Gran Portage HarborCopyright 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!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Up North...
Drury BookstoreCopyright 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 fro
m 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 i
s one of the best vacation spots if you just want to sit next to a fire and listen to the waves.
m 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 i
s one of the best vacation spots if you just want to sit next to a fire and listen to the waves.
Friday, July 24, 2009
JelliesCopyright 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!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Minneapolis Aquatennial is here...
Calhoun SunriseCopyright 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!
Monday, July 13, 2009
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
2. Chanhassen, MN
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 2Population: 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!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
More Beltway Experiences...
Arlington ImpressionsCopyright 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 c
omplete 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)
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 c
omplete 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 | ||||
| ||||
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fourth in the Capitol...
American Independence DayCopyright 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
Monday, July 6, 2009
Past and Present...
Copyright 2009 Matt MortensenI 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.
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.
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