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

snow falls gently down
covering all that I can see
where are my car keys

arctic system hits
sixteen below really hurts
where’s my hat and mitts

as day follows night
as hope follows tragedy
summer will return

Freshly minted haikus for you, thanks to inspiration from the frozen Jeep seats, the Japanese garden at Normandale College in Bloomington and my happily Caribou Coffee-addled brain.

This snow-covered bench sits in the quite little park across the street from the Harriet Rose Garden. I love to spend time at this park at all times of the year. It is a nice reflective place with a wonderful Japanese garden. It has little bridges and sculptures surrounded by shaped trees and flowering shrubs. I believe that there is a plack somewhere that explains the sister city relationship with Hiroshima as well. But I’ll have to wait for the spring thaw to update you on that.
Enjoy the peaceful Christmas aftermath; find a bench in a park and reflect on the new year.

A leisurely Sunday walk is a nice way to mark the weekend. My friend Debi and I went to Theodore Wirth Park to enjoy the fall colors and take some pictures. The mighty oaks in this hill-top part of the park provide an autumnal setting for this picture. As I finished trying some classic straight-up-the-trunk shots of the trees, I looked over and Debi was standing in a pool of light, framed by this oak. Sure enough, the best shots just offer themselves up unannounced.

There are actually two frames around her, the trees behind her and the big oak reaching its long limb over the whole image and its shadow. Speaking of shadows, it wasn’t until I started studying oil painting with Joe Paquet that I started actually seeing shadows. It’s amazing how much information about form comes to us from shadows. We automatically know the shape the shadow should be, and then interpret the curvature of the ground from the shape of the shadow.

Always a snappy dresser, Debi was wearing a big wool sweater, the kind that seems to say “Yah sure, its cold, but at least I get to wear this fuzzy sweater, ya know.” FYI: Though from Iowa, Debi can affect a truly impressive Minnesota accent.

We ended our walk strolling through the Eloise Butler Wildflower Sanctuary. It’s a nice little spot hidden in the park area. I drove past the sign for years, but only visited for the first time earlier this year. They have a cute little cabin for a visitor center and some nice little trails. But yesterday was the last day of the season, so you’ll have to wait until April (yeah, that’s six months away).

So let the season of fuzzy sweaters, cross country skiing, building snowmen and warming up by the fire while drinking hot cocoa with the little marshmallows in it begin!