Daily Minneapolis Photography, Design & Marketing

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow’s daily photos of Minneapolis and the Twin Cities.

The City Daily Photo Blog Theme for July is to post a picture of a sign in your town that includes the text “no”. This isn’t my home of Minneapolis, but of The Wisconsin Dells. I drove through there after Lake Delton washed down stream. Learn more here.

No Parking or Standing - Pay no mind to the missing lake

As tragic as this event was, I found this sign oddly entertaining, the one good view of the missing lake had not only these signs, but they had parked a semi trailer to block the view from the main road. As if to say “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” I would have taken more pictures, but I kept my Jeep rolling so ever slowly forward as I took this, so as to comply with “No Standing.”

Good luck to the industrious people of the Dells, I’m sure you’ll have the lake back in no time. Lake Delton Isn’t the main draw, the rivers through the area are the amazing part, plus the Vegas-like main drag is still going strong.

Delton

Other blogs participating in the theme day: American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Ararat, Australia by freefalling, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Aspen (CO), USA by IamMBB, Athens, Greece by Debbie, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Avignon, France by Nathalie, Bandung, Indonesia by Harry Makertia, Barrow-in-Furness, UK by Enitharmon, Barton (VT), USA by Andree, Belgrade, Serbia by Bibi, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Birmingham (AL), USA by VJ, Bogor, Indonesia by Gagah, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Brantford (ON), Canada by Nancy, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Brookville (OH), USA by Abraham, Bucaramanga, Colombia by Fernando, Bucharest, Romania by Malpraxis, Budapest, Hungary by agrajag, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cavite, Philippines by Steven Que, Chandler (AZ), USA by Melindaduff, Château-Gontier, France by Laurent, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chennai, India by Ram N, Chennai, India by Shantaram, Chesapeake (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Cincinnati, USA by Erik Laursen, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Corsicana (TX), USA by Lake Lady, Delta (CO), USA by Bill, Duluth (MN), USA by Sun Dog Press, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, East Gwillimbury, Canada by Your EG Tour Guide, Edinburgh, UK by Dido, Folkestone, UK by Piskie, Forks (WA), USA by Corinne, Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA by Gigi, Gaia, Portugal by m+p, Geneva (IL), USA by Kelly, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Gun Barrel City (TX), USA by Lake Lady, Hampton (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Haninge, Sweden by Steffe, Hanoi, Vietnam by Jérôme, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Gerald, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Jerusalem, Israel by Esther, Katonah (NY), USA by Inkster1, Knoxville (TN), USA by Knoxville Girl, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Lakewood (OH), USA by mouse, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Las Vegas (NV), USA by Mo, Lisbon, Portugal by Maria João, London, UK by Mo, London, UK by Ham, Lynchburg (VA), USA by Timothy, Mainz, Germany by JB, Melbourne, Australia by John, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico City, Mexico by Poly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Misawa, Japan by misawa mama, Monroe (GA), USA by Tanya, Monrovia (CA), USA by Keith, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Monterrey, Mexico by rafa, Mumbai, India by MumbaiiteAnu, Munich, Germany by Troy, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Delhi, India by Delhi Photo Diary, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, New York City (NY), USA by • Eliane •, Newcastle, Australia by Julia, Newport News (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Norfolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Ocean Township (NJ), USA by Josy, Oklahoma City (OK), USA by ananda.tashie, Orlando (FL), USA by OrlFla, Palos Verdes (CA), USA by tash, Paris, France by Eric, Pasadena (CA), USA by Petrea, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Petoskey (MI), USA by Christie, Phoenix (AZ), USA by Cheryl, Poplar Bluff (MO), USA by Tricia, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Portland (ME), USA by Corey, Portsmouth (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Posadas, Argentina by Lega, Pretoria, South Africa by Sam Ruth, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Ramsey, Isle of Man by babooshka, Reykjavik, Iceland by Vírgíll, Riga, Latvia by Riga Photos, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Rouen, France by Bbsato, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saigon, Vietnam by Simon, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Salem (OR), USA by jill, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by Eric, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by atc, San Antonio (TX), USA by Kramer, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Francisco (CA), USA by PFranson, Santa Fe (NM), USA by Randem, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sequim (WA), USA by Norma, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, Silver Spring (MD), USA by John, Singapore, Singapore by Keropok, Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia, Springfield (IL), USA by Aubrey, Stanwood (WA), USA by MaryBeth, Stavanger, Norway by Tanty, Stayton (OR), USA by Celine, Stockholm, Sweden by Stromsjo, Stouffville, Canada by Ken, Stratford, Canada by Barb, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Suffolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Sunshine Coast, Australia by bitingmidge, Sydney, Australia by Ann, Sydney, Australia by Julie, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Tamarindo, Costa Rica by David, Tel-Aviv, Israel by Olga, Tempe (AZ), USA by angie, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Torun, Poland by Glenn, Toulouse, France by Julia, Trujillo, Peru by Giulianna, Turin, Italy by Livio, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Victoria, Canada by Benjamin Madison, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Virginia Beach (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Washington (DC), USA by D.C. Confidential, Wellington, New Zealand by Jeremyb, West Paris (ME), USA by crittoria, West Sacramento (CA), USA by Barbara, Weston (FL), USA by WestonDailyPhoto, Williamsburg (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Willits (CA), USA by Elaine

Feb 19

Fire and Ice

2 comments - Leave a comment

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

Forestry Crews

Time to attack the Buckthorn. The Minneapolis forestry department is setting the islands on fire this week at Lake of the Isles. Well, actually they are only burning the buckthorn, which is an invasive species that does really well here.

