I just got back from Minneapolis, where I spent the holidays with Ocala's family. I had a good time. It is always interesting to revisit somewhere you used to live. I always find myself remembering other times I was in the same place and wondering if I had any idea back then of where I am now. I hiked around St. Anthony Main (down by the Mississippi river) for a while and tried to get a good shot of downtown. Unfortunately the best shots of downtown at the time of day I was out are from the south side rather than the north.

A few days before this was a church. I had noticed several years ago that one of the walls was leaning badly while walking by. They eventually put supports on the wall. But last year another part of the building fell off and did substantial damage to a nearby house. From what I am told they were unable to raise enough money to repair the building so it was torn down. I wish I had got out and taken some pictures a few days before this, most of the building was still there, but by the time I had a chance the building was almost completely gone. The site reminded me of all those old world war II pictures of various bombed out buildings through Europe.

During the holidays, I got to go up to Canada where Ocala's family have their new cabin. It was the first time I have ever actually been out of the US, though I grazed the border of Canada several times when I lived in Spokane, WA. I didn't have a lot of time to take photos, but I got out for a couple of hours. This was a shot down at the creek behind their place. It was so peaceful and relaxing there. I felt really at home there.

Another shot from my trip to Canada. I had taken this as a preliminary shot, planning to take it again at golden hour. It was at the beginning of the hike and I was trying to time it so that I would be back at the right time. As it turned out, it got really dreary and overcast before I had a chance to take the shot again. I really like how important timing is to doing photography, it has a very zen quality to it. Patience is sometimes what makes the photograph. : )

A shot from another angle of the bridge at a different time of day.

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip. Its a moment in time. I took this same shot earlier, noticing the hill. It was sunny at the time and the hill only stood out a little. As I was walking back it got rather stormy and overcast. A single opening sent a dot of light moving over the landscape. I first saw it on the trees on the other side of the hill. I waited and sure enough it crossed over to the hill I was looking at earlier and as quick as it was there it continued on and over the next hill.

This is from the dock area down at St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis, MN. The atmosphere the day I took this was very somber and quiet, as it was hovering between 0-10 degrees (F). As on a lot of the photos from that day, the blurring around the edges is actually from the heat of my hand as I adjusted the lens. It was so cold that my camera kept fogging up when I touched the metal of the focus ring.

As I started walking around that day I decided that since the landscape was so winterly bleak, I would look for things that had a color to them already to contrast against it.

When I saw the church being knocked down it reminded me of another leaning building I had first seen on the same day. The Pillsbury building down by St. Anthony Main has been leaning for quite a while. You can see it a bit in the picture. I tried to line up the windows on the right side of the picture with the frame since. As you move left across the picture you can see the tilt. Granted, some of it is the perspective of the picture and the 50mm lens.. but trust me.. it isn't affecting it all that much. The wall of the building looks like it has a beer belly and the edge along the roof is arching in toward the building. You can see in the bottom of the picture that they have reinforced it with metal beams, but it is a disconcerting feeling walking by the place. It always makes me feel off balance.

A wintry sidewalk of trampled leaves. I liked the dinginess of them. Not really hallmark Christmas card material, but it reminded me of that moment after the Christmas party when you walk back outside into the cold and try to remember where you parked. It seems like a very urban picture to me, sidewalks in my home town were never this traveled.

Nicolette Mall in downtown Minneapolis is always pretty cool. The warm skyways are definitely something sought out by all the frozen pedestrians.