, at least for me, is the deep grief she feels over the politically-motivated assassination of her friend and colleague, Minnesota Speaker of the House Emerita Melissa Hortman and Hortman’s husband, Mark. The Hortmans were shot to death on June 14, the day I protested in Northfield, despite warnings not to do so. I refuse to be silenced.
Murphy spoke on Monday evening against a backdrop of American and Minnesota state flags and a banner of the Hortmans and their dog with this message: STAND UP FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE. She talked, too, about attending the funeral on Sunday of Fletcher Merkel, 8, among two students killed in a mass shooting that injured 21 others at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis on August 27. Justice. Peace. No more gun violence.
UNPRECEDENTED
I’ve lived enough years to observe that what’s happening in this country right now is unprecedented. I’ve never felt more fearful of losing our freedoms under authoritarian rule. It’s happening already with snatching people off the streets, imprisonment and deportations without due process. It’s happening in intimidation and retribution; mass firings; suppression of free speech; funding cuts that are undermining research, healthcare, education and more; gathering of private information by the government; sending armed military into cities; and in countless other ways that affect all of us no matter our political affiliations.
This isn’t about rural vs urban. This isn’t about us vs them. This is, rather, about preserving and protecting our very freedoms as Americans. This is about caring and feeling hopeful. This is about speaking up. About doing something. And sometimes this is also about eating pulled pork, baked beans, cucumber salad and homemade peach pie at a potluck on a beautiful September evening in southern Minnesota.
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© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling