revisiting the past

i’m going to try something different for a bit. we’ll see how many posts/blogs i create from doing so. i believe i mentioned in a previous blog that i have many images that never see the light of day - meaning you don’t see them. why? there’s at least a few different reasons i can share off the top of my head.

first, i’m my own worst critic. that’s par for the course for most artists. even today, i still, but not as much as i used to, question my ability to create images that i think will resonate with you. i make images for myself. i have to. if it doesn’t bring me pleasure when looking at it, why would i think you might enjoy it?

second, there are images that do bring me pleasure when i look at it and i still might not share them. those kind of images might be a little more experimental. or they might be a little more out of my comfort zone. or it could be a reason i can’t put my finger on but i just think “mmm….i really like this one but i’m not sure others will”.

here are a couple images that i would call experimental; i was trying different things to see how they would turn out. these were shared early on when i first started writing blogs.

this first image utilized twinkle lights in my wife’s garden to create an abstract foreground in front of the super moon flower moon.

for this second image, i was trying to create an image that captured the same moon in between the rapidly turning blades of a windmill in our garden. let me tell you…it was not easy!

a third reason why you might not see an image i created has to do with the number of images i make. i try to get out and create images at least once a week and sometimes more. it doesn’t always happen at that frequency but i try. regardless of whether the images are great or not, i still make a lot of them. i’m not a shoot and run, shoot and run kind of guy; i put a lot of thought into making images. i’ll often spend time creating different compositions of the same scene. part of it goes back to the experimenting. part of it is the challenge of creating an even better image.

that being said, if i only shared images with a brief caption about it, i would be able to share a lot more. heck, i could share at least one, if not more, images every day. but i also love to write. i love to share the “behind the scene” as to how an image came to be. i love to share my personal observations and ruminations about life based on how an image impacts me. these and more are reasons why i write.

because i do love to write, i spend a lot of time meticulously crafting each blog. a blog that, hopefully, resonates with each of you reading it. and, with the ending of each blog, leaves you with an “i can’t wait” excitement for the next one to come out!

so, back to what i said in the first paragraph about trying something different. i’m going to go back through the archives and share images i’ve not shared before. it might be from the previous year or it could be from years past. it might be sharing a post of the image with a shorter caption. it might be an image featured in a blog. I can’t throw out a number regarding the frequency of this as i will still be writing blogs featuring my most recent images as well. but it is something i hope to produce with a fair amount of regularity. so….here’s the first one!

the stone arch bridge in northeast minneapolis, built in 1883, was a working railroad bridge up until 1978. it is now set up for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. there is no shortage of photographic opportunities from this bridge. probably the most prolific image is the bridge stretching outward toward the city skyline.

this particular night in september of 2022, i was walking on the bridge when i came to a cool vantage point. there was a full moon that night called the harvest moon. high in the sky with either a bright lone star or jupiter (i can’t remember which it was) visible to the left of it, it lit up the clouds around it.

various lighting sources starting at ground level and rising joined in to create a rather spectacular array of light and colors. the jewel of it all, in my opinion, is the residential high rise known as eleven on the river. from my vantage point, the art deco style building seems to rise almost as high as the moon.

a close second behind eleven on the river is the i-35w bridge. it suffered a devastating collapse in august of 2007 while bumper to bumper traffic was crossing over it. it has since “risen from the ashes” and has been retrofitted with an amazing led lighting system that lights up in certain colors for holidays and special events.

the first of two things i particularly love in this image is the low level, ambient style lighting source throughout the darker parts of the image.. to me, they are like supporting characters to the main characters in a movie or tv show. without them, the whole of the story would not be complete. they add that extra “oomph” to make the image more special.

the second is the lighting of the bridge itself. i love how the two colors have a distinct split in the river. you can even see that color split on the far left of the railing edge just a little below the middle of the image. here is the image!

i spent quite a bit of time that night making various images in different locations on or near the bridge. this was definitely one of my favorites that night!

i hope you enjoyed seeing this image from the archives! for those of you who live in minnesota or a nearby state and have never been, make a trip to see the stone arch bridge. the views are fantastic and the workmanship is quite amazing!

this photographic art would make a great statement and conversation piece in a home and/or busiiness. here is an example of how it would look hanging in a smaller space or wall.

12x18 metal print of "harvest moon over the mississippi river"

feel free to share this blog with others. if you enjoyed it, you can be sure your family and friends will as well. thank you for your continued support of my blogs and images. i will see you next time with more “images from my quiet world”!