Best photo of 2009

from flickr user The U.S. Army
Taken April 1, 2009. A Montana Army National Guard CH-47D Chinook helicopter flies over the North Dakota-Minnesota border area flooded by the Red River, April 1, 2009. The flight's purpose is to familiarize the aviators and soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment, to possible flight hazards in the region.

Best photo of 2008

from flickr user Jim Frazier
Taken April 4, 2008, the John A. Blatnik Bridge, (Interstate 535 bridge) connecting Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, from the Skyline Drive in Duluth. View this big, there's lots of detail here.

Best photo of 2007

from flickr user Luke H
Taken November 27, 2007, this stunning black and white photo of a sprawling windfarm in Minnesota may or may not be the future of energy for our country. I like to think that it is the future. Based, too, on the McNeilus branding on these wind turbines I will assume that this is the Hayfield to Dodge Center windfarm in the southeastern part of the state.

Best photo of 2006

from flickr user shutter.chick
Taken in late August, 2006, this photo depicts what the photographer found when wandering the Minnesota State Fairgrounds - a real live Freak Show complete with a 71 year-old fire-eating "dwarf".

Best photo of 2005

from flickr user Misty Garrick Miller
Taken at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on September 18, 2005, Twig the Faerie is probably the most photographed of all characters at the annual festival running throughout late summer along the Minnesota River south of Shakopee.

Best photo of 2004

from flickr user daylapt
One of the reasons to venture outdoors during a Minnesota winter is St. Paul's Winter Carnival. As this photo taken February 5, 2004 shows, amazing ice sculptures are always a part of the festivities (weather permitting) and this riverboat is no exception.

Best photo of 2003

from flickr user Mal Cubed
Taken March 22, 2003, this photo from St. Paul, MN is one of many Iraq war protests that took place across the country.

Best photo of 2002

from flickr user usepagov
Taken June 27, 2002 on Trout Lake in Coleraine, Minnesota, a small town in northern Minnesota, this photo captures the small wake created by the canoe's motion through the placid waters.

Best photo of 2001

from flickr user FlappinMothra
Taken April 18, 2001 in Shakopee (on FILM!), this photo shows Valleyfair's Excalibur roller coaster partially under water. This is before I lived her but this must be the last time that the Minnesota River flooded to this degree.

Best photo of 2000

from flickr user mexican 2000
Remember when fiberglass statues of Peanuts characters - particularly Snoopy - were all the rage in the Twin Cities? Yeah, this photo taken September 29, 2000 at Bloomington's Mall of America captures the craze nicely.

The best of the decade

In the spirit of this decade (finally) coming to a close, I'm digging waaay back to see what the best of Minnesota photos were in years past. Keep checking back throughout today and tomorrow as I begin with 2000 and wrap it up before New Year's Eve with 2009.

Playing in the Snow

from flickr user Ryan Opaz
A couple of friends took time on Christmas Eve to build this snow-man-frog-walrus-cat thing.

Airborne sledding!

from flickr user Stevesworldofpotos
Taken Saturday, December 26, this sledder in Powderhorn park in Minneapolis knows how to catch some air - and enough speed to make her pigtails fly!

Snow Dive

from flickr user aturkus
As it snowed down on Annandale, MN this guy found a way to make the best of the Christmas blizzard - by literally diving right in. Nice.

The Left Turn

from flickr user narco polo
A long exposure photo taken in Lake Elmo, MN on Christmas Eve truly shows the beautiful side of the rather long snowstorm that greeted Minnesotans over the Christmas holiday.

Shocking red

from flickr user lilfishstudios
A surprising splash of red from the berries of a Winterberry shrub are easily spotted after our new snowfall.

Blizzard

from flickr user litherland
A true Christmas Day blizzard hit northern Minnesota this year while by late in the day my area in the southwest Twin Cities was hit with honest to goodness rain.

A belated Merry Christmas

from flickr user jimmy racoon
This photographer made good use of the sticky, wet snow that fell across much of Minnesota on Christmas Eve by making a snowman. What did you do with all the snow besides shoveling and snow blowing?

