Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

The calm quiet of snow settles on the misty plains of the Northern Forest that is my home. The eagle drifts silently by, heading for open water — eyes fixed on the small rivulets. Close observation reveals the occasional rabbit or squirrel bounding through the drifts. The subdued colors of the sumac trace the shorelines, giving dimension to the dark and brooding burr oaks. Will this idyllic nightmare ever end? It’s at least two months until something green pops up. That’s 60 posts. Stay tuned, if I crack, you’ll see it here first!

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Another fourteen-below morning greeted me head-on today. Cold days like this are best spent inside. Time is better used editing pictures and working on websites for my clients. This photo was taken the same time as the this one. Though not as dramatic, this one has a more solid composition with the edges of the building joining the corners. When you are shooting, compose the entire image; look around, how can you make one shape the dominant element? And now for today’s feature presentation:

Billy McLaughlin’s Story

Billy McLaughlin is an amazing guitarist — you have to watch this video. Billy was the best Finger-style guitarist up until a few years ago when he lost the ability to use his right hand to play this incredibly-demanding style that he created. The video shows how he overcame the problem and his comeback. I know you will love his music, just listen. Then head over to Billy’s website. I know you will like that too, I built it.Yep, that’s my day job. I build sites for a wide range of clients, especially artists. I like working with people who are passionate about what they do, and Billy is my star. He has a few shows coming up — his music sounds fantastic with an orchestra and that’s what he’s doing in the next few months — playing with full orchestras.Billy McLaughlin, Amazing Finger-style Guitarist

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Today’s assignment: go for a walk down a normal residential street and see what you find.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Behold the invading beauty queens. As Lynne and I sat in the Landmark Center, joyful of the warmth and our bellies full of hot dish, we were taken by surprise by a gaggle of beauty queens. The Landmark Center was mostly empty, being the middle of a weekday, then they burst onto the scene. There had to be a hundred of them, all wearing their tiaras and sashes. It was very surreal. I kept thinking of the video game “Grand Theft” which has cheat codes where you can turn all the people in the game into clowns or gangsters. It was like we typed in the cheat code “givethemalltiaras” and poof — everyone was a beauty queen sporting a tiara. The Winter Carnival is an odd thing, ice castles, snow sculptures, skating on city streets, a hot-dish tent (seriously), roving gangs of beauty queens and…

So I spent last night wandering an undisclosed park in St. Paul. I was settling in for the evening when my friend Bob calls; he’s certain that he knows where it is. Half an hour later, flashlight in hand, we are “boots on the ground” searching for the Winter Carnival Medallion. One of the great activities of the St. Paul Winter Carnival is the Medallion Treasure Hunt. The local paper prints lyrical clues to a treasure hunt. Somewhere, on public property, they hide medallion. There’s cash, glory and a year of groceries from Cub on the line. Needless to say, we returned to Minneapolis dejected and empty handed. Well, I wish we returned empty-handed, Bob kept looking up clues with his Treo while driving — Oh, God…

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Wandering in from the shadows, the local hockey players gather in the light.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Leave something outside long enough, something is going to happen.

Today’s my eleventy-first post! How often does a LOTR fan get to use that term?

My friend Paul has some pretty good posts this week.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

The City of Lakes Loppet is a week away. Soon cross-country skiers will be shuffling up the hill right by my home in Uptown. A loppet, as you may have guessed, is a cross-country ski race which requires snow. You’d think we’d be set, but the last few years have been a bust when it comes to snow. So here’s the solution. They set up snow machines like the ones they have at downhill skiing places, right on the shore of Lake of the Isles. In the land of winter fun, we have to make our own backup snow in case the real stuff doesn’t hold up.

The beautiful golden light in this shot is brought to you by the big city lights illuminating the cloudy sky. The icy haze of the winter nights scatters light instead of absorbing it like wet clouds do, so it’s frequently quite bright here at night.

Now for the entertainment portion of the program. While avoiding responsibilities last night, I found a video made by a couple in West Saint Paul. It funny, has a catchy tune and shows what this place looks like when the snow starts to melt. I go to great lengths to tart up my snow shots, but they went the other way. Oh dear…

On their website they say that it’s for a video competition at the Walker Art Center. They have a link to a higher-quality version too, so if you liked it, get over and see that one and learn more about them. Say hi for me while you are there.So there you go, a video about the convenience of an inner-ring suburb and the Northernest biggest city in the world making snow in case of emergency.Why live in paradise when you can light a good buzz just watching the cabin-fevered Minnesotans just trying to entertain themselves ’til the spring thaw.Oh yeah, I still need to get some new mittens…