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

Today’s your last day for free cookies and punch at the Hennepin County Government Center. That big building that goes over 6th? This is their atrium. I was there this past weekend with the gang from Tips from the Top Floor. Fourteen photographers wandering the skyway looking for interesting things. Turns out most security guards don’t want you photographing the interiors of the buildings. This is a government building and it was ok; we stood right by the security desk and he didn’t mind.

I took most of the color out of this image because the abstract shapes were much more powerful in B&W. It’s a great space when it’s empty and quiet. A very bright, cheery place actually. This was the first time I was there when I wasn’t doing paperwork that I didn’t want to. It’s a very different experience. Go take pictures or just hang out at the DMV, you might like it.

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

Here’s a new perspective on the Spoonbridge and Cherry Sculpture by Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Brugge. There’s more information about this sculpture in this post with a night photo of the sculpture.

Tomorrow is the first of March and time for the City Daily Photo Blog Theme Day! The theme this month is Graffiti, so stop back and see what I’ve found in the railyards.

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

Perched on the hillside opposite the life-giving Mississippi river from the city, this monument to modern art, the impenetrable Walker Arts Center looms high over the Minneapolis skyline, guarding the Kenwood neighborhood. Deconstructivism rules the day at the Wlekar Atrs Ctener, take anything apart and put it together without the instructions and you are good to go. Don’t get me wrong, I like the place, but continuously commenting on the scariness of the modern world can make you pretty scary yourself.

The Walker’s collection of modern commentary reminds me of the line from one of my favorite books, Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance: “When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog to see the sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten.”

Check back tomorrow for a new perspective on the Spoonbridge and Cherry Sculpture from the Sculpture Garden.

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

I took this picture when I was downtown with Bub Kupbens earlier this year. That’s me and Bob below, from below. The other picture I liked from that day was posted earlier.

I thought of this picture while “reflecting” on the end of the year. It’s been the year of photography from me. Though I have been shooting since I was a pup, I never really felt free in the medium. As a kid, I had to process my own pics in the family print shop dark room or pay to process the color. That problem existed all the way up until my first digital camera. I still catch myself hesitating over whether a shot is “worth it” before I snap the shutter. After I got the first digital I was concerned about disk space and CF card space (first card was 128m).

This year I moved to my 4th digital. A Nikon D200. A real camera! High quality images, full SLR — just like all my film cameras but with instant feedback, no shutter lag, 3 frames per second, no waiting for the card reader. Now that I have over a terabyte of storage, I don’t care about disk space and with Adobe Lightroom (awesome program) processing is a lot of fun and doesn’t eat off your fingerprints.

I’ve been shooting semi-professionally for years and have art-directed as a designer for dozens of CD covers, but now it is fun again. Discovering the daily photo blogging community has really helped. I started my blog because one of my clients, Paul Fricke, hired me to integrate a blog into his new website that I built. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but after taking a four-day photography workshop with Chris Marquart, I decided to post my pics. It has kept me shooting and learning all the time. The encouraging comments I receive from this friendly community are so helpful in keeping me going and growing. I’ve even met some of you and enjoy talking with others who are so passionate about the craft I love.

This new year I plan on expanding my the photography side of my business. Has photo blogging helped you to earn a living as a photographer? If it has, let me know (leave a comment or contact me). If you know of any links about this, that would be great as well. Otherwise, I am happy just doing this to test my skills and find new challenges. I can’t believe that I am coming up on my 100th post — time flies.

Another ‘perk’ of this project is that I write all my posts from the Caribou Coffee Shop by me and have gotten to know the great people who work there and a few of the regulars.

It has been a great year of discovery, stick around, tomorrow is ‘theme day’ at Daily City Photo Blog and the theme is “Best Photo of the Year 2007.” I’ll also post my top ten picks.

Thank You for reading, commenting and just being there and making me feel part of this great community.

This is the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway Bridge. You may recognize this photo, but I wanted to use it for the City Daily Photo Blog Theme: Bridges. This is my first entry in the Theme Day Project.

Learn more about Night Photography techniques in this post.