Merry Christmas

from flickr user HOARYHEAD
It seems fitting with Christmas mere hours away and snow closing in on the area that "Merry Chistmas" (yes, the shoe artist missed the "r") written with foot prints captured from 19 floors above be the final post before the long Christmas break. Take it easy out there on the roads and check back to see what treasures will be found for the final week of the year.

Split Rock Lighthouse Beacon

from flickr user *Jerry H*
The photographer says: Using Photoshop for evil here. This is a shot of Split Rock Lighthouse, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota, which I'd posted a version of earlier. On Moose Peterson's blog today, he related a technique using the "lens flare" render, and then stretching it, to get a beam effect. Sorry for the redundancy, but I just had to give it a whirl. I also applied an overall "multiply" blend on a duplicate layer to make the scene more twilight-like, and I warmed up the lighthouse itself a bit, too.

I don't usually go for these pixel-mangling renditions, but it's kind of fun in this case.

Taken October 14, 2009

Harness Horse Racing

from flickr user Matthew Henry
A spectacular example of panning to capture and convey motion at Runnng Aces Harness Park just north of the Twin Cities.

Taken July 19, 2009

A day's work

from flickr user Paul v2.0
.....about a month ago I noticed a corridor of brick on campus that cast long shadows at dusk. . Tonight I left the office around 7:00 and leisurely meandered around to that spot.

- taken on the east bank campus , University of Minnesota.

Taken April 9, 2009

Full Moon

from flickr user mplsphoto
Largest full moon of 2009
It will appear about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009, according to NASA. This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon from Native American folklore.

Taken January 10, 2009

Me & the Orb

from flickr user angelrove
Gopher Ordinance Works - Rosemount, MN

Taken September 5, 2009

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

from flickr user Edward Horsford
This extreme close-up of a snow flake is so detailed that it doesn't even look real but based on the information about this photo it is most definitely very real.

Taken January 7, 2009

End of the Day

from flickr user DigitalObserver
The sun sets near Rochester showing off a vibrant and almost rock-like skyscape.

Taken August 14, 2009

Quietly Saying Goodnight

from flickr user dorothy mae
The sun quietly says goodnight on the St Louis River in Northern Minnesota.

Taken November 20, 2009

Minnesota State Fair 2009

from flickr user Slowtypist
The photographer captured the waning sunlight and full range of colors nicely while reminding us that the Minnesota State Fair is the biggest and the best.

Taken August 29, 2009

As the city sleeps...

from flickr user -Chad Johnson
Rochester, Minnesota from Silver Lake Park.

Taken January 6, 2009

Iceberg on Lake Superior

from flickr user Angiezpics
The photographer says: My husband took me up to Duluth,MN on our 12th Anniversary last week and we had the most fun. We went walking around town and he took me out to take some photos. Now that is true love, especially in the frigid cold that it was.

Taken December 31, 2008

We danced all night

from flickr user Photos by Linda A
I spent the afternoon at Como Conservatory. Their sunken garden was filled with beautiful lillies

Taken February 18, 2009

Hopping Across the Mississippi

from flickr user CarbonSilver
The 3rd Ave Bridge finally got my attention on my drive home last night... The Mississippi River front along downtown Minneapolis is so rich with photo opportunities.

Taken March 19, 2009

Silhouettes

from flickr user jordi.martorell
Citizens of Minnesota Overlook, has a yellowish window glass
Level Nine, Guthrie Theatre
Minneapolis, MN

Taken June 24, 2009

Sunrise at Split Rock Lighthouse

from flickr user OlyaA
Lake Superior, Split Rock state park, Minnesota, USA

Taken June 21, 2009

3 in a Row

from flickr user Sri Dhanush
3 bridges that is... This is an interesting angle that can only be seen from the Guthrie.

Taken November 20, 2009

Wisconsin Point Lighthouse

from flickr user siskokid
Located at the west harbor entrance near Superior in Douglas County, Wisconsin, this lighthouse and attached fog horn building was erected in 1913 and sits within a 10-mile-long sand bar in Lake Superior that stretches between the ports of Superior and Duluth, Minnesota

Taken October 11, 2009

Road trip

from flickr user -Chad Johnson
Taken near Rochester, MN, this down low perspective of a country road makes the subject - the road - appear nearly flat as it vanishes while drawing your focus to the haunting tree on the right side of the photo.

