Twin City Photos

Another Christmas down. Visited brother in law in the country side. Three dogs (no Bailey though, in doggy heaven now :( we miss you), 3 kids, 2 teens, 12 adults. By the time all the presents were opened, the living room looked as busy as this photo.

Tried trotting into the back woods thinking I’d get some interesting shots, but the snow was too (ha, notice I caught this one, 2 Os, I am self trainable after all) deep which normally wouldn’t be a problem if I’d dressed right. But I knew it wouldn’t be long before the snow would work its way up into the jean legs and then start packing into the top of my shoes, with cold wet feet to follow.

This photo was taken at Macy’s too. Pretty chaotic but I like the colors.

This is what kept me going back to the Holidazzle, the Twinkle Bus. I wanted a nice clean shot of it. I got one as you can see (no bodies partially blocking view), but discovered the limitation of my camera’s ISO speed. Just couldn’t get a fast enough shutter speed.

I think I became somewhat obsessed, a not uncommon occurrence (for me anyway) when it comes to getting ‘the right shot’, including going down there when the windchill was about 20 below last Sunday evening. The only part of me that wasn’t cold was what was covered by that brand new Eddie Bower jacket I’d gotten for my birthday a week ago. Thanks sweeties, it really works :)

In true form I lost yet another lens cap with all the shuffling of parts in and out of my unfamiliar jacket pockets. I have a feeling Santa has got couple of replacements in his sled for me, damn things cost about $20 a piece. I’m still discovering new pockets in that jacket, but haven’t found the cap yet. It’s gone.

Setting up a tripod in the IDS center quickly brings on the security guards. Apparently that’s not allowed. From what I’ve learned on the subject of photographer’s rights they have every right to prohibit photography within the IDS center, as it’s their property. But they choose to limit only tripod photography. I can respect that. On a whim I started another sub-domain, your-rights-as-photographer.twincityphotos.com.

Not the first one. I’ve started several on blogspot and then deleted them. Oddly though once you delete a blog on blogspot, you’d think that sub-domain becomes available for others, but it doesn’t. If you go back to the URL you’ll get a message ‘Sorry, the blog at blahblahblah.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.’ You’d think the sub-domain would be available for others once you’ve abandoned it.

We had our first winter storm in the Twin Cities. Just under 4 inches of snow, temps dropping throughout the day from balmy 20s to -5F, and windy. In true Minnesota fashion what did I do? After clearing the snow off our sidewalk and drive way with the snow blower, I snow blowed a path into my backyard to the barbecue, and barbecued some steaks I picked up earlier in the day, dry aged New York strips from Whole Foods Market. My wife had sent me on a mission to pick up a bunch of $25 bag donation thingies, and while there I just couldn’t resist those yummy looking steaks, plus a few other things.

Takes a bit more than a puny winter storm to keep me from barbecuing. After dinner took my camera for a quick drive downtown, and got this photo. As usual I was asked by several people, not security mind you, what I was doing. One guy asked me ‘what’s the camera for?’. What you suppose my answer was? You guessed it … ‘taking pictures’.

BTW, those steaks were the first non Byerly’s steaks I’ve liked. Never been at Whole Foods before (at least don’t remember), though my daughters know it pretty well. I’m just so out of the loop sometimes. Or maybe I’m just loopy. The asparagus was pretty good too, as was the English cucumber, and of course the potatoes. Everything a bit pricey, but hey, its just money. I’m sure I got exactly what I paid for.

Xcel Energy Riverside Power Plant at St. Anthony Main.