Street Music

OK, 3 for today, and only for today.

Schmidt Music Wall on North 6th Street. Schmidt Music relocated to Brooklyn Park, MN, but the wall is still maintained.

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 59 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Building view of the old Schmidt Music building.

Indoor stairwell across the street from Schmidt Music Wall.
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 76 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Black and White

Edit:

Much thanks to Abraham Lincoln for identifying this bird as the "Black-and-white-Warbler.

This cute little bird was tough to photograph. It rarely stood still long enough for me to get a decent photo. I wonder if Abe Lincoln can identify this little guy.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest at Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit in North East Minneapolis

Polka inside the beer tents

Four 1/2 litres of Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfestbier

Plenty of polka waltz dancing on the dance floor.

Tableside music while we dine.
http://www.gasthofzg.com/Platters.html

Empty Space

A study of emptiness.

Guitar Hero

Who's ready to play Guitar Hero?

Hard Rock Cafe' Minneapolis is across North 7th Street from First Avenue , seen in the background, on 1st Avenue.







"Guitar" from Prince's album Planet Earth.

Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Drive Thru

The street seems to pass thru the AT&T building to the upper floors.

Exposure: 2.5 sec (5/2)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Street Market

Fresh home grown produce and stand on the Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis.

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

AT&T Tower

Close up views of the AT&T Tower - downtown Minneapolis

This is the same tower shown in yesterday's post, Black Tower. I find this intereting how the glass panels change colors throughout the day.

Blue Tulip
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Squiggy

Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 79 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Black Tower

Saturday night downtown.

This is the AT&T Tower across the street from the Foshay Tower.

My neighbor MB and I drove to downtown Minneapolis to meet up with Just Roaming the Cities , Mr. J, Snapshutter , and Mitchster for an evening photo walkabout. Most of our time was spent up on the observation deck of the Foshay Tower. We witnessed and captured stunning views of Minneapolis and surrounding areas. The smells of greasy cheeseburger and fries filled the observation deck from the kitchen grease trap as we composed our shots. This proved taxing as hunger quickly set in. We decided dinner and drinks were the much needed remedy. We dined street side at the 8th Street Grill. I recommend their Reuben sandwich.

Thanks to Just Snapshutter and Just Roaming the Cities for putting this together and suggesting the Foshay Tower observation deck.

Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Two Things Challenge - Product / Label

Gold Medal Flour is the flour of choice for many of us local bakers. Gold Medal Flour is a label I look for and a product I use for baking the artisan style breads I have posted here before.

If you are interested in baking, check out the links below.
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/questions_and_answers/bread_questions/ingredients/
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/

My Cardamom Braids, similar to my Grandmother's recipe, made with...you guessed it, Gold Medal flour. Almost like my Grandmother used to bake. Almost, but not quite. She had no formal recipe, it was all in her head. A few scoops of flour, a pinch of this, a dash of that. And somehow her cardamom bread was fantastic. I do need work on my braiding skills.

Another Minneapolis icon on the Mississippi River is the Gold medal Flour mill. Now it is in ruins, devastated from a fire. This is the red sign seen on the header page up top. Except shown above, this sign is off, the backside sign is illuminated and reflecting in the river.

This week's 2 Thing's Challenge is Product / Label brings us to the Hennepin Ave Bridge where this sign can be seen. Of course I have used this image from a similar shot back on January 31. This billboard has been standing here since 1940 in honor of the beer that was brewed here.

Why am I repeating this image? Three reasons;
1. I enjoy this icon of Minneapolis.
2. I really enjoy the colors.
3. After this ongoing media circus behind the real American Idol two years of un-ending hot air election campaigning nonsense, I'm going to need this product. 44 days left of this tiresome blitz, I don't think there is enough beer to ease the pain.

-

For more information about 2 Things Challenge;

http://2thingsphotochallenge.blogspot.com/

Misty Waters

Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories...
OK, that's about enough sap for me. How about you? Teary eyed, yet? I know I am, I'm not a big fan of Barbra Streisand, not a fan at all. It's a nails on chalkboard thing.

