Vertigo

from flickr user romans 1:20 photography
A new twist on an often-photographed subject. The venerable Gold Medal Flour sign and accompanying silos in Minneapolis, taken from this perspective, almosts gives a guy vertigo.

A couples ruins

from flickr user ephidrena99
An interesting setting apparently in Hastings, Minnesota. If anyone has details on these ruins, please share.

Old Barn North of Annandale

from flickr user Broken Sparrow
This old barn won't be around much longer.

Morning On The River

from flickr user glness
Misty November sunrise on the Pelican River near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Riverwalk

from flickr user -Chad Johnson
This saturated photo taken in Rochester, MN conveys a certain emotion - I'm just not sure what that emotion is.

University of Minnesota - Sports Venues

from flickr user Adam Jerstad
Left - Williams Arena - Gopher Basketball

Upper Right - Mariucci Arena - Gopher Hockey

Lower Right - TCF Bank Stadium - Gopher Football

Target Field Station at Night

from flickr user MSPdude
A Northstar train sits at Target Field Station on the first full weekend of service, having recently arrived from Big Lake.

Target

from flickr user fivesixzero :: Erik Hess
Only in Minnesota would I get a pass for calling Target signage artistic bu tthe bullseye element at the downtown Minneapolis Target store looks as close to a piece of modern art as there is and I'm sure each and every Target store will be a complete zoo at 5 AM Friday when shoppers seek out those Black Friday bargains.

Flashback

from flickr user preparsed
No, it's not some sort of drug-induced flashback but seeing a '1950s-era Buick rolling down the streets of a Minnesota city in 2009 makes even a relative whipper-snapper like me nostalgic. Today's cars are all about comfort and safety - cars from days gone by were all about style. I bet this one doesn't have seatbelts.

New Prague Czech Singers

from flickr user Kim Goetzinger
A gem from this past summer features the New Prague Czech singers riding in the Kolocky Days parade, Montgomery MN.

Shelter Belt

from flickr user glness
A farm shelter belt in rural Wilkin County, Minnesota.

Repeating St. Paul

from flickr user bjorn1101
As pointed out in the comments, this photo features an excellent example of repeating shapes with the bandshell and bridge. Taken in St. Paul at Raspberry Island.

Rainbow over Corn Field

from flickr user Broken Sparrow
A beautiful double rainbow! This reminds us of the promise of God. "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

Birdwatching

from flickr user djsime
This Goldfinch, who seems to have taken on some autumnal tones, seems to be sticking around later than usual during our extended fall season in Minnesota.

Pre-Game on the Plaza

from flickr user Croixboy
Party on the Plaza @ The HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN before the 11/14/09 game vs. The Detroit Lions. Love this guy!

A herd of beetles

from flickr user CaseyJ*
The small herd of ladybugs shot against the detailed background of the sand makes for a wonderful nature photograph.

Coal is yucky

from flickr user Christopher Loren Thompson
The range of emotions captured during this go coal-free protest at the University of Minnesota is what drew me in. From almost angry and very focused in the foreground to chatty and giggling in the background this group is apparently full of diverse personalities.

Frosty Wonderland

from flickr user Jeana Marie Photography
November mornings bring frosty landscapes in Minnesota and this photo taken in Milaca, MN shows very nice depth of field.

Nite lites

from flickr user photo.klick
Looking northwest across downtown Minneapolis from atop the Foshay Tower. The IDS Tower, on the left, is the city's tallest building; the Wells Fargo Center on the right and faced in Kasota Stone is the third tallest. The new Minnesota Twins outdoor stadium is peeking from behind the IDS Tower.

Grading and packing onions, Rice County, Minnesota

from flickr user The Library of Congress
Via the ultra-knowledgeable David Brauer of MinnPost, the Library of Congress has a rather impressive set of color photos from the era of the Great Depression. I've even come across this eye-catching Minnesota photo from near Faribault, MN of folks grading and bagging onions right out in the fields.

Ring Pops

Ring Pops, originally uploaded by gretchen.richardson.

This series of candy photography is amazing and while the photos aren't MinnPics huge they are stellar and it's not just because of the implied female nudity. The vibrant background of this one coupled with the model's expression make it a winner.

Mark Mallman at the Turf Club

from flickr user fivesixzero :: Erik Hess
Mark Mallman performing at the Turf Club in Midway, St. Paul, Minnesota.

One Last Load

from flickr user PXLated
One Field Down, One to Go. This full wagon load contains about 350-400 bushels of soybeans. Taken near Woodstock, MN

The Harvest

from flickr user PXLated
From my upbringing on the family farm in southern Minnesota, I can relate to all things rural - particularly farming. This year, as witnessed by this photo taken this past weekend near Chandler, MN waaay out west in Murray County, the fall harvest had been moving at a snail's pace. High crop moisture and an excess of rainfall has put most farmers 4-6 weeks behind schedule. This photo tells a great story simply by it being taken on November 7th and the soybean harvest is still moving forward. On a side note, my parents wrapped up their 340 acre journey through their water-logged soybean fields yesterday. It's fair to assume that they slept in today.

Asleep

from flickr user Tim Regan
This location is hard to describe. It's near Mendota/Mendota Heights and between Highway 55 and I-494. It's not Highway 13 but maybe 913A. It's still considered the Sibley Memorial Highway. Access to this is from the Big Rivers Regional (bike) Trail. It's near the roadside and overlook of Ft Snelling State Park. It looks like there is a trucking distribution center across the street from this.

Two Harbors Lighthouse

from flickr user siskokid
The Two Harbors Light is the oldest operating lighthouse in the state of Minnesota. The lighthouse is located in the city of Two Harbors, overlooking Lake Superior's Agate Bay.

