Christmas 2009...

'Tis the Season

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Merry Christmas 2009! We are having a very White Christmas this year in Minnesota with more than a foot of snow on the ground already. What a perfect time for a photo contest with the theme to capture being "white". I took to the streets (and froze some fingers in the process!) to capture that perfect "white" image. I thought this image gave the feeling I was looking for, a warm interior holiday setting framed by the cold exterior of the blizzard. If you're looking for photography contests and theme ideas to get the creative juices flowing try this site. Fellow photographer Andy Mork brought this gem of a site to my attention. Enjoy!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and that you use the time to spend with family and friends!

-Matt

Stuck Inside...

Serenity
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

With the tremendous blizzard that is coming to Minneapolis this Christmas, I turned my attention to my indoor studio. I always wanted to get a beautiful image of this piece of pottery I bought in Germany. To make this image I used my Cowboy Studio 36" softbox at 1/2 power with my D200 set at the maximum sync shutter speed with an aperture of 5.3 on my Tokina 80-400 lens. The key to making this image work was using a white wall as a fill card to step up the contrast ratio. There was no post-processing other than the pre-set JPEG compression options inside the camera body. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Feast...

November Nights

Buddha
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

As the nights grow longer and the days grow colder here in Minneapolis, many indoor activities become the main source of entertainment. One great place for any occasion is the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The museum is absolutely enormous and yet tucked in a quite neighborhood in South Minneapolis. The permanent collection ranges from ancient relics to modern fine furniture. Currently, the museum has an exhibition of pieces on loan from the Louvre in Paris. Admission to the permanent collection halls is always free with a suggested donation of $5, and the traveling exhibits is a little bit extra. The Museum is open Tues-Sat from 10- 5 and Sunday 11-5, closed Mondays.

Fall Fresh Colors...

Colors in the Air
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Autumn is here and the colors are absolutely gorgeous everywhere you turn. Minnesota is a beautiful state in the fall and a drive down to Redwing and Lake City confirmed it. You never know where the best images are hidden, the one above was taken in the window of an apartment in South Minneapolis.

More of the city...

City Shots
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

All the buildings in Minneapolis are spectacular at night. This shot was taken from the car, right at dusk on a cool clear night. Enjoy!

Grab a shot...

The City

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Minneapolis is absolutely gorgeous at night.! This shot proves the axiom that the best camera to have is the one you have with you! I took two images with a Canon point-and-shoot and stitched them together to create this shot.

Minnesota Heritage...

The Rider
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

We all know Minnesotans are nice, right? That may be true but if you don't play by the rules, nice goes out the window. In fact Minnesotans in a small town in the Southern half of the state have the repetition of taking down one of the meanest men in recent years. Every year Northfield, MN, re-enacts this heroic feat accomplished on their sleepy streets 133 years ago. To find out more, I followed historian and author of over 60 books John Koblas to the event this past weekend.
According to Koblas, the men of the James-Younger gang weren't too worried about being caught in the little town of Northfield. He says, "However, when they attempted to rob the bank, the town mobilized against them killing two of the outlaws and causing the rest to flee. Posses were formed and the gang was relentlessly pursued through the countryside." You can read more about the details of the defeat of Jesse James in John's Book Minnesota Grit available at amazon.com. Also don't forget to make it to the re-enactment next year. Northfield weleomes you...just don't be thinking of causing trouble!

TCF Stadium Debut...

TCF Stadium

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

On Saturday night TCF Bank Stadium ("The Bank") was broken in with a victory over the Air Force Academy. Nate Triplett had 17 tackles and was recognized by the guys on ESPN for his outstanding performance.

An excerpt from the U of MN website reads:

Triplett recorded a career-high 17 tackles and also returned a fumble 52 yards for a touchdown to break a tie in the fourth quarter and give the Gophers a victory in their first game at TCF Bank Stadium. The senior linebacker’s 17 tackles mark the best single-game performance in the Big Ten this season and are also the most by a Minnesota player since 2002.

Smokies...

Blue Ridge Overlook
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

North Carolina is a beautiful state! The overlooks all along the Blue Ridge Parkway offer breathtaking views. Next time I think I will pass on the hot-boiled peanuts; they were not as good as all the roadside vendors made them out to be (at least to this yankee's pallet)!

The Great Minnesota Gathering...

