Happy Memorial Day...

Happy Memorial Day 2010 and thanks to all the men and women who have given their lives. A big thanks to all those who are serving in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan today! Thank you!

Great Deal, limited time...

I finally am going to do this...its time to part with a lens I am just not going to use. I have the Nikon 18-70 mm f3.5-4.5 that I have placed on craigslist for $199. This is an underrated lens that gets you a lot of great shots with the zoom combined with Nikon's unprecedented sharpness and color capture. This guy goes for quite a bit more at Amazon!

Irish Winds...

 

Danger Blowholes

Copyright 2010 Matt Mortensen Photography

As I was passing through some of the old photos, I ran across these from Ireland.  What an amazing place the Celtic coast is!  I am always amazed at how solid the colors of Europe are without a lot of complications or distractions.  The large bands of color make for extremely interesting subjects.  Next time you try to make a portrait of a loved one, make sure only one or two colors are prominent, anything beyond that and the scene becomes too distracting!  Good luck and enjoy!

Great kids - great subjects...

 

Chores

Copyright 2009 Matt Mortensen Photography

Shooting portraits is never easy, but sometimes it is a real pleasure.  This past weekend we had the chance to work with two great kids, Austin and Dylan.  The shoot was a great success, even though the weather was not cooperating.  At times like these we all give thanks to Nikon for giving us an amazing speedlight system they call Creative Lighting System (CLS).  The absolute, most definitive reference on this subject is Joe McNally's Hot Shoe Diaries.  You need it.  This system allows you to spend your time building a relationship with your subject, making them smile (or giggle and drool, a little!) instead of calculating flash outputs and lighting ratios.  And the best part is...your world-class (at least mine is!) assistant can chase your subject all over with an SB-900 and a diffuser, and you will get great results from every angle!   

Nikon D200, 50mm, 1/640 , F1.8, ISO 100; SB-900, iTTL, remote

Downtown...

 

City Nightscape

Copyright 2010 Matt Mortensen Photography

So we took the chance to hang out in the city after the run the other night.  I found this shot just waiting to be made while wandering along Seventh Street.  I made a few but this one caught my eye for Lightroom processing.  Gotta run, lots of plans in the works!

Nikon D2Xs, 50mm, f5.6, ISO 800

One Idea, One Mile...

It all starts with the first mile...that is the slogan of this race. MNIdeaOpen was there to help bring that slogan to life. For MNIdeaOpen it starts even sooner, it all begins with the first idea. You can make a difference in the lives of Minnesotans around you by contributing your idea at WWW.mnideaopen.com.

Crazy weather...

Farmer's Loaves
Copyright 2010 Matt Mortensen Photography

It is that time of year again! The markets in Minneapolis are open for business and people are busy bustling around the city looking for plants, produce and tasty vendors of street food. It is unbelievable good news that the Minneapolis City Council has lessened the restrictions on street food vendors starting May 1st. That means some excellent fuel can be had if you are wondering around making images of this great city. I am sure those creative city folks will come up with great cart designs and food concoctions that we can photograph as well!

Nikon D2Xs 70-200, f2.8, 1/750, ISO 400, VR on

What a view...

As part of my goal to bring some of the best views and backdrops in Minneapolis, here is the yellow room on the ninth floor of the new Guthrie Theatre. This is just a peek at the room itself, I have displayed the expansive views of the cityscape elsewhere. The Guthrie's brilliant architect made the whole building a master vista of the city. Check it out for yourself, and enjoy! 

Guest Post - Iceland...

Untitled

Copyright 2010 Andrew Mork

My apologies to Andy for taking so long to get his post up! Andy is an avid traveler and has been to Iceland on several occasions. His work has been highlighted here in the past and I thought with the current volcanic eruption I should get him to voice his opinion. With that, take it away Andy!

Iceland has been receiving some serious press recently, with its "Land of Fire and Ice" moniker in the forefront.

Perhaps my favorite place in all my travels is Skeiðarársandur in Southeast Iceland, seen above. The Sandur, or sand plain, is a 1300km2 amphitheatre of flat coastal sand surrounded by ominous promontories, glacier coated volcanoes, and the North Atlantic.

My connection to this area was unexpected, and I took in much more than I imagined while stepping out of the car for a quick photo. The sky was clear, the morning air cool, and a gentle breeze flipped my hair around. Standing in center of that enormous space was a very metaphysical experience; I felt like something was gently pulling from all directions. As if the atmospheric pressure was slightly less than that of my blood. Maybe it was the gravitation of those massive mountains and the Vatnajökull icecap. Maybe it was sheer entropy acting through osmosis - one very large expanse of chaotic wilderness surrounding the speck of a single man. Was it the opposite case? Was it the complexity of a living organism and its modern world, seeping out into the air, rock, and ice? Whatever it was, I expanded here.

I had read about this place. The mineral rich sand composed of flattened mountain pulverized over thousands of millennia, with streams comprised of freshly thawed water frozen long before the beginning of time made an ideal place for farmland in centuries past without a single consideration for the aesthetic. Ideal until a volcano not unlike the one we've become familiar, perhaps Öræfajökull seen here, erupted high above, creating a lake underneath the glacier. Slowly but surely the water weakened the ice, and like it had done thousands of times before, ruptured its ice dam, creating a speeding wall of ice water - a backwards tsunami known as a Jökulhlaup (a word loaned to English), depositing anything out of place in the ocean. Twisted remains of a bridge demolished from a 1996 Jökulhlaup can be seen along the road here. In addition, this area is known to have sandstorms fierce enough to overturn cars. Who would have guessed such a mystical place could be so fierce?

The volcano Eyjafjallajökull, a small spot on the map several degrees south of the Arctic circle has for a time severely impaired air travel in the North Atlantic. Much of South Iceland, now covered in a soot blanket, has undoubtedly been reported as stark, hostile, and grim.

And it can be. But I've had the completely opposite experience.

MPC Photo Shoot...

I finally got around to putting a post up about the photo shoot we had recently at the Minneapolis Photo Center. It was a great time and we made some amazing images of local author John Koblas. The images will be used all over John's new website, on which you can purchase copies of any of his 60+ books. John was great to work with and an all around good guy! Look for him around the tri-state area at bookstores and other events celebrating the history of the Midwest. (Photo credit on this shot goes to Katina Petersen - Canon S70)

Away and Back Again...

Whoo! It has been a busy few weeks! As many of you know, it is a hectic time of year with all sorts of graduations, events, engagements, festivals and parades. I have been out documenting these amazing and fun festivities and also working on some independent projects. All this work has meant not much posting on the blog! I have been busy drumming up guest bloggers and other special posts. I promise lots more images as the summer progresses. As the activity heats up you should also stay up to date by following us on Twitter @mm_images. Thanks as always for all of the support!