At the Mall

On a recent photo walkabout, Dan, Mitch, Mickey and I captured the Christmas displays at Mall of America.

Elf Land

Mickey , Dan, Mitch and I were photographing Christmas displays at Mall of America



"Hey everybody, over here, it's Santa!"



"Dangit, I broke my candy chain!"

Deer Hunting

"Shouldn't we be wearing blaze orange?" the woman says to me as they pass by.  I reply, "Don't worry I won't shoot you."   Well, I did, photographically speaking.



I went deer hunting with my camera at Coon Rapids Park Reserve.  I saw a nice 10 point buck, but he wanted nothing to do with me.  The doe's on the other hand seemed more sociable and wanted to pose for me.  Isn't that the way it typically is?

Stand By Me

The morning Mitch and I went searching for the NorthStar Commuter Rail Line and reminded me of the movie Stand By Me. It was an adventure being chased down by a freight train on the bridge. OK, we weren't really chased down, there was a wide platform area a safe distance away from the tracks. But care was taken to remain a safe distance away. In the movie, the 3 kids were looking for a dead boy; we witnessed 3 opossums crossing the rails at a very wrong time. Creepy similarity. After our brief detainment by the transit authorities for being at a place where we shouldn't have been, we met up with Dan to further the days adventure.

Breakfast at Hell's Kitchen downtown was disappointing; over priced and lack of substance. I've been more satisfied with a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, a mixing bowl, and a carton of milk. However, second breakfast at Macy's Skyroom on the 12th floor made up for the poor first breakfast. Yet the adventure continued.

Have a look at Mitchster's PoleCam tm in action, the last venue of our adventurous day.

Color Format

The color of autumn enhanced with an off camera flash.

Color Me Graffiti

More graffiti seen along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Lasagna

For all you foodies out there. Last weekend, I made lasagna to accompany a bottle of Gabbiano Chianti Classico, ceasar salad with anchovies. (You can not have a ceasar salad without anchovies, it's a faux pas).

Both images were taken using an off camera flash. I am using the Cactus V2s radio slave set; about 1/5 the cost of the Pocket Wizard.

View from the 10th Avenue Bridge

Blacktop Ribbon



Downtown Minneapolis and the 10th Ave. bridge over the Mississippi River as seen from the Northern Pacific Bridge No. 9 walking bridge.


10th Avenue Freeze Out
Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band

The Long & Winding Road

There's nothing like the feel of the wind rushing through your hair. Or the heat of the sun bleaching the gray into a silvery fox color. That's why I bought a bike. No, not a Harley Davidson, though I wish I had one. I'm talking about my bicycle. Zipping up and down the hills of Elm Creek approaching the hairpin curves in the woods. I hit the brakes hard and skidded to a stop. Twice I did this to capture the curving path through the woods.

Complimenting White

Pod seed explosion



Frost, not snow. Although snow will soon accumulate.

Retro Red

Happy to see this old scooter on the road. We are seeing more scooters on the road; many shiny new models. However, I prefer the old classics like this one.

Season's First Snow

2



October 12th, 2009, the first snow of the season and the leaves haven't completely fallen from the trees. We may be in for a long long winter.

Christmas season is also upon us. Costco, Kohl's, and Hallmark have had their Christmas displays up in their shops since early September, shortly after school started. It is no wonder I hate shopping, we're subjected to blatant marketing campaigns. Sadly, this Christmas Consumerism Campaign lasts 3 months. Merry Retail Sales and Happy Corporate Earnings.

Miss Monarch

Monarch Tea



Butterkite

Finally the hyper stimulated, over caffeinated butterfly took an all but brief rest on the flowers in our neighbor's beautiful garden. She was gracious enough to allow me to intrude and chase Miss Monarch throughout her flower garden. Abby, their little terrier kept me company on my endeavor to capture these images.

I 35W at Night

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 5
Av( Aperture Value ) 11.0
Metering Mode Partial Metering
ISO Speed 100
Focal Length 33.0 mm




Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 8
Av( Aperture Value ) 16.0
Metering Mode Partial Metering
ISO Speed 100
Focal Length 47.0 mm


A group of us, Mister MB Photos, Mitchster, Just Roaming the Cities, Snapshutter, and Beat of an Eye, and I spent a Thursday evening wandering around the north side of the Mississippi River. Eyephoto met us, but he had prior commitments at the State Theater.

I am amazed at the attention that we drew as we wandered around with our cameras and tripods. There were many inquisitive people asking about our group and had a nice conversation with a gentleman near the pavilion on Nicollet Island.

Further into the evening, the best quaetion asked of me was, "are you taking pictures?"

(Naw, I just enjoy lugging my camera and tripod around for the fun of it.)

Note the star effect on the street lights on the lower image. This happens when using a more narrow aperture, f11 and up. Here I used an f-stop of f16 for deeper depth of field and more vivid color rendering. The number of points to the star is determined by the number of elements that make up the aperture opening in the lens.

It's Over

The waning light of summer
Vivid colors of autumn
Summer's last sunset

Sadly, this is the first day of autumn; summer is officially over. As the summer sun sets, we anticipate a glorious season of autumnal colors. Then that white crap falls from the sky.

Bugging Flowers

Have you ever tried shooting a butterfly on a windy day? Not an easy task. These over caffeinated creatures are a nervous lot as they never really sit still for long. They constantly flutter around, sometimes circling no particular place two or three loops before flitting off out of sight.

This handsome beetle knew he was photogenic. Unlike Miss Monarch on a caffeine bender, he stayed put showing us his colors.

Zinnia Zen

Our neighbor here in the north metro, has such a lovely garden that I had to interrupt her day to ask to shoot her flowers. Happily, I was allowed and spent an hour chasing bees and butterflies in the flowerbed.

More to come later, enjoy this Zinnia Zen for today is a great day; the day the children return to school! We now shall enjoy peaceful evenings while the kids tend to their homework and school schedule curfew.

Have a care while driving, children are out walking to and from the bus stop and after school activities.

Color of Red

Scenes from the Warehouse District in Minneapolis

Lost?

No, we're on Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis.

Zooming in on Gameworks on Block E

New Photographer

My 11 year old niece has shown great talent in art and school. She also has shown an interest in photography by watching me with my camera. She wants to get involved and will tell me what to take a picture of and from which angle of view.

So last year, for Christmas, I bought her a Canon point and shoot camera. Now she can shoot what she wants. (hopefully in the future she will stick with a Canon DSLR camera so I can borrow her camera equipment)

On a recent family outing, she forgot her camera and wanted to take pictures of the puppy she fell in love with. Mrs. DL lent our camera and these photos were the pictures our niece captured.