State Fair Spinner
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Not much time to write but take a look at this beauty. First trip to the Minnesota State Fair in 7 or 8 years and it was a good one. Nice night, no bugs, low humidity...perfect! I will post more of the great images that I made later but for now, its off to North Carolina...

Street Nights
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

The city under construction can be a an endless source of images if you are out walking during the right times. The number and variety of light sources and reflective surfaces is absolutely stunning and sometimes the camera sensor catches things your eyes can't.

When Megapixels Matter, Part 1...

Wondering which camera you should buy? Here's a hint: the number of megapixels doesn't matter...anymore. Most point and shoots on the market today will have at least 6.0 megapixels and that is all you need. There are many other features you should base your selection on. On the other hand, if you shoot portraits and like to print big, you need pixels! Let's take a look at the image below.

This image was taken with an older digital camera, Nikon's D1H, which was the first professional digital camera marketed by the company. The D1H has a resolution of 2.74 MP and was meant for photojournalists and sports photographers. Like all pro cameras, this one can record images in lossless compression RAW format. So what happens when you fix this fast sports body with a portrait lens and point it at your cute niece? At first inspection, the results are great! If you take a closer look using a popular noise reduction tool , we see more of the story.

Above is the RGB view of the image after JPG compression and noise removal. There is something not quite right about it. To see what is going on we can take a look at seprate color and luminance channels. the most revealing is the blue channel.

Click on the above image to view it at full size in your browser. You can see pixels!! This what looked a little off...what should have been smooth skin tones were actually visibly divided into HUGE square blocks! Since that pixel has to have the same value over the whole thing, it is impossible to "smooth" this out.

So while this camera is still one of the best values for photojournalists who want small images destined for the printed page, it is not a studio portrait -making machine. In fact, when you see one of those really big images hanging up at Gap or Abercrombie, you can bet it was taken with a $30,000 50 MP (or film) medium format camera.

Home at Night...

Cityscape
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

There is nothing better than seeing the familiar outline of your hometown after a trip away. Minneapolis may not have the biggest downtown zone but it is beautiful lit up at night. There are a few strategic positions around the city that a photographer can grab an unobstructed view of the whole skyline. This was my first attempt at capturing the view from Groveland Ave. and Nicollet Ave. It's not bad but you can bet I will be hunting for just the right cloud and light combination to get "the Shot"!

Fire Line
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

An EF0 tornado hit a section of South Minneapolis Wednesday evening and caused considerable damage to property. The damage was targeted between 42nd and 35th Streets and between Park and Portland Avenues. One resident told me that his two daughters also had houses damaged in the storm. Although the tornado was rated as in the least severe category by the National Weather Service, it managed to rip part of the roof off the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Summer in the City...

Slick Streets
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Ha! Some people think photography is done on a sunny day in the country! Not me, give me the slick shine of the neon-lit streets of the city.

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Morning Moments...

Morning Stretch
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Photography is most effective when it captures less familiar visual images. The best time for photography is early and late, not just becuase of the quality of light, but becuase few people are seriously looking around at 4:30 am. The other technique to improve your images is to avoid the so-called "normal" lenses. These have focal lengths in the 30-60 mm range. Focal lengths around 50 mm are similar to what the human eye experiences and thus it is normal. To create more visually stimulating images use lenses less than 28 mm or greater than 70 mm. Wide angle lenses create the impression of being drawn into a scene because the light entering the lens moves faster at the edges similar to the effect driving down a tree-lined street. Long (telephoto) lenses tend to condense perspective so that foreground and background appear more similar in scale. Both of these optical properties let the viewer of your photographs experience something out of their ordinary visual experience!

Ancient Ruins?...

Minneapolis Heritage
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

I have to thank fellow travel photographer Andy Mork for the tip that allows this photo to be possible. You might think this is somewhere in Greece or Italy, but this my own beloved Minneapolis! When I was an undergrad at the U of MN, all of this was just a plan on the city's and the Historical Society's to-do list. Now we can appreciate why our city was the capital of milling for the fifty years surrounding the turn of the twentieth century.

Seat of Power...

Dom

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

The cathedral in Aachen, Germany, is one of the most distinct in the world with its mix of architectural styles and its densely-packed interior. The church stands across the plaza from the Rathaus where Charlemagne reigned and is entombed to this day. During his reign over the Holy Roman Empire, Aachen stood as the capital of the western world. Today the cathedral is a must-see for tourists, a UNESCO World Heritage site and still a venue for weddings.

