Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.
Fruit from the Ball Bering Tree or Wide-angle vs. Wide-angle.
I went to the Minnesota Arboretum this Sunday with Matt, Bob and Rob (Mitch, Matt, Bob & Rob ha!). We had a great time enjoying the beginning of the Minnesota summer: a wonderful thing. We are all suffering from LAS (lens acquisition syndrome) and make a good set, 2 Nikon, 2 Canon. It was like two beer drinkers and two winos out for a night on the town without any sober buzz-killers around. In fact, there were cameras all over the arboretum that Sunday morning — like regulars at the hottest club in town. One couple we saw had more gear than us, but were rude in an odd way; the heavy-drinking jerks of the night. So, like any good addiction bender, I eventually ended up face-down on the ground, in front of the Ball Bring Tree.
The Ball Bering Tree, as I like to call it, is a big sturdy oak with garden globes scattered around under it. When we saw it, all of us gasped and ran to it like moths to a bug-zapper. This is my favorite shot from the moment; a self-portrait in a way — you can tell it’s me by the Smokey The Bear hat. I am actually mere inches from the globe, but with my Tamron 11-18 Ultra Wide Angle lens it’s hard to tell. With the over-cast sky, plenty of light was still able to filter in between my lens and the ball, so it still worked out.
For those of you who know Matt (Ravsitar from Tips from the Top Floor) you will recognize him in his signature orange shirt on the left by the tulip field next to Bob.
So get outside, enjoy the weather and find a new perspective — you might even find yourself.
“For those of you who know Matt (Ravsitar from Tips from the Top Floor) you will recognize him in his signature orange shit on the left by the tulip field next to Bob.”
Orange SHIT is it?
How very cool - and Escher-y (http://www.mcescher.net/target41.html). You can see the greatest things crawling around in the dirt.
BTW, where did you get that quote applet on the right. Pretty amusing.
Matt-
Sorry, I fixed it. You are now in an orange ShiRt.
- Mitch
Strange -
Thanks for the comment, here’s where I got the quotes app.
http://quotes4all.net/homepagetools0.html
- Mitch
Great post and photo.
My birthday is coming up and lenses are on my mind too.
Great photo - such a unique effect! And, camera talk gives me “lens envy”.
Great photo and I loved the story! I appreciate the perspective of your self-portrait - I’ve been known to get down on the ground with my camera, all excited about getting a perfect shot, only to stand back up afterwards and see the amazed faces of the people around me. Apparently that’s not proper behavior. It’s good to know there are others like me….
Ineke -
What lenses are you considering?
- Mitch
Crittoria -
LAS is highly contagious.
Thanks for the comment, yeah, you gotta think about where you are before you drop down or climb up; someplace like the Arboretum Gardens is great, because nobody really notices you (they are looking at the flowers). But, if you have lots of camera gear, they assume you know what you are doing and leave you alone. One really big lens will also work.
- Mitch
WHOA, that’s pretty cool Mitch. I just love coming by your page. I visited Eric’s Paris Daily Photo and saw he had a post with similar balls. Sorry I forgot the date. However, it came to mind when I saw your post here.
Now that is dedication to your art. Great photo.
My, this looks familiar!
I am not sure yet. Either a big zoom one or actually one with a more wide angle.
The thing is i allready take a huge (in my eyes) bag with me everytime i go out and have the camera with me and i don’t want to make it any worse (read bigger). So the lens would probably go on and not off again for a long time.
Decisions, decisions
A great time was had by all. Heck, I was inspired enough by lens envy that I just had to remedy the dilema. Just goes to show you that a true photographer has either dirty knees from kneeling, or a dirty belly from lying down on the job to get the shot.
Rob -
That’s what I like about photography, it’s not a pretty thing when it’s being made. Digital photography has replaced the messy darkroom chemicals with messy situations outside.
- Mitch