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

The birds are returning to Minnesota! This Red-bellied Woodpecker allowed me to take a few pictures before he vanished. By that I mean, I could hear him, but couldn’t see him. He stayed in the same leafless tree, but I walked around looking for him to no avail. Do they do that squirrel thing where they walk around the tree to avoid you?

Odd fact about the Red-bellied Woodpecker: they are named for a small patch of reddishness on their belly that is almost impossible to see in the field.

To celebrate the return of the birds, I’m declaring this Bird Week! Kinda like shark week, only a bit more reserved. Tune in tomorrow for the Black-capped Chickadee.

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

The Ice is retreating from the the lakes, the dark patches in the water are ice.  What’s Cell Phone Sunday all about?

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

I found a fort in the woods by Cedar Lake. Pretty interesting, it’s bigger than my living room! Who ever built it surpasses me for creative use of spare time. Probably the local kids, if so, much better than video games and punking in front of McDonalds.

Check out the fire pit and the seating! The forestry crews have been cutting to deadwood in the park, so that’s probably where the seats came from. Looks like the roof is ready for some branches.

Very cool guys. If you made this or know who did — please leave a comment, I’m impressed!

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

I haven’t figured out what it is about this image, but I can’t stop looking at it. There are so many contrasts and the color balance was very tricky. This photo would have been nearly impossible with film — it took me several shots to get the exposure right.

What’s with the preponderance of green and blue glass on buildings? Is it to keep them cool?

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

Everybody needs a goat.  This kid was in the red barn in yesterday’s photo.

What does it mean when someone’s “got your goat”? Horses are nervous creatures, goats are very calm. If you put a goat in the barn with a horse, the horse would calm down. Take the goat, the horse gets agitated. Which is the same reason dalmations are associated with firemen. Fire engines used to be pulled by horses and if you can imagine, a fire is pretty terrifying for a horse, so the dalmation could keep up with the horses and help to calm them down.

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

Good morning and welcome to the Minnesota Zoo! My name is George, I’ll be your sheep today.

Nothing’s more fun than wide-angle photos of critters. I took this at the Family Farm at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN. For a good wide-angle of a critter, you have to get real close — I was shooting at arm’s length.

This is also a case where an investment in a protective filter pays off. I wouldn’t have been so cavalier with my camera if I was afraid of sheep drool on my expensive lens.

Do you know where lanolin oil comes from? Yup, that’s why sheep are so sticky — check all the hay stuck to the sides of this guy. I really wanted to pet every one of these fuzzy lil’ guys, but I knew I’d spend the rest of the day cleaning my camera. Aw heck, a scratch behind the ears with my knuckles will do. Who can say no to that face?

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

Remember the green building from yesterday? Here it is again with a different perspective.

Flat vs. Space

One of the main objectives of Plein Air painters is to show depth and dimension; to represent the space of the landscape. Much of what is seen as modern art is based on ideas from the early 20th century in which this attempt to portray space was questioned. Piet Mondrian created some extreme examples of this.

Most of these debates go away with photography because you don’t have to create and the illusion of reality for the viewer, they already believe it. The challenge for a photographer is to create an abstract image in spite of reality.

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

The big city awakens for another day. The Qwest Tower that I talked about last week is tucked in the corner on right.

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

Cell Phone Sunday is an on-going project. Both to prove that “it’s not the camera” and for the creative challenge, these are pictures I take with the simple 480×640 camera in my cell phone. As opposed to the Nikon D200 that I use for all the other pictures, the only button I use on the the cell phone is “capture.” That’s it, no compensations or zoom or aperture. More point & shoot than point & shoot, is our motto. Of course, I still work on them in Lightroom a little.

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

I guess you have to be an expert at something.