Composition...

Big Sky, Big Lake
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

This is the type of photograph I can remember seeing on the walls of diners in Minnesota as a kid. I was always completed mesmerized by the big sky that seemed to be moving out of the frame enveloping the viewer. How such works of art were available for every Cracker Barrel and mom-and-pop roadside cafe was a complete mystery to me!
Twenty years later, as a trained scientist and self-taught photographer, I am still awed but can now create these scenes! The shot above is beautiful and compelling because of the principles of optics, geometry, symmetry and contrast. The same principles have been incorporated into art for thousands of years, whether the artist or patron knew it or not!

Grand Portage...

Gran Portage Harbor
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

This photograph was taken in the 5 minute period of perfect light right after the rain and around sunset. What else can you say, find the light ,capture the shot!

Up North...

Drury Bookstore

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

The North Shore of Lake Superior is a beautiful place full of memories for a lot of Minnesotans. It all starts with the harbor at Duluth, then north to Two Harbors to visit the Agate Shop, here you pick up Hwy 61 from here and hit Tofte and Lutsen with their trails into the interior of the BWCA. Grand Marais comes next and is a tourist mecca. The furthest point north is Grand Portage, which has an historic national monument managed by the Department of the Interior. It is also an Ojibwe community which is distinct in that the language is still very much alive. To me Grand Portage is one of the best vacation spots if you just want to sit next to a fire and listen to the waves.

Jellies
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

I took this shot a while back at the Pittsburgh zoo. It is not technically very great because of the noise but not bad. I really like how the water takes on only a hint of the purple color that these bioluminescent jelly fish. There is just a very eerie feel to this image overall. I would not want experience this actually in the ocean!

Minneapolis Aquatennial is here...

Calhoun Sunrise
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

The Minneapolis Aquatennial is here again this year starting Sunday. The event is a great series of festivals and celebrations throughout the city. The kickoff was held at Lake Calhoun with the boat races. I woke early to grab a few shots before all the action happened. Unfortunately on this day the light never really developed for good photography and the wind was just enough to prevent relections appearing on the surface. Times like these call for a little HDR post-processing. I think the effect is quite striking, enjoy!

What is going on...?

Morgantown was on the news for being a great small-town last month!

Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small towns

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005

2 of 100

2. Chanhassen, MN

WINNER

Top 100 rank: 2
Population: 23,700
Unemployment: 6.1%
Compare Chanhassen to Top 10 Best Places

Apparently Chanhassen never got the memo that it's supposed to be in a recession. Unemployment here was more than three percentage points below the national average in May, thanks to a broad jobs base in the Twin Cities area.

Property taxes have dropped every year in the past five, even as median home prices have crept up. And the town still boasts a per­fect triple-A bond rating.

But Chanhassen has much more going for it than terrific numbers. "There's a genuine small-town feel," says Sarah Pinamonti, 41, who moved here with her husband, Rick, 43, in 2002. They've never regret­ted it. "We rarely have to leave town to have fun," says Rick.

No wonder: The town has 11 lakes, 34 parks, and the 1,047-acre Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Come winter there's a carnival, ice-fishing contests on Lake Ann, and skating and hockey everywhere (town officials flood grassy areas to create outdoor rinks). Wimps beware: Those activi­ties require braving temps that often dip into single digits.

Become a Facebook fan of Chanhassen!

More Beltway Experiences...

Arlington Impressions

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Not only did I get to see D.C. on the fourth but I also made my first trip to Arlington National Cemetery. It was a very amazing experience to see all those tombstones that mark the final resting places of many men, women, and children who died defending American interests. Say what you want about international politics but you cannot take any honor or dignity from the sacrifice made by those brave souls. The most amazing part of the day was seeing the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Eternal Flame also was a sight that every American should see as a remembrance of a past geopolitical reality.
The National Portrait Gallery is another enlightening place to visit. Technically, it was not allowed to take this picture to the left but I couldn't resist. There are two excellent wide-angle portraits by photographer Martin Schoeller of Obama and McCain taken for GQ magazine.
Another interesting exhibit is now on display at the Museum of Natural History and my friend and host is a volunteer in the lab at that Smithsonian exhibit. The exhibit shows the forensic evidence for exploring the 17th Century in the D.C. and northern Virginia area. Finally, I learned on this visit that no trip to D.C. is complete without a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl! Barack Obama knew that and was spotted there within days of his election. Just a quick ride from the Mall to the U-street Metro station and a walk across the street gets you to Ben's...almost. You have to wait in line down the alley until the Doorman lets you in!! Their chili-half-smokes are delicious and the perfect power food to keep you sight-seeing all day long. The atmospher of this place is indescribable, it feels like the heartbeat of the 'real' D.C. starts right here. (Of coures, too many half-smokes will no doubt stop your own heart someday, but...c'est la vie)

People of Persia...