35 years ago today, the freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, headed for Detroit with 26,000 tons of taconite when it encountered a November gale on Lake Superior. Unable to reach shelter, the ship went down — taking with it a crew of 29 men.

Cinematic

from flickr user fivesixzero :: Erik Hess
It takes a damn good photographer to make a movie theater of any style look stunning but this photo of the Stone Arch Cinema at St. Anthony Main is just that - stunning.

Reflection

from flickr user conner.mccall
A reflection of downtown Minneapolis icon The Foshay Tower captured during an excursion the photographer described as "being a tourist in his own town".

Deer hunt 2009

from flickr user GSankary
An old road house that was along the old dirt road that took people to Mille Lacs from the cities up to the 1930s. When they built 169, or the road that would become 169, it was built a half mile or mile east of here on the other side of the Rum River. You could still make out places where the road is sort of visible through the property. Mostly where there is a life of newer growth poplars through the the old oak forest.

Brilliant Bridge

from flickr user CarloBambino
While this photo is a nice example of nighttime photography, the star flares coming off the lights are almost too much.

The end of the season

from flickr user yearofthewhitedog
With the clouds rolling and the shadows seeming longer than usual, this photo feels like November.

The Minneapolis Library

from flickr user ssphotos2009
The public library building in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Shot made just before dawn.

The gift of the moose

from flickr user Steve took it
The photographer says:
"Our trips to the paddle-only wilderness area along the border of Minnesota and Ontario are not really about fishing. It‘s just easier to tell everyone we’re “goin’ fishin’” than try to explain we’re going to rejuvenate our souls in a pristine world of natural beauty unchanged since the Ojibwa tribe made it home. People would just roll their eyes.

The magic of becoming one with nature has been a topic of conversation around many campfires. We’ve decided that when a traveler sacrifices modern conveniences and schedules, and leaves clocks, phones and work at home, the wilderness is more likely to bestow them with certain “gifts”. And for us, the most valued of these are the gift of loon calls, the gift of northern lights and the gift of the moose. Any one of those precious gifts makes for a GREAT trip. The rare perfect trip grants all three.

As usual, on this trip we tried to select campsites with northern exposures, and about the fourth night in were rewarded with a clear night and incredible show. The shimmering greens and red explosions of Aurora Borealis put civilized fireworks displays to shame. And twice we camped in lakes where we could sit quietly at the waters edge and hear loons on both ends of the lake exchange hauntingly piercing calls. On most trips we would surprise more than one moose as we paddle into a secluded bay or drifted by a quiet marsh. But for 12 straight days the moose remained elusive.

Every morning we discussed if this would be the day for the gift of the moose. I was beginning to suspect one of my companions cursed us with a smuggled cell phone or something. And sure enough, on the last night of the trip my friend confessed he had packed an alarm clock to make sure we got an early start on our final push home. I crawled into my sleeping bag, swearing to the spirits that it was not MY alarm clock, but resigned that two out of three gifts was pretty darned good.

It was still pretty dark when I woke to what sounded like distant grunts. HRUUP! HRUUP!

“What the heck is that?” I asked my snoring, technology-whipped tent-mate.

“I don’t hear anything….scared of the dark?” he said sarcastically. Then he glanced at his uninvited clock and said, “Stop worrying and go back to sleep because we have to get up soon.”

Instead, I threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera, and jumped in the canoe to follow the grunts. I quietly paddled around our point and into a little bay behind our campsite. And there I received the ultimate gift of the moose.

For more than 30 minutes as the sun slowly peeked up through the morning mist I sat mesmerized as this majestic beast ate and explored less than 30 feet away. He posed, grunted, and swam in front of me several times before finally climbing back on shore and noisily disappearing through the trees. The BEST gift of the moose ever!

Sunrise Rock Lake St. Croix State Forest

from flickr user Jim's outside photos
The photographer says: "I slipped onto the water at first light this morning and found this light show!"

Jim's Apple Barn Also Sells Bacon!

from flickr user Monkey River Town
Made a trip down to Jim's Apple barn just south of Jordan, MN on Hwy 169. Been going there for years. Not only do they have many different kinds of apples, fresh pies, and tremendous candy selection, they also have bacon.

Downtown Northfield, MN

from flickr user kindofindie
Downtown Northfield, Minnesota. It's got two highly regarded liberal arts colleges, Carleton College and St. Olaf College, and there's an artsy, indie vibe to the town. Which is weird, because there's nothing else like it nearby. It's grown a lot because the Twin Cities have grown and it's on the fringe of the metro area.

St. Paul, MN

from flickr user GretchenMariePhotography
A perfectly photographed silhouette of the St. Paul skyline.

Conor Oberst

from flickr user mplsjeff
Conor Oberst, photographed during the Monsters of Folk tour at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on October 29th, is one of those singer/songwriters whom you either love or have never heard of. You may know him better from Bright Eyes fame. He's also a midwesterner hailing from Omaha, Nebraska. Check out his music if you even remotely like alt-country, indie rock or folk rock music.

Daryl

from flickr user Christopher Ward
The most impressive detail behind this photo is that the only light used is from the campfire illuminating the subject's face. This is a stunning example of nighttime photography.

Two Harvests

from flickr user PXLated
Harvesting the Wind, Harvesting the Corn. Photo taken this weekend near Chandler, MN.

It had been a good day

from flickr user HelenJr
Taken near Park Rapids, MN, a few years back this is what autumn colors should look like. Remember them fondly as it's now November - typically the cloudiest month of the year in Minnesota.

Spooky Couple on Nicollet Mall

from flickr user erlin1
These two were taking a stroll on the Mall. They were a cross between babies and aliens. Kind of something out of Fringe.