The Minneapolis light rail train waits for pedestrians and traffic before crossing Hennepin Avenue.  Notice the car on the right? Yes, Hennepin is now a two way as well as First Avenue. The new Target Stadium is barely visible in the top left.

The December 1st Theme day photo is Waiting.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

The Minneapolis Lightrail commuter train now goes to the new Target Field baseball stadium. The intersection of 5th and 2nd is unbelievably confusing, there’s two streets, a train and a city parking lot entrance.

Twilight over Minneapolis from the Foshay Tower.

Remember the sign from yesterday? That was a 28mm shot, this one is 500mm — a little more detailed. Speaking of details, I took this shot while walking around the river area with my fellow blogger Dusty Lens. He’s posted another photo of this Minneapolis Icon and filled in a few details about it’s future. Turns out, you can buy this baby, ’cause she’s up for sale! The heirs of the William Eastman family are looking for a buyer willing restore the neon lights.

Not sure why Grain Belt isn’t jumping at the opportunity with a “save the sign” campaign; raffling off riverboat rides and getting tons of free publicity. I know a few photobloggers who would help for the cost of beer. Maybe one of the local tech schools could do it and build an promotional campaign around it — how cool would a video mix of the lit sign, inspirational stories and students working glass be? A couple old-timers watching on with a teary eyes… Anyhow, here’s some actual journalism about it: Historic Grain Belt Beer sign up for sale | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ.

The iconic Grain Belt Beer sign sits just across the Mississippi from downtown Minneapolis next to the Hennepin Ave Bridge. The sign used to be lit up at night, I wish they still kept it lit, that would be so much fun to shoot at night.

I love the odd effects of telephoto compression, the opposite of the shallow DOF of a wide-open aperture, a telephoto at this range (600mm & several miles) compresses everything into a nice flat surface. The Calhoun Lake Beach house is three miles from downtown, but the telephoto pushes it all together.

One issue that is hard to deal with is what is known as the ‘prismatic effect’, which is the loss of yellow and the shift toward blue of the light, specifically shadows (it’s caused by the humidity in the air, the further away an object is, the more water is between the two of you). This eats away at the image’s contrast. It’s a nice effect to show distance if you have foreground objects, but in this case, it’s just a nuisance, so I increased the contrast in post.

Werner bracing for a slow exposure 32 stories over Minneapolis on the Foshay Observation Deck.

Last weekend I ventured on a Minneapolis Photo safari with Diane, Werner and Rob. Diane was the one that came up with the location — the observation deck of the 447 foot-tall 1929 Foshay Tower. The tower has an interesting history. It was completed just months before the 1929 stock market crash and had (according to Wikipedia) a fantastic dedication ceremony:

Foshay invited 25,000 guests to the dedication ceremony and provided all-expenses paid trips to many who included cabinet members, senators and congressmen. Half nude dancers entertained. Each guest received a gold pocket watch. The military gave 19-gun salutes. John Philip Sousa conducted music, including “Foshay Tower-Washington Memorial March” a march he wrote for the occasion. Foshay presented Sousa with a check for US$20,000.

But Sousa’s check bounced and soon after the building went to the creditors and poor Wilbur Foshay landed in jail and never was able to live in the apartment he built for himself on the 28th and 29th floors.

The tower held the record until the IDS Center was built in the 1970s. It eventually fell into disrepair and it disappeared from the public consciousness as other buildings surrounded it and hid it from view.

In 2006 it was purchased by local investors and everyone but Keys Cafe moved out as the building was converted into a W Hotel. On August 13th of 2008 the W opened with a museum on the 30th floor that leads to the 32nd floor observation deck.

Shooting the city from above at night is pretty fascinating, there are so many lights of varying color and the glass buildings offer fantastic reflections (see above). You might recognize the parking lot in the lower right corner.

We arrived at the tower around 6:30 just in time to watch the sun set. I’m planning on going back soon, it was a lot of fun. If you’d like to join me, let me know.

A little evening over Minneapolis from the Foshay Tower Observatory.

The Foshay Tower used to be the tallest building in Minneapolis, but is now overshadowed by the modern glass buildings.

The tower was recently renovated into a W hotel. Hip, trendy and cool, this old girl as a new look. There’s something else new there too…

The observation deck is now open! Check back over the next few days to see the view from the open-air 31st floor* 32nd floor observation deck!

*According to Christy who works at the museum, the Museum is on the 30th floor, then there’s two flights of stirs up to the Observation Deck on the 32nd floor. I got mixed up on the stair count. Thanks Christy!

I’ve never been tempted to look for a book nor found any comfort in the interior, but for a photographic subject, this 110 million-dollar César Pelli monstrosity gets five stars. This is the Nicollet entrance to the Minneapolis Central Library.

American Sporting Artist

In other news, I finished up another website for another fine art oil painter. In addition to Landscapes, Roger Blum also paints wildlife like moose, fox and pheasants in their natural settings. His work is not only well composed and technically incredible, it also harkens back to the rural America of Frederic Remington and Teddy Roosevelt. As a lifeling city-dweller, it’s somehow relaxing to see classic game subjects like this — when I look at his paintings I imagine the mahogany and over-stuffed leather drawing room that should accompany them. Take a moment to look at his site and give me some feedback! I hope that I have done well by his work.