Sunday morning on the lake. While I was staying at the Northernaire resort in Three Lakes Wisconsin this weekend, I got up early and headed out on the ice. It was two below and I was on my snowshoes crunching my way across the frozen lake. My tripod slung over my shoulder never felt more like a rifle. The fantasy of being a mountain man in the unsettled old West was fun until my hands started to get really cold.

I was up there to take pictures of the resort for the website and other promotional materials. The place was completed this summer and is rather empty right now. If you are looking for a really nice and luxurious place to escape to, they are renting at a discount. It’s a great place and a great real right now, but when summer hits, it will book up fast. I’ll post some pictures of the place itself later.

I took this picture Saturday in Northern Wisconsin. It was three degrees above zero and I was on my snowshoes. I wandered the lake and took a few pictures. I was waiting for a dramatic sunset, but all it did was get dark.

The best part: I was on a chain of lakes. The water moves under the ice as it flows through the lake systems and makes strange thumping sounds under the ice. Not as fun as hearing it crack when it’s really cold (zero is warm up here). The super-cold cracking is absolutely terrifying.

Mom: I know, I know, but there were snowmobile tracks on the lake, so it was OK right?

Your Saturday Moment of Zen

And now for the grand finale of the Holidazzle parade with the IDS Tower in the background. That was Santa’s sleigh with all the reindeer that just went by.

Learn more about Night Photography techniques in this post.

I really enjoyed working with the lit floats in the Holidazzle parade — this one had lots of red lights and I managed to start the exposure just before it entered the frame. If you look at the center bottom you’ll see a blue and purple light. That’s a woman selling lighted wands, you know, for kids — she’s got a box full of them.

This is the same perspective that posted earlier, you can learn about the exposure and the scene on that post. Though they are the same scene, the lighting and processing are different. On the previous one I tried to keep the color as close to real as possible, but on this one I was going for the effect of the light.

Up the street on the left is Sam’s Red Popcorn Wagon. As I mentioned earlier, Greg and I stopped by to take some pictures and Sam offered us Cider and Hot Chocolate. He’s a really nice guy and enjoyed us taking pictures of him and his wagon. I finally have a photo processed that I like of him and here it is:

As you can see, this was some tough lighting conditions, I had to give up my long exposures for the portrait. I was confronted with a real-life Edward Hopper indoor/outdoor subject. Only difference was that the inside was much brighter than the outdoor. I wanted the buildings in the shot so I had to get down low. So even though the photo was a challenge to take, Sam was such a nice guy that I wanted to get this picture posted.

If you get to the Holidazzle, stop by and get some chili from Sam.

Yes, I am still showing pics from my night at Gaviidae. My cold persists and if you look to the right and see the temperature here in Mill City, you will see why I’m staying inside.

I talked about Bokeh recently and this is another example of that effect. The subject in the foreground is a big star decoration and the glowing circles are from small Christmas lights in the background that are out of focus and causing the bokeh circles. You can see everything in focus in the wide angle photo. Another term for these glowing out of focus disks is The Circle of Confusion. The light coming through the lens is has not focused to a point yet by the time it hit the sensor and is thus “confused.”

You might be suffering from this on a regular basis with other aspects of your life. Now you have a great term to use to describe it. Note: The Circle of Confusion is diminished with a wider perspective of the subject.

Here is the place where yesterday’s photo was taken. Gaviidae is a shopping center in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. Greg and I were there last week taking pictures. The word Gaviidae is the Latin name for Loons — the Minnesota State Bird.

This was taken with the new lens, the Tamron 11-18mm Ultra-wide. Still loving it. When I’m out shooting and switching between the lenses, it reminds me of the way movies are shot. The Ultra-wide is great for “Establishing Shots” and the telephoto shows the details. Next time you are out shooting at a location, try taking a wide shot that will give an overview of the area. The Wikipedia article that I linked to above gives a great example: the show Seinfeld gives a quick shot of the outside of the restaurant before the scene inside. You know right away where they are.

It’s good to look to other mediums to learn techniques. While studing landscape oil painting with Joe Paquet, I’ve learned a lot about how light behaves as it travels through the air. It has helped me see what is really going on and how to show depth in an image.

Currently I am working with a filmmaker who I will talk about in the future as our project finishes and is no longer classified. Working with these two artists is a great experience — they both see the world very differently. Photography, painting and filmmaking are very different art forms, but they are still about how we perceive our world. And if we’re really lucky, tell a story.

Stay tuned, the medium of blogging continues, same bat time, same bat URL.

The golden hues of Christmas lights at the Gaviidae Shopping Center in Minneapolis. This was shot ar 300mm with a large aperture to throw the lights behind it out of focus.