Taken April 13, 2009

A foggy morning

from flickr user Matthew Henry
A Minnesota morning socked in by fog makes this road look like something out of a romantic movie set in Maine.

Taken September 30, 2009

The end is near

Yep, that's right. The end is truly near. The end of the year is less than two weeks away and that means that I'll be taking a look back at the best photos from the past year. They'll be new - for the most part - because I am not perfect and plenty gets overlooked throughout the year. Check back daily for the rest of the year as I sprinkle in updates hourly or daily until sometime closer to the end of the year or until I run out of compelling photos. Which ever comes first.

Stone Arch Bridge in December

from flickr user mgtelu
It is quite cold; however, the river is not frozen yet!

Frosty flakes

from flickr user Addie_marie
This is the most amazing depiction of winter that I have seen in the week or so that winter has been with us in Minnesota. The frost looks so heavy on the trees that they could fall over under the weight.

Orange glow

from flickr user minomap
A perfect orange sunrise over what I assume to be Albert Lea (based on the water tower design). Makes one appreciate winter.

Sun Down, Lights Up

from flickr user photo.klick
Looking southwest over downtown Minneapolis and beyond from the Foshay Tower observation deck. Taken with my wide-angle lens at 13mm, you can see the downtown Target store in the lower right corner and the top of the AT&T Tower (foreground) all in the same frame!

Minneapolis skyway

from flickr user photogenic planet
Never before has the hidden beauty of something as utilitarian as a skyway been captured so elegantly. This is why Minnesota is amazing.

Doomtree Blowout V

from flickr user zoe prinds-flash
Dessa Darling of Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree performing at First Ave. in downtown Minneapolis last Saturday. In addition to her being an emcee with Doomtree, she is also the author of a collection of essays and poetry entitled Spiral Bound.

Here she is performing at the MPR studios

Mickey's

from flickr user pjchmiel
The photographer says:
One of my favorite photos taken during college; Sharon the irascible Mickey's "graveyard shift" waitress (she was missing some teeth and didn't take any shit from anyone) grilling up a mess of Bucks (buckwheat pancakes). I have John Hudson to thank for turning me onto Mickey's and Bucks.

Old Man Winter

from flickr user plesserchick
The photographer says:
The cold weather has arrived. I woke up this morning and the paper said the high today would be 13 degrees and the low would be 12. And I looked outside at the thermometer, and it was 3 degrees. I wanted to take a photo that captured how freaking cold it is, so I stopped by Lake Harriett (in Minneapolis) on my way into work. Oh. My. God. It was freezing with the wind coming off that water. The steam you see is the heat leaving the lake, which means not too much longer until it's iced over.

Also, for all of my out-of-town readers, rumor has it there was high surf up on Lake Superior today, so the surfers were out. That's 2.5 hours north of here. Those people are insane.

Plowed-ish

from flickr user theDancingLlama
Rochester, Minnesota does look to be in the throes of a blizzard complete with plenty of in-town blowing snow in the aftermath of snowmageddon. The weather outside my office window, while windy, doesn't look all that intimidating.

Welcome to Minnesota!

from flickr user ~TiSmE~
It's going to take a fair amount of shoveling before this Chevy Corsica moves from its snow bound parking space in southern Minnesota.

No Snow Days

from flickr user DavidErickson
While it seems like nearly every school south of the Twin Cities had classes cancelled, St. Paul - as well as a host of metro-area schools - forged ahead with classes despite the unpleasant weather.

Snow

from flickr user in.backyards
Depending on your perspective, the near-deluge of snow (as much as 12 inches near the Iowa border in the south) which blanketed the southern half of Minnesota is a pleasant addition to our formerly bleak landscape.

Vacant parking meters

from flickr user andrew dickinson
Venturing outside of Minnesota to peer in to the future... this photo taken this morning in Lincoln, Nebraska shows a relatively calm winter scene. Maybe it was before the real brunt of the storm hit or maybe snowmageddon will be just a lot of hype when it reaches the Twin Cities.