Monochrome Weekly - Black and White Birch

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The autumn colors are gone here in Minnesota, but while hiking last week I found this group of White Birch trees willing to pose for a monochrome shot.

For mor Monochrome Weekly shots, click HERE.

ABC Wednesday - P is for Pluck

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A musician plucks the strings of a harp. Beautiful music from a beautiful instrument.

Monochrome Weekly - Gargoyle

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A gargoyle stands guard over the architecture that it he alone must defend.

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Skywatch Friday - Blue Skies over Bloomers

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A colorful array of bloomers hanging on the clothes line.

Monochrome Weekly - Henna Tattoo

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The henna tattoo artist is deep in concentration as she draws the sun design on my daughters shoulder.

Skywatch Friday - Glass and Clouds

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Architecture made even more interesting by the clouds. Rochester, MN.

Monochrome Weekly - Curves

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A curving handrail adds a nice touch.

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Skywatch Friday - Clouds over the Capital

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A recent photo of the Minnesota State Capital in St. Paul, MN. The building exterior is way more impressive than most of the politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists working inside.

For more Skywatch Friday photos, click Here.

Monochrome Weekly - Heavy Armor

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A battle-scarred suit of armor that I found at the Minnesota Rennaisance Festival.

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Skywatch Friday - Red Accents

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Partly cloudy skies over some unique lawn ornaments.

Monochrome Weekly - Capital Entrance

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One of the front entrances into the Minnesota State Capital.

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Skywatch Friday - Soyset

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A beautiful sunset over a golden soybean field in Minnesota.

ABC Wednesday - J is for Jutting

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This broken branch "jutting" out from a tree caught my attention, and my shirt sleeve!

Monochrome Weekly - Arches

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Hanging around under bridges does provide some photo opportunities.

For mor Monochrome Monday shots click here.

Skywatch Friday - The State Theater

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Skywatch Friday and a Sign photo all in one! This is the State Theater in Ely, MN. Unfortunately, Ely is now without a movie theater. Bummer.

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Monochrome Weekly - Paul's Tavern

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A photo from my "Signs" collection: Paul's Tavern in Dubuque, IA.

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Skywatch Friday - No Sailing This Morning

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I couldn't resist this morning shot looking into the sun. The sun was doing its best to power through the stormy skies. Eventually, the sun won and clear skies prevailed.

For more Skywatch Friday shots click Here.

ABC Wednesday - H is for Handrail

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The blue handrail just seems to work with the bright orange and yellow umbrellas. For more ABC Wednesday photos click here.

Monochrome Weekly - The Rio Grande

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I've notoced that photos of old steam engines are pretty popular - especially in black and white. Well, here's my "lighter" contribution to the train photos.

For mor Monochrome Weekly shots click Here.

Skywatch Friday - Sunset on the Lake

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Last week I was camping in the Bounday Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. I took this photo just before dark. A yellow sunset over glass-like water - it was beautiful!

For more Skywatch Friday shots click here.

Monochrome Weekly - Lawn Bowling

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Lawn bowling with a croquet field in the background. The object of the game of lawn bowling is to get your ball closest to the white ball. The winner is pretty obvious for this series.

For mor Monochrome Weekly shots click here.

ABC Wednesday - F is for Ferris Wheel

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"F" is for Ferris wheel and the Fair! Opening day at the Dakota County, MN Fair was pretty quiet - no waiting for a ride on the ferris wheel. Lemonade and Funnel Cakes - YUM!

For more ABC Wednesday shots, click here.

Monochrome Weekly - An Arched Window View

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A slice of a view of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, MN.

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3-Day Walk

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I'm a little late with a post today, but I was up early to take my wife and 16 year old daughter to the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. The thousands of participants started walking this morning in the pouring rain, and will walk 20 miles per day for the next 3 days. My wife and daughter raised over $4600 in donations, which will fund breast cancer research. Their blisters will heal, but their memories (and my photos) will last a lifetime.

ABC Wednesday - E is for ENJOY!

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Delicious brick oven pizzas from a local dining spot by the name of "Enjoy!". Our pizza selections were pepperoni, chicken and spinach, and a delicious sun dried tomato and basil.

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Monochrome Weekly - Carousel

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The historic carousel at Como Zoo in St. Paul, MN.

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The Blacksmith Shop

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For the past couple days I was a volunteer blacksmith in a 1900's villiage, Dakota City, MN. After 8 hours of poundin' metal yesterday, we shut down the forge (coal fire) and waited around for everything to cool off. I took this photo around 8:30pm, with only a couple incandescent lights casting an amber light in the shop. The smell of coal smoke in the air and dim lighting, it was a great end to a great day of blacksmithing.

