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Minnesota Drone Video: Sheep at Xcel Energy’s Sherco Solar Project

  • bengarvin
  • 14 hours ago
Hero clip: Waves of wool under solar panels at Sherco Solar

It’s not every day your drone flight plan involves nearly 2,000 sheep grazing across about 1,500 acres of prairie under solar panels. When I arrived at Xcel Energy’s Sherco Solar site in Becker, Minnesota, I was instantly surrounded by the white fluffy things. If I moved slowly, the sheep would wander right up: babies, grandmas, and every personality in between.


As a Minnesota drone video specialist by now, seeing everything from the air was really quite spectacular. The herd flowed in slow, amoebic waves of white dots below the blue solar grids. The symmetry of metal and motion felt almost choreographed and made for some of the coolest drone shots I've shot to date.


I’m proud to partner with Xcel Energy on storytelling like this. Across Minnesota, Texas, and Colorado, they are phasing out coal and investing in solar, wind, and nuclear energy, with Sherco growing toward one of the largest solar sites in the country at about 710 megawatts. In truth I was anxious about working with a big energy company. But seeing their sustainability work first-hand, including this grazing partnership with Minnesota Native Landscapes, helps me feel way better about our partnership. They're doing smart innovative things and reducing carbon emissions in cool ways. I'm on board.


Here's the short piece from Xcel (they edited this one internally):



If you’d like to see another Xcel Energy collaboration, check out my earlier post about creating a video story at UW–Eau Claire’s Sonnentag Center.


learn more:

Minnesota Housing: A Short Documentary on Home and Hope

  • bengarvin
  • 7 days ago

What an honor it was to learn about the history of Minnesota Housing and the vital work they do to help folks across the state find a place to live. It was especially inspiring to work alongside Commissioner Jennifer Ho — a leader who’s helped build a state agency that listens to everyone’s voice and ensures people feel seen and supported.


A couple of years ago, we produced a 45-minute documentary for Minnesota Housing highlighting the agency’s long-term impact on families and communities statewide. The film celebrates the dedicated staff members behind the mission, as well as the Minnesotans whose lives have changed because of their work.


Since then, I’ve continued collaborating with the team — including just yesterday, when I photographed hundreds of new staff portraits. I love this kind of work: helping people relax in front of the camera, lighting them like movie stars, and celebrating the humanity and pride behind public service.




Below: a looping GIF of some of my favorite portraits from that day.


A looping GIF of smiling Minnesota Housing staff portraits by Minneapolis documentary photographer Ben Garvin, shot with cinematic lighting.


More Minnesota Stories

If you enjoyed this story, check out Finding Manoomin — another Minnesota-focused documentary project we created for MPR News. It explores the sacred connections between people, water, and the wild rice that defines so much of Minnesota’s identity.

A Scripted Campus Tour Video for Macalester College (11 minutes!)

  • bengarvin
  • Oct 1

This was a long one: an 11-minute Macalester College video production that takes viewers on a full tour of campus. The video covered so many corners of Macalester, from the Macalester Observatory to student living spaces, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, dining at Kagin Commons, and even the athletic fields.

While my passion lies in documentary video production, I also love taking an institution’s ideas and goals and making them happen through scripted work. Projects like this let me lean into those skills — planning, scripting, and executing a video that captures the essence of campus life.

The most fun (and most challenging) part was working with students who had very little experience on camera. It took a lot of takes, but they brought so much energy and personality to the project. My favorite moment comes right at the end of the video, where I slipped in a fun outtake.

Macalester students are among the smartest and friendliest student bodies I’ve ever worked with, and projects like this make me excited to keep coming back. I look forward to sharing more higher education video projects soon — alongside the corporate storytelling work we’ve been doing with clients like Xcel Energy.



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