10-24-12 The Voice

Behind the altar and looking the opposite direction of yesterday's photo, is the choir and above that are these beautiful trumpet-like pipes of the pipe organ of the Basilica of St. Mary. I couldn't resist posting a third, and final, hdr image from my shoot last Saturday.I have never been in this church during a service. Generally, I've been there on a Saturday morning and it is, well. . . , quiet as a church. But I imagine the sound of the organ and a full choir in this space would be enough to inspire, even if the architecture didn't.

10-23-12 Behind the Altar

I took several HDR photos while I was in the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The photo I posted a couple days ago was my attempt at a photo that shows the whole dynamic range of the Basilica from shadows to highlights.Today's attempt used the same software (Photomatix) but I've chosen the "Surreal" filter. Why? I don't have a good answer except that it's trendy right now. And, like other trendy things, it will no doubt look outdated and odd before long. Some will say that it does already. . .

10-21-12 The Basilica of St. Mary

My original post was to be a black and white photo, but I just found a new HDR processing tool and I am thrilled with the results. As far as HDR goes, I would say that this photo is a very pure example of what can happen when you take three exposures for varying degrees of light and shadow and put them together to show a photo of a room the way our eyes would see them.Heres a version that stretches reality a little bit.Canon 5DIII 1s f/8.0 ISO400 16mm

10-18-12 This Time With Color

This photo is from close to the same place yesterday's photo was captured.

10-17-12 Stone and Light

I took my first year photography students to the court house today and when I had a spare moment, I took a few photos standing in the central hall.I found interesting symmetry in this space and there was also plenty of color, especially in the glass ceiling. But ultimately, I decided that black and white helps you see the structure and texture of this amazing place in a way that the color version doesn't.

10-03-12 A Few Explorers

I am posting this to break the endless monotony of colorful fall photos. And today I am taking you to the Monument To the Discoveries in Lisbon, Portugal. I think that's Prince Henry the Navigator taking the lead. Vasco da Gama is third in line. And, if you want to know more, check this out.

09-15-12 All Square

This photo Of the Redlin Center in Watertown, SD, was taken with my iPhone 4s. It was then processed with Camera+ and Instagram, a photo taking, editing and publishing app which is hugely popular right now.Instagram requires a square crop, and that's the reason for the title of today's post. I don't have much else to say other than the square crop is fun to work with from time to time because it requires a rethinking of the compositional element of space. And, as photographers, it's good to "rethink" from time to time.Incidentally, I apply the same filter to all of my Instagram posts. The filter tends to over saturate colors and in the case of this photo the dominant tones are the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. I like that in this photo.

09-04-12 I Like Frank

This is certainly not the first time I've posted a photo of Frank, by Chuck Close. One of the more interested illicit uses of one of my photos from this blog involved Frank (click here to read a tale of theft and Creative Commons copyright misdeeds).Finally, this is not the first art gallery photo. In fact art galleries are one of my favorite places to take pictures. Why not take a few minutes to look at a few of my gallery interiors? Just click here.And, as long as I've gone overboard with links in this post, here's the one art gallery post in this blog that I like the most.

08-31-12 Hauptbahnhof, Berlin

I had some time in the main train station of Berlin a couple years ago and so I told Deb I was going to go looking for photos. I think I could spend all day in a place like this, surrounded with fascinating architecture and busy people.Sometimes when I take a photo I imagine that no one else has done so before. I'm a bit of a pioneer who is trying to show the world something that its never seen before. Yes, that's grandiose, I'll admit.This photo isn't one of those photos. I'm guessing many photographers have snapped a photo similar to this. So why publish it? Because even though it may not be unique and "new," I like it. And often that's enough for me.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/8.0 ISO320 70mm

05-05-12 Sunken Garden

Here's another quick shot taken with my iPhone and processed with Instagram. The location is the sunken garden at the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota.

05-04-12 Conservatory

In an Instagram photo a "real" photo? Of course. This is a quick shot I took of the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota, while waiting for my photo students to finish their own photographic enterprises.Here's another "real" photo, taken by one of my second year LATI Photo/Media students, Kelly Ortmeier.

04-24-12 A Good Crowd On Hand

On April 23, 2012, Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown South Dakota, dedicated the glorious new student center, aka Phase 3. There were speeches, fireworks, and treats. And there was also a very good crowd, as you can see in this photo.Giving an idea of scale in a big space can be difficult. My thinking when I took this photo was that if I could frame the crowd on the first level with people standing at the railing of the second level, you would get a better sense of space. Plus, it's not bad to find elements within a scene that provide framework within a photo.Canon 5DII 1/80s f/4.0 ISO800 24mm ©Scott Shephard