Signs - Shave and Bath

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One from the Sign collection. It's hard to miss this sign hanging on the Barber Shop in Dakota City.

Monochrome Weekly - An Afternoon in the Park

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A mid-afternoon July day, shooting to the north. I'm working with a new photo processing program which allows emulation of "classic" 35mm film and paper types. The goal of this photo was to enhance the contrast, without relying on HDR to do the work for me.

For more Monochrome Weekly photos click here.

A Well Worn Porch

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Almost monochrome, but not quite. With this much white, it was pretty easy to strip out most of the colors except the brown in the bench.

No Wind Blowing

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Years ago, operating windmills were pretty common on most midwest farms. Now it's a bit of a challenge to find a windmill in good condition. This one was near perfect.

ABC Wednesday - C is for Choreography

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ABC Wednesday - "C" is for choreography.

My daughter is part of this competition dance team. The "costume" had me a little worked up at first, but hey, it's the arts. Right? :)

Big Neon

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Some night neon from my "Signs" collection. This shot was taken around midnight, and without a tripod (because I didn't have one with me). A fairly successful experiment.

Monochrome of Monochrome

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I thought it was pretty cool how the grain in the wood is similar to the zebra's stripes.

For more Monochrome Weekly Shots click here: Mono

Wells Fargo

Nice reflections in the Wells Fargo Bank building in Rochester, MN.

Butterfly Landing Zone

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I thought it was time to add some vibrant colors to my posts - thank you Mrs. Butterfly.

The Hidden Shed

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I found this little shed hiding in some weeds and vines. I like the contrast in black and white between the rough old wood and smooth leaves.

Fearless VW

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Angry skies over an orange VW. If cars could talk, I'll bet this one has some pretty good stories!

ABC Wednesday - B for Blue and Brown Bike

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An unlikely color combination for a bike, and it stood proud in the bike rack.

Dubuque Shot Tower

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Shooting into the sun again - I can't help myself!

From Wiki:

The tower was built in 1856 to provide lead shot for the military. The concept of a shot tower solved the problem of how to produce many cheap, nearly perfect lead spheres of the right size to fit in a musket. To make lead shot, molten lead was poured into the top of the tower, where it passed through a grate. The droplets that fell from the grate were of relatively uniform size, and the fall provided enough time for the liquid-metal droplet to form into a sphere before landing in the water below. The water cooled the lead to its solid state, retaining the spherical shape.

Monochrome Weekly - The Pines Motel

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Another photo from my "Signs" collection. This is a sign that I've passed many times in Postville, IA. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that some feature of the motel listed on the sign has been painted over - my guess is that this fine establishment once had one of those vintage 1950's swimming pools in front. Like most vintage 1950's pools, it's was filled in and made into additional parking.

My goal for the processing of this photo was to give it an old photograph look.

See more Monochrome Weekly photos.

People and Pets Sundays - The Party Barge

The classic pontoon boat - aka "Party Barge". Boating made simple. Some white resin chairs from Walmart - check. Strap the orange life vests to the railing - check. Cooler full of beer and wine coolers - check. Anything goes on a party barge - take off your shirt and enjoy the sun!

Minneapolis Mill District

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Photo of the Minneapolis flour mill district during a photo walkabout with fellow bloggers. I like the color variations.

Corn at the Grain Elevator

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A small pile of corn escaped from the grain elevator before it could be loaded into a train.

REI - A Safe Haven During the Storm

I like the architecture of this REI store almost as much as I enjoy shopping at this REI store. For those unfamaliar with REI, it's only the ultimate outdoor enthuthiasts retail store. I couldn't think of a better place to weather the storm that was coming in fast.

Raise you hand if you love REI!

ABC Wednesday - A is for Adrenaline

Legs of the participants in a 4 mile race just about to start.

Horse Shoe Nails Meet Stained Glass

One of my other hobby-turned-business is designing and building stained glass windows. I prefer to build windows with the traditional lead came, so I assemble the entire window first, and then go back and weld the lead joints. It is also tradition to use horse shoe nails to help hold the pieces of glass in place while assembling the window.

You can see some of my windows at www.rgbglass.com .

Monochrome Weekly - Loading Dock #2

An old loading dock in a warehouse district that probably hasn't been used for years.

People and Pets Sundays - Run Jenna Run

My daughter (#120 in the pink shirt) ran in a 1 mile race and a 4 mile race yesterday in Rosemount, MN. I love the eager expressions on the runners faces at the start of the race - their expressions are quite different at the end of the race.

Waves in the Sand

Another shot from one of the Apple Valley, MN gravel/sand pits. Yes, I was trespassing a little, but a photo op was calling!