#STdothis: Multimedia professor uses Instagram to striking effect

The world of creative expression got a little bigger when Dan Fergus discovered Instagram.

From painting to animation, the multimedia professor at St. Cloud State already was grounded in art-making with different media. In Instagram, he found another approach with which to "experiment and play," he said. Fergus initially was drawn to the aesthetic of filters applied to photos, giving them a vintage quality. Then he discovered a whole community of Instagrammers colored with a range of styles and approaches, he said.

His ever-expanding IG gallery (@danfergus), some of which he's shared with the tag #STdothis for the Star Tribune and Outdoors Weekend, is wide-ranging and arresting, and uses another canvas: the outdoors. Many photos, too, include two willing contributors: daughters Rachel, 19, and Eliana, 16.

"Now it's whatever I am in the mood to take a picture of or to share. It could be an abstract, still life or portrait," said Fergus, of Minneapolis. "I just love to surprise people."

Bob Timmons