I enjoyed walking around watching them work and chatted with a few of the guys as well. They were really friendly and seem to enjoy their work. I heard somewhere that the guys who run wrecking cranes have the highest job satisfaction, I wonder if cutting down trees and setting them on fire has the same effect.

Note to DCPBers, the bigger your camera, the more likely people are to think you are from the news and want to talk to you. There are some perks to getting older too, when I was a kid out exploring, I’d get chased out of places, now I’m doing the same thing, but people want to talk. Maybe it’s the camera — like Rodney Dangerfield’s routine about tying a pork chop around a kid’s neck so the dog will play with it.

[lang_en]

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily Minneapolis Photography. Minneapolis Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains photography, composition and photo techniques.

Minneapolis Purple Sunrise

CDPB - Monthly Theme Hints and Tips

Monthly Theme day at CDPB is a great way to build your traffic. Not only is it a great way to challenge yourself, but it helps you to feel a part of this amazing community, or as I describe it to my friends: a mutual admiration society. The CDPB’ers have a wide range of skills and interests and an especially wide range of geographical locations! But they all have one thing in common, they encourage each other in a very positive way. They all know how much dedication it takes to keep taking pictures and posting them day after day. I’ve found that even one comment like “great job!” or “I love the little whats-it in the corner, cute!” can put a smile on my face and keep me going.

So if you are running a daily city photo blog, go sign up and join the theme day. Once you are signed up for the website, go to the forum. When you are signed in as a blogger, you will have more options in the forum. The theme day is the second option in the second block. Click on the first thread: “how to join.” There are two steps, you first join the theme as soon as possible then, on the first of the following month, go back and copy the list of links and paste them into your post for the theme. That’s it! Now you are part of the group, you have linked to them all and THEY HAVE ALL LINKED TO YOU. This brings lots of traffic and shoots your ratings up like a rocket - over 100 blogs linking to you at once!

Besides being part of the community, my attempt at contributing is to write about photography techniques and offer tips like this one. Not everyone in the CDPB group is a a professional photographer or web designer, they do it because they love it (the best reason to do anything!) But I am a professional photographer and web designer, so I want to help out by offering advice and information where I can. I hope my articles are useful, if you enjoy them, please link back to them and tell your friends. More of my articles are found under the categories “Photography Techniques” and “Building Traffic.”

Tomorrow is my 100th post, so please stop by and join me in celebrating this little milestone!

P.S. Gerald asked me to add that you can join the CDPB without having a blog. Also, if you join the monthly theme, make sure you post the theme with all the links. If you change your mind after you join, you can remove yourself from the list.[/lang_en]

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily Minneapolis Photography. Minneapolis Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains photography, composition and photo techniques.

Trees for the Forest

Every day I get up and trudge over to my Caribou Coffeeshop and pound away on the blog. My 100th post is coming very soon, today is 96. Why do I do this? Sure, coffee is a good enough reason, but what started as a timid toe-in-the-pond experiment has turned into my first thing in the morning ritual. By choosing to post daily I have set a high standard for myself, but it has brought many benefits. I’ve met some very cool people around the world and in my own backyard. I’ve also improved my photography and because of my style of commentary, learned to explain what I am doing and think through my shots more fully.

A lot of my visitors are other photo bloggers and I wonder what got them started. Photography hobby, interest in their own city, desire to meet others around the world? Are you a fellow professional photographer? What got you into it? Let me know in a comment.

I started blogging to learn how to build a custom blog for my client Paul Fricke, I’m a designer by trade. Since he started, we talk a lot about motivation and site traffic is a big one. Thankfully the CDPB and it’s theme days has brought me lots of traffic, but like every other ingrate, I want more. The more people who see what you do, the more value it has.

It’s one thing to read about photography and it’s another to take a good picture everyday and post it to a world audience. I’d like to investigate traffic-building the same way — not theory, but practice. And I want to bring you with me.

The main force behind improved ranking and thus traffic is links to your site. The Theme Days are incredible for this, so if you are a CDPB’er, make sure you join in on this. Another powerful force for bloggers is technorati.com. If you aren’t registered there, do it! It’s easy. You’ll thank me later. Once you have an account, you can ‘favorite’ other blogs. Just search for the blog address on technorati and click the ‘favorite it’ button (it’s red). I’d write more about it, but this post is getting long and like photography, I recommend learning by doing.

So here’s the ‘assignment’ for learning by doing. Go get on technorati if you aren’t already. Then favorite the blogs you like and as a bonus, if you favorite mitchster.com, I’ll favorite you right back. If you link to mitchster.com in a post, I’ll also return the favor. Technorati also has an ‘authority’ number and a ranking, but I’ll talk about those next time.

I know a few of you aren’t interested in traffic and rankings, but how about a few new friends and some more compliments on your pics? It’s not a race, it’s a fun run. Smile, and enjoy the day.[/lang_en]

  • Mitch's Broader Universe:

    Minneapolis Graphic Design

    Those Darn Squirrels