In the Northwest bay of Lake of the Isles is a Sea Serpent. Not just any serpent, this one is a regular. Ever since I moved to Uptown, I noticed that someone builds this serpent in the same place every year. A few weeks ago I actually caught the builder at work. Bob Flick lives near by and he has been building it since the 70s. His son used to help, but has since moved away. But Bob still gets down there every year and builds this local winter landmark. Thanks Bob!

This is how you build a stadium where there’s no room to build a stadium. I’ve been checking on the construction over the past year from the road on the left, but seeing it from this angle answered a troubling puzzle.

When they framed out the steelwork or this, I noticed that the big green-windowed structure is cantilevered out over 75 feet from the building. It was an impressive design and I wondered how they were going to show it off. But as they added the stonework, the open space was hidden. Now, from this angle, I see why they did it, there’s a road under it! I was aware of the highway, but there’s also an access ramp behind the row of columns. The entire terrace around the building is actually a bridge over the roadway, I didn’t realize that until now. I can’t wait to check the place out in person this summer!

There was just enough ripple to the river to make it clear that it was a reflection, but not so much as to ruin the reflection. Moments later, the wind picked up and the image was scrambled. The comments on the sign this week were really great, thanks for the information! Hopefully the sign will come back to life. Speaking of life and water, check it out, the moon is actually wet!

Actress Jean Olson played the roll of Minnesota Sufferagette Clara Ueland at the Shadows and Spirits of the State Capitol. The tours are going on again this weekend, learn more here…

I went to the Minnesota State Capitol with my friend M Saturday for Shadows and Spirits of the State Capitol — a tour of the Capitol building at night, lead by actors telling the history of the building set in the year 1905. Part of the event was that they turned the lights down to “1905 levels” meaning that I shot the whole time at between a third and a twentieth of a second. Hold still! This image was taken with a 10.5mm fish-eye I rented for the weekend.

Guarding the gates of the National Guard base are two helicopters; it seems that Generals like to put dead aircraft on sticks just outside the gates, reminds me of the Tower of London. Like a T-rex skeleton at the museum, this former hunter is stuck in a permanent scowl, chin guns at the ready, but never to fire.

I took this shot lying on my back with a wide-angle 11mm lens; I managed to get the entire beast in the frame. If you look closely, you’ll notice the gun is casting a shadow on the bottom of the cockpit. Part of the oddness of this shot is that I used an off-camera flash that I placed down range about 15 feet away from me and pointed up to fill in the bottom of the Cobra and brighten up the guns. Nice line eh? — “brighten up the guns.”

A long exposure hides the cars, but reveals their movements and intents. I chose this photo out of the set because of all of the turn signals on the right.

See the blue wavy sculpture on the left? It represents the curve the Mississippi makes as it passes through Minneapolis and over the St. Anthony Falls.

See the blue LED lights? That’s why the bridge is blue. Good to know eh? I think to appreciate this bridge, you need to get down under it and look up. The view of the city from the road is so impressive that the designers lowered the railings and minimized all structures on top. Many famous bridges flaunt their structure above the deck: the Golden Gate, the Brooklyn, the Sydney Harbour etc. But the St. Anthony Falls keeps her beauty out of site, deferring your eyes to the city she supports. How Minnesotan is that?

When you stand under this bridge, bathed in the cool blue light, you notice that she makes no sound as the traffic goes overhead, that there are no cables or decorative bits, just massive solidness all around. This bridge makes one clear statement: I will never fail you; never.

There’s a freshly paved path down here, under the bridges. You can pick it up at the Stone Arch Bridge. If you go just up just upstream of the Cedar Avenue Bridge and look, you will see this view. I’m looking forward to coming down here in the winter to see what the lights do to snow.

I love all the little hip-height lights around the base of the megaliths; they really give scale to the massiveness of them.