Spring, maybe...

I worked until almost dusk tonight, which is something different than saying you worked til dusk in January. So at 8:15 when I put my paper work aside, I had to get out in the nice spring evening to walk and to take a few pictures. My neighborhood, again, and nothing great. But the technique was fun, and makes me want to do more pinhole photography. But most of all, it was a nice evening walk in nice spring weather. It didn't even snow today!

A spring trip

I made the trip to Madison this weekend and it was a very nice break. The weather was much better than it has been of late, and I love Madison. I spent lots of time there in the 1980s and 1990s and it still is home of sorts. I got to eat in Osseo, home of the famous Norske Nook, and there I got to meet Winston, a charming fellow closer in size to a Shetland pony than a dog. Once in Madison, I saw the capital in several different lights, if you can follow that. It really is one of the prettiest capitals in the world, and it is no less striking on a nice spring day. The whole town was filled with good light on Saturday. My hotel was on one of the lakes, and it at least looked warm.

Today, I was on a somewhat unsuccessful search for a decent cup of coffee. I was hoping for a small coffee shop that could make a mocha, but some were closed. I blame Jesus and that Easter thing for that. My search led me to Lake Delton and then through Wisconsin Dells while on the lookout for a Starbucks. Trust me when I say that the trip along Highway 12 between those two towns is one of the layers of hell, and there weren't even the summer crowds clogging the parkway. I had to laugh, though, at a sign on one the many fine eating establishments. The sign touted their famous cinnamon rolls and their "Homemade Toast." It left me thinking of the alternatives, and made me congratulate myself on being able to make toast (at home) that was just like a place that had famous other things on its menu.

Early...

Just so you don't think that I live in an industrial wasteland, the sunrise reflected my porch window shows steam from the bread "factory" down the road. Some might even call it a bakery. So while I was taking the photo, I basked in the smells of fresh baked bread. Not exactly a Parisian croissant shop, but the smells of fresh baking bread are the smells of fresh baking bread...

Snow. Again. Or should I say still?

It was a strange weather day, with four inches of snow today and thunderstorms tonight. I left this morning when it was snowing, and came back tonight when it was hailing. And it is supposed to be almost 70 by Sunday. I guess I am just glad that this weather will keep the bugs away for a few more weeks. How is that for the glass being half-full?

Porch shots

I have a substantial size "deck" outside of my apartment, and it is without a doubt underutilized. I hope to use it a lot more this summer and I started using it today. There was a Czech photographer named Josef Sudek who during his career took thousands and thousands of photos. Most were taken no more than 50 feet from his kitchen--in fact, he took many in his kitchen and his small studio, or, when he was adventuresome, he wandered to his garden just outside of his kitchen to take photos. Over the next few months, I will try and use my studio and my garden for at least a few photos. This what I saw from my porch on this snowy morning

Pow wow

There was a pow-wow on St. Cloud State's campus today, and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Aside from an interesting and fun cultural event, it was a fantastic photo opportunity. Here are some of the results.

I shot these with my normal camera, but I used a vintage lens, one so old that I had to do everything manually. It has been a long time since I have had to do all that on anything other than a view camera. Actually, I bought a similar lens in 1981 for a camera that had about that level of limited controls/features. It was fun shooting the pow-wow this way, and I am not all that displeased by the results. That they aren't perfect just tells me that my eyes and reflexes are 30 years older and pointed out how dependent I am/we are on autofocus auto-everthing cameras.

pictures

I bought a new lens--it's kind of funny, as it is the lowliest of the lenses, a simple 50mm lens. I spent much of my career running away from this lens--it was just too normal. One of former colleagues at the paper probably took 90% of all the photos he had published in his 35 year career with a similar lens. Since he was an important mentor, I probably rejected this lens just so I wouldn't be like him. Rather, so my pictures wouldn't be like his. I probably should be more like him.

The lens, however, is fast, sharp, light, and it is the cheapest lens that Canon makes. Its very normalcy is its charm, and it does let you take photos that a slower lens can't take, at least without a tripod. The morning sunrise reflected in the windows is a good example of what it can do. The street/sign scene is one of those photos that works well with this normal perspective. The flowers are just a continuing theme. Maybe someday I will actually take a picture of a person, but until then this is all I have.

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Art

I made a brief visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Art--I do believe that any visit short of a few days would be brief--it is an impressive place. I was there last in the early 1980s when it was considerably smaller and, can I say, "regional" in nature. While this isn't the Met or the Louvre, it is a very good museum. There was a decent photo exhibit, but the star attraction was a Titian exhibit on loan from Scotland, and it is a star. Titian was a court artist for Phillip II of Spain, but around 1800 there was a monumental garage sale of Renaissance art and several key works by Titian ended up in England and then Scotland.

They are really key works. There are two of the "Diana and Callisto" canvases, huge works that make most if not all art history texts. "Venus Rising from the Sea" is one of the most common themes in allegorical painting, but Titian's version is the one most imagine and it is stunning to see from three feet away. Titian red is not just a hair color-- the reds and maroons and the other colors that he (and probably some workshop minions) mixed up almost 500 years ago are just as amazingly vibrant today as they were when he painted with them. Colors aside, how he used depth and how he painted people changed the path of painting. The exhibit was very impressive.

Plus, the MIA is just a nice place. The large Chihuly "sun" welcomes visitors. The new and the old parts of the building blend well together, making it easier to move from the halls where the ancient silks of China hang to where the Warhol silkscreens are exhibited. It was a brief visit only in the context that one could easily spend a day or two wandering the halls.

5:45AM, third day of spring...

A quick (about a 1/5th of a second's worth) spring "landscape."

Now if only it really did seem like spring and you actually could see land and green...

Foggy day

I remember once an editor "teaching" me about cutlines and how to write them. He said, "don't ever write what is obvious to the viewer."

Apparently I didn't learn that lesson very well, but what can I say about these two photos?

It was a gray and foggy day.

The moon and other things...

Tomorrow night, there will be a perigee moon, which is what they call the moon when it is exceptionally close to the earth. It is unusual, with the last one being 18 years ago, and the next one won't be until 2029. The moon is 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a "normal" full moon. Hey, let's celebrate these things--some say this is a harbinger of the end of the world. It's been a rough week in the world, with Japan and the Mideast and even the Midwest, but let's hope that we have a few more days.

For those who keep track, this was shot handheld with a 300mm lens (with an effective focal length of 450mm) and an ISO of 400. Shutter speed was 1/500th of a second and the lens opening was f11. Seems weird, but remember, the moon is a sunlit object, just like a beach scene.

The other shot was last week, hopefully on our last snowy night. We will see about that.