This video is from last month and not a very creative post on my part. It is international relations disguised as a comedy sketch. It should be seen by everyone who is worried about a threat from Iran. (I don't believe Mr. McCain would have made his callous "Bomb, bomb, Iran" remark if he had known actual people like these in Tehran.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Ayatollah You So
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

At the Capitol...

Images Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Fourth in the Capitol...

American Independence Day
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

It was a great holiday in the capitol of the free world! I have to thank my friend Grissell for putting up with me an allowing to get such great shots. It was a wise move on our part to see some museums and galleries before the "big" fireworks show...some people waited on the National Mall for 9 hours to see a 15 minute fireworks display! I can't complain, it was awesome to be with several hundred thousand other people on Independence Day. The subject of the next post will be a photo essay on the many ethnicities that were present in D.C. that day. It was something I was grateful to be part of and to be honest, I was not expecting the diversity of peoples at all! I can't wait to get all those picture processed and shared with everyone.

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

Past and Present...

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

I had a suspicion about something after my last post...and I was right. I walked the short 8 blocks from my apartment to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and there on the second floor my suspicions were confirmed. The Institute has in its collection a carved figure of a foreign diplomats head taken from the north stairway of the Apadana at Persepolis. The carving is rare and dates back to ca. 450 B.C. during the reign of Darius, the architect of the most precious city in the ancient Iranian empire. The Apadana was designed to hold ten thousand people and did so every vernal equinox when the Immortals guarded the King as all peoples of the Achaemenian Empire celebrated in parade. The tag from the original collection is still visible on the upper edge of this artifact, tattered and browned with age.

Darius was the second great King of the Achaemenian Empire, Cyrus, the namesake of my Persian friend, was the first. At its zenith the empire encompassed 29 distinct peoples including Indians, Asians, Syrias, Ethiopians, Egyptians and Babylonians. When Alexander the Great arrived over a hundred years later, it took his army 10,000 horses and 5,000 camels to empty Persepolis of its treasures. This is only one of the amazing events through which Persians (modern Iranians, as we think of them) view the present and future state of the world.

Ref: Mackey, Sandra. The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation. New York: Penguin, 1996.

Persian Problems...

Adalbertsteinweg
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

With all the trouble in the streets of Tehran recently, my mind has been wandering back to Germany. I have never met a Persian (typically what Iranians call themselves, but not all Iranians are Persian) in the USA but living in Germany I met many. I had one really great friend who was a student and worked on my street at the restaurant that his relatives owned and was getting ready to attend college in Kiel. He was a very smart kid and I think that we learned a lot from each other in our mix of English and German. I recently heard from him and he shared an update from his family still in Iran. I am glad to hear that all is well for them, but it seems his brother's stories are more dire than what we are hearing in the western media. It is a very scary situation for the people on the ground and one of the rare times when we have journalists who can tell the story first hand. Facebook and Twitter are great tools but real connections to diverse people are worth more than gold to me. In times like this, I cherish my friends who have given me a perspective that is irreplaceable with education or "real world" experience.

Minneapolis, MN....

The City
Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen

I was doing some 'Googling' the other day on a subject I have wondered about for some time - where is the best 'street food' in Minneapolis. Street food is that cheap, fast, and delicious stuff wrapped in wax paper and sold by vendors in carts and small shops in cities all over the world. What I found in my online search was depressing to say the least: street food is MISSING! The full story is here, but below is enough to share my depression.

---You can occasionally find stands along East Lake St. selling flavored ice and Mexican delicacies. Hot dog stands appear in the summer months outside bars or restaurants once in awhile, most notably outside Grumpy’s Northeast. A 2006 article in the StarTribune on this topic claims there are at least 25 active, licensed mobile food stands in downtown St. Paul, selling everything from mini-doughnuts to grilled sandwiches to gyros. However, every time one runs into this sort of stand, it seems more like the exception than the rule. There simply doesn’t seem to be a pervasive culture of street food here the way there is in other American cities.---