Anyhoo, I typically type what pops into my head. And while I was photoshopping this photo into black and white, for some crazy reason, Baba's tune "The Way We Were" popped into my head. Must have been the memories of summer at the lake. Memories of summer that is turning to autumn. Misty colored memories of this past season of the way we were.

Here I was messing around with both the ND2 and ND4 filters stacked onto my lens in the bright morning light. I wanted to lengthen the exposure. A fast shutter speed would have stopped the wave action crashing into the rocks. With this longer exposure, I created a misty look that adds interest to this otherwise unimpressive composition. The longer exposure gives a sense of emotion, don't you think?

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure

Tv( Shutter Speed ) 4

Av( Aperture Value ) 11.0

ISO Speed 200

Focal Length 56.0 mm

Image Quality RAW

White Balance Mode Daylight
Photoshop conversion to black and white

So Long Margaritaville

The frozen concoctions that helps me hang on

Summer's last margarita.

Now where did Mrs. DL put that shaker of salt?

Summer is almost over. C'mon, sing along!

Nibblin on sponge cake

Watchin the sun bake

All of those tourists covered with oil

Strummin my six-string

On my front porch swing

Smell those shrimp theyre beginnin to boil

Chorus:

Wastin away again in margaritaville

Searching for my lost shaker of salt

Some people claim that theres a woman to blame

But I know its nobodys fault

I dont know the reason

I stayed here all season

Nothin to show but this brand new tattoo

But its a real beauty

A mexican cutie

How it got here I havent a clue

Chorus:

Wastin away again in margaritaville

Searchin for my lost shaker of salt

Some people claim that theres a woman to blame

Now I think

Hell, it could be my fault

I blew out my flip-flop

Stepped on a pop-top

Cut my heel had to cruise on back home

But theres booze in the blender

And soon it will render

That frozen concoction that helps me hang on

Wastin away again in margaritaville

Searching for my lost shaker of salt

Some people claim that theres a woman to blame

But I know its my own damn fault

Yes and some people claim that theres a woman to blame

And I know its my own damn fault

By: Jimmy Buffett - 1977

Bike Lock

Outside the Guthrie Theater. Yes, another bicycle photo. Sorry, I enjoy bicylce photos.
Exposure: 6 sec (6)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 38 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

Rose Red Lamp

A touch of the Orient.

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure

Tv( Shutter Speed ) 0.4

Av( Aperture Value ) 9.0

ISO Speed 100

Focal Length 61.0 mm

White Balance Mode Tungsten

Silhouette Sunsets

Autumn approaches, the angle of the sun dips low.

The sky brightens, colors from paiter's palette flow.

Daylight falters, winter on the horizon looms.

Fade to darkenss, black and white consumes.

Change looms on the horizon.

With Polarizing filter

Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 33 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

The outcome is always the same.

With Polarizing filter
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 41 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

Golden Fields

Autumn colors are taking over the landscape. This is a tiny view of Elm Creek Park Reserve .

Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 38 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

The Point

This time the long exposre was a mere 10 seconds with the hoya R72 infrared filter.
Exposure: 10 sec (10)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

Misty Shores

Rocky Shoreline

My apologies, I forgot some information. Here I used two Neutral Density filters, ND2 and ND4. I wanted a long exposure. The lake surface was wavy, with a long exposure, I all but eliminated the wave action and created this faux "misty" look. Long exposure photography is interesting. You can make moving objects disappear, as shown here, I made the waves disappear.

Exposure: 4 sec (4)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 33 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

Aster Cafe on Main Street

Just a few shops down on Main Street from St. Anthony MainTheater is the Aster Cafe'.

http://www.saintanthonymain.com/
Exposure: 0.2 sec (1/5)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

Main Street

Big bold letters
St. Anthony Main

Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV