The paradox of the Minnesota winter

The Love-Hate Relationship with Minnesota Winters

Winter in Minnesota is an emotional roller coaster of love-hate-love.

It begins beautifully, with the whitest, lightest, and gentlest snow transforming the landscape into a fresh and different world. This is the first "love."

This initial love affair with winter typically lasts through December—or until the first day the high temperature doesn't climb above zero, or the first time you have to jump-start your car or change a flat tire.

Enter the first "hate."

For the next six to eight weeks, you need to endure this because there's no escaping it. You can try heading south for a couple of weeks, but you're only running away from reality. And reality will be waiting when you return.

And return you will.

Then, quite suddenly, things begin to feel positive again. Usually, it's a bright sunny day in March or the first time you hear a robin sing—enough to give you a burst of positive momentum. This is the second "love."

Minnesota winters have a sinusoidal rhythm, and there's a certain comfort in that regularity.

Trains are cool

It is difficult to take a bad picture of a moving train. They are just that photogenic.

Trains are big and powerful. They kick up dust wherever they go and nothing better get in the way of a moving train.

Slow your shutter speed down, find a static element in the foreground and shoot as many exposure combinations as you can, as quickly as you can.

Treasure Island family portraits

An annual delight: Family Portraits at Treasure Island Casino

This business is project-driven, which means we get involved in projects that have a beginning and an end. Some projects have longer life cycles than others, and all projects are unique.

Our most recent project is a series of family portraits. The Human Resources department at Treasure Island Casino has contracted us to provide family portraits (photos taken, printed, and framed) for all of their 1,500 employees who want to participate. At first glance, this might seem like a church directory project, where efficiency is prioritized over creativity.

But it isn't, and here's why:

Each family has their own story to tell. There was the man who, despite being extremely body-conscious, proudly showed me his gastric bypass scar. Or the young family with a little boy who had serious skin graft scars all over his body from a bad burn accident, yet he was busy running around, trying to keep up with his older siblings. Or the married couple who have been together for 55 years and still enjoy ribbing each other with wisecracks. This photo is of a young mom who had just found out she is pregnant. Her joy is obvious, and she is so excited that she is exaggerating her pregnant belly.

Another aspect was the challenge of using a very spartan set consisting only of a white vinyl backdrop and a simple bench while still making every image unique. It was easy to fall into patterns of using common poses that would always work. The challenge was to slowly add to the repertoire of winning poses by experimenting.

Initially, this project was not especially welcomed because the hours were long and crazy (the casino operates on a 24-hour basis), but after two weeks of photography, I am really sorry to see it end. The casino employees are fun and genuinely fond of each other. The demographics are at the lower end of the income scale, so it has been an especially well-received perk by the employees.

This has been a lot of fun.

Cartooning…

Exciting Upcoming Art Exhibit: Contemporary Cartoon Artists

We are thrilled to announce tentative arrangements for an art exhibit later this year featuring the work of contemporary cartoon artists. Our friend Britt Aamodt will be releasing her book around the same time, driving this exhibit forward. Her book will be available at the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

The plan is to invite several talented artists, showcase large format cartoons, hold a cartooning Q&A session, and host a book signing event spread across three venues: Best of Times Bookstore, The Sheldon Theatre mezzanine gallery, and our gallery.

You might wonder if cartooning is a legitimate art medium. It absolutely is! And I would suggest keeping any doubts to yourself, lest you become the target of a parodied cartoon.

The beauty of cartooning lies in its versatility. It can lampoon or glamorize its subjects, be humorous or brutally frank, address real life or create an entirely new universe with its own rules. In other words, cartoon art defies definition.

This exhibit promises to be a lot of fun. I grew up reading the comics, and I still enjoy them today. I love the comics.

This event aligns perfectly with our past exhibits, including the Brown & Bigelow Pin-up exhibit in 2007, the Cream of Wheat original advertising art in 2008, and the original pulp magazine cover art in 2009. Stay tuned for more details as they unfold.

1st cutting

Reflecting on the First Hay Cutting and Business Optimism

July in Minnesota means the first hay cutting of the season. In a normal year, most farms will have two cuttings and then leave some winter ground cover for the critters. The first cutting will have the most yield, but it isn't until the second cutting that the break-even point is reached.

For a farmer, the first hay cutting is an opportunity to reflect on the business (year-to-date), and also project the business going forward for the rest of the year. Stretching this metaphor to a near-absurdist level, it isn't that much different in the art industry.

Business is up, and the industry is cautiously optimistic. The nature of the business has changed, and the types of projects have also changed. Anticipating these changes and responding to them are some of the biggest challenges a small business owner will face.

We will continue to evolve, but we will also continue to provide the things we enjoy most about being in this business.

A new web-based product is under development and should be available before the end of the year (the evolving thing). There are also discussions taking place regarding an original art exhibit in the November/December timeframe (the enjoyment thing).

And of course, thank you for your patronage. Art is good.

Going ultra-wide

Understanding the Field of View Crop Factor in Digital SLR Cameras

Because the sensor in a digital SLR camera is typically smaller than the 35 mm film it replaced, the physics of the lens's focal point changes. This phenomenon is known as the "Field of View Crop Factor" or "Focal Length Multiplier." The result is that your long lens becomes longer, and your wide lens becomes narrower.

Wildlife photographers appreciate the Focal Length Multiplier because their 200 mm telephoto lens effectively becomes a 320 mm lens. However, creative photographers find it frustrating because a 24 mm lens becomes a 38 mm lens, making it challenging to achieve a truly wide angle.

My personal lens investment dates back to the pre-digital era, so I never had the chance to compensate for this effect. Consequently, all my lenses became too long for many of my purposes. To satisfy my need for wide shots, I occasionally rent a 14 mm ultra-wide lens (with an effective focal length of 22 mm), which reminds me of the good old days when a wide lens was truly a wide lens.

Wide-angle photography is a lot of fun and allows me to keep the social media header imagery fresh.

Penumbra

The Captivating Penumbra: A Photograph of Jake's Strip Club

The definition of penumbra is 'almost shadow' or 'almost dark' (or light). Penumbra is typically used to describe events in astronomy, such as when an eclipse occurs.

In photography, penumbra provides a unique opportunity to capture texture and atmosphere in an almost occult-like light. A strip club has always struck me as kind of sad and desperate. I have been meaning to take this photo for years, but the highway has been re-routed, making it tricky to get to. This isn't exactly the effect I was looking for (drizzle and water puddles would have been ideal), but I liked the emotion the headlights provided.

Jake's strip club is located in Coates, Minnesota. It had a litigious relationship with the community, and for years the town continually passed laws to close it down. In 2002, the Minnesota Supreme Court finally ruled that the town was within its authority to close Jake's. In an unwise effort to vote the local politicians out of office, Jake's owner had 92 patrons (sometimes called rummies) fill out voter registration cards, using the strip club as their home address.

You don't mess with the feds. It is never a good idea to break federal voting fraud laws, especially in such a foolish manner. Several hundred thousand dollars later, the case was finally settled. The bar never reopened, and it has been vacant ever since. No doubt it will be torn down, and the opportunity to capture Jake's in penumbra light will be gone forever.