Check out more Bridges From Around The World.
Boston (MA), USA – San Diego (CA), USA – Stayton (OR), USA – New York City (NY), USA – Portland (OR), USA – Montego Bay, Jamaica – Inverness (IL), USA – Singapore, Singapore – Stockholm, Sweden – Setúbal, Portugal – Brussels, Belgium – Phoenix (AZ), USA – Seattle (WA), USA – Hyde, UK – Manila, Philippines – Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA – London, England – Austin (TX), USA – Toulouse, France – Weston (FL), USA – Sesimbra, Portugal – Selma (AL), USA – Silver Spring (MD), USA – Saarbrücken, Germany – Cleveland (OH), USA – Crystal Lake (IL), USA – American Fork (UT), USA – Seoul, South Korea – Kyoto, Japan – Tokyo, Japan – Norwich (Norfolk), UK – North Bay (ON), Canada – Arradon, France – Paderborn, Germany – Durban, South Africa – Philadelphia (PA), USA – Cypress (TX), USA – Cottage Grove (MN), USA – Prague, Czech Republic – Portland (OR), USA – Greenville (SC), USA – Boston (MA), USA – Port Angeles (WA), USA – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Wichita (Ks), USA – Saint Paul (MN), USA – Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia – Grenoble, France – New York City (NY), USA – Nottingham, UK – Hobart (Tasmania), Australia – Arlington (VA), USA – Minneapolis (MN), USA – Miami (FL), USA – Cheltenham, UK – Albuquerque (NM), USA – Saratoga Spgs. (NY), USA – Las Vegas (NV), USA – Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Nashville (TN), USA – Toruń, Poland – New Orleans (LA), USA – Port Elizabeth, South Africa – Melbourne, Australia – Moscow, Russia – Trujillo, Peru – Château-Gontier, France – Quincy (MA), USA – Melbourne, Australia – Port Vila, Vanuatu – Joplin (MO), USA – Bellefonte (PA), USA – Brookville (OH), USA – Chateaubriant, France – Chandler (AZ), USA – Stavanger, Norway – Baziège, France – Auckland, New Zealand – Wellington, New Zealand – Ocean Township (NJ), USA – Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia – Detroit (MI), USA – Riga, Latvia – Nelson, New Zealand – Budapest, Hungary – Cape Town, South Africa – Sydney, Australia – Dunedin (FL), USA – Sofia, Bulgaria – Radonvilliers, France – Turin, Italy – Montpellier, France – Kansas City (MO), USA – target="_new">Minneapolis (MN), USA – Haninge, Sweden – Wailea (HI), USA – Lubbock (TX), USA – Rabaul, Papua New Guinea – Terrell (TX), USA – Mexico City, Mexico – Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation – Budapest, Hungary – Montréal (QC), Canada – Sharon (CT), USA – Le Guilvinec, France – Jefferson City (MO), USA – Saigon, Vietnam – London, UK – Crepy-en-Valois, France – Orlando (FL), USA – Maple Ridge (BC), Canada – Paris, France – Mainz, Germany – Newcastle (NSW), Australia – Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands – Menton, France – Monte Carlo, Monaco – Darmstadt, Germany – Naples (FL), USA – Torino, Italy – Saint Louis (MO), USA – Bogor, Indonesia – The Hague, Netherlands – Minneapolis (MN), USA – Anderson (SC), USA – Melbourne (VIC), Australia – West Sacramento (CA), USA

This is an additional picture of the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway Bridge. I spent some more time cranking the color balance around to get this bridge to match the Guthrie Theater colors (also known as Best Buy or Ikea colors).

Minneapolis Metro Blog just featured my Greenway pictures on their site.

The Minneapolis Midtown Greenway Bridge is now open to the public! It’s true, I went to the Grand Opening Ceremony last night. The mayor was there as well as all the officials that made this impressive bridge possible. It’s unique in that on the side opposite of the cable stay tower is a light rail line and a power transmission line. The bridge actually threads between them. It’s something to see, but not at night.

I got up early this morning to go down and take these pictures. When the ceremony was over last night, it was too gray and dark to take any good pics, and since I biked over, I didn’t bring the tripod for a proper night shot. I choked up the aperture to f9 at 15 seconds. I put the white balance at 5100k to get the car lights white and the bridge lights are actually blue. Noise reduction really helps the black, and yes, I like the lens flare very much, thank you.

The bridge connects two trails making it possible for me (and anyone else, God I’m self-involved) to bike from my neighborhood — Uptown, Minneapolis, MN all the way to the Mississippi river on trails. The trail system in this town is pretty impressive, ONE can bike all around the cities on trails. I regularly bike to St. Paul and back on trails, a round trip of forty miles. Mayor Rybak said last night that Minneapolis is the second most biked city in the country.

Lean more about the bridge and the event at the Star Tribune

So hooray for Minneapolis, enjoy the new bridge and river access, I’m going back to bed.

Here’s the far side of the bridge — not many pictures of this bridge include the far side because it isn’t that interesting. It’s mostly a ramp. The cool big cable tower is there to hold everything up, because there’s no room on the other side. The bridge goes over the light rail tracks and under the big powerlines.

At least they call it the 9th floor. From the ground floor, you take a four-story escalator (sic) to 5 where the Endless Bridge is and then up an incline to the next floor that is called 5R. Then there is an elevator. Bob and I got to the elevator just as the play Jane Eyre got out. We pushed the up button, but the elevators going up went past us and only stopped on the way down to pick up the blue hairs. We gave up and took the stairs. Only four floors up right? After a brief moment of terror upon sighting the sign that said “first floor access only” we went up. And up. There were at least three landings where there should have been a floor but there wasn’t. Eventually, exhausted and confused we stumbled upon the ninth floor.

What a space! (art speak) Every space with a view in this building comes with a bar, no exception here. They carried on the Walker Art Gallery’s use of cold, square box rooms. Odd how the lack of a baseboard can make you uncomfortable.

If you have ever been to this room, you will notice right away that I made a significant change to the picture above. The Guthrie is suffering from either a Best Buy or Ikea color infestation. Everything is blue and yellow, vast fields of blue and yellow. The windows are tinted, and maybe it was because I was wearing my sunglasses the whole time, but it’s really dark in there, and a yellow-dark is a weird sensation.

So what did I do to the picture? I shot in camera raw mode. Why? Color. Specifically white balance. A digital camera can capture far more color information than the eye. With a raw file, you can adjust the image for the light, be it daylight, cloudy, tungsten, etc. The windows in the observatory were tinted Best-Buy-yellow. With the raw file, I was able to remove that and make the window look normal. Also, I under exposed it to keep the details outside and to make the people silhouettes. Why? It matches the soulessness of modern art and because of the lighting in the Guthrie and possibly my sunglasses, that’s how everyone looked to me.

How about the Endless Bridge? Next time…