Blaine Aviation Days 2010

from flickr user collidedwithgod
I'm not going to pretend to know one bit of information about aviation or planes in general but this photo taken at the 2010 edition of Blaine's Aviation Days stands out with the tone the photographer achieved (likely) in processing the photo. It has hints of Sepia tone to it but the green grass shoots that one down as a possibility. Nice work on this one.

Minneapolis

from flickr user Elizabeth Carls
The reflection on the roof makes this photo perfect. Without that reflection, it would be just another snapshot.

Rochester Art Center

from flickr user -Chad Johnson
Rochester Art Center in the early evening light.

Xcel Center Mid Ice

from flickr user NVJ
The Xcel Center opened in the year 2000 at a cost of $130 million. The arena has had straight sell-outs for NHL hockey games (300+). This shot was taken from the top arena concourse. Prior to the Minnesota Wild playing the LA Kings.

Cottage View Drive-In

from flickr user dadslinger
One of two remaining metro-area drive-in theaters, the 44-year-old Cottage View on Highway 61 sits in the middle of 94 acres of land that are primed for large-scale commercial development. That fact is what has landed the Cottage View Drive-In on the Ten-Most endangered historic places in Minnesota

I am totally rooting for the survival of the metro's two remaining drive-in movie theaters and I think if people really want to remember how things were and truly want simpler lives they'd flock to these increasingly bygone landmarks and shopping mall megaplexes would be the home to tumbleweeds through the summer months - especially in the frozen north of Minnesota.

Roseville Dairy Queen

from flickr user Mulad
Not often would anyone call a chain restaurant location an endangered historic place but with Dairy Queen headquarters located in suburban Minneapolis and the very nature of this walk-up DQ, it is historic. Let's hope that if this location is demolished in favor of a modern Dairy Queen the owner retains the sign and unique styling in the new design.

Dodd-Ford Bridge, Amboy Minnesota

from flickr user PreservationNation
Over time, historical structures usually meet their demise. It's the way things unfortunately work in the U.S.A. In a nation just over 200 years old, how many places can you find that are even half that age? Well, the Dodd-Ford Bridge south of the tiny southern Minnesota town of Amboy is one of those structures. Built in 1901, it is currently closed to all traffic and was last rated to support a mere three tons (per axle I assume) of weight. Sure, it sits virtually in the middle of nowhere crossing a basically unknown river (The Blue Earth River) but it is historically important and unique - not to mention photographic. Citizens view it as being of such historical importance that it is on this year's list of the ten most endangered places in Minnesota.

Temporary Transportation For The Day

from flickr user Roofer 1
While this isn't the best-composed photo in the world, the story behind it grabbed the attention of this former farm kid...

Future Farmers of America Week brings the tractors to school. Each celebration ends with farm students driving their tractors to school as their form of transportation. I suspect you find this only in rural America. It is really a unique sight to see rows of tractors in the high school parking lot.

Taken in Barnesville, MN.

the ordinary morning

from flickr user karrah.kobus
The photographer says: this is a self portrait i did for an assignment back in.. february?? i think. but since i didnt have a flickr account back then i never shared it. also the quality isnt the best on this.. its just the only version i have access to right now!

She also goes on to divulge ten facts about herself:

1) im addicted to caffiene and i drink coffee or soda every day. that is where the idea for this picture came. ;) i wanted to actually use coffee but i was worried i would stain the couch.

2) i want to be an archaeologist. i hope someday to be digging up fossils in old riverbeds. oooh or even better, in caves! it would be cool to find some australopithecines or some h. species but really i would love to find something that hasnt been discovered yet. ;)

3) i had back surgery when i was 17, because i was born with scoliosis and a rare lower spine deformity. i dont really mind most of the time, because now i always have perfect posture. i used to be a dancer though, for 15 years. my most prized possession is my dancer of the year trophy, and now dancing is something i cant do, or at least not in the same way. it also starts to bother me when i take photos, and only can wish of posing with an arched back.

4) my grandpa has won the lottery twice. yes, like, one of the big lotteries - the gopher 5, which is minnesotas state lottery. ever since he was a little boy he has played scratch offs, and he used to tell his parents that he would win the lottery three times in his life. i think he might have been on to something. and if anyone deserves to win the lottery, it is him.

5) i am counting down the days until i get to watch the final season of lost. im not a big tv fan, but i am so so addicted to lost (and dexter, who i shall marry). i dont have my own tv and i also had a anthropology lab on tuesday nights this past semester.. i also dont have my own computer anymore. so i am waiting until the season is over and then my boyfriend and i will spend an entire day being lost-ees.

6) i elaborate on everything way too much. look at how long this is already...

7) i always get asked "where i buy my eyelashes..." woo that one was short!

8) i have three younger siblings, and i dont know what i would do without them. they are the best, even when they hate me. my youngest brother just turned four and quite honestly he is my favorite. i brush his teeth every night i am home. and nothing makes me happier than his little smile!

9) im a little monster (aka gaga fan). normally i am not interested in pop-like music, but about two years ago on a roadtrip to see my best friend at college, another friend i was with popped in her cd and ive been hooked ever since.

10) i make a lot of weird noises. my boyfriend says "squeaks, gurgles, and tiny growles..." you would probably have to meet me to understand. ;)

World's Largest Peace Pipe

from flickr user jcarwash31
Minnesota is home to numerous larger than life road attractions including this one - the world's largest peace pipe located in the southwestern Minnesota community of Pipestone.

The square

from flickr user mort0110
Calhoun Square, in the uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, looks clean and refrehsed after a recent rainfall and looks stunning under the cover of electric blue clouds.

Old & New

from flickr user -Chad Johnson
First Ave. SW in downtown Rochester, MN is one of the few streets downtown that still has some "older" buildings left on it. The building in the background (Broadway Plaza) is one of the newer high rise buildings in the city.

The building in the background, Broadway Plaza is about 4 blocks away from were I took this shot and is the tallest building in town at 29 stories (342 ft.). This is the tallest residential building in a US Metropolitan Area of fewer than 200,000 residents (emporis.com). In 2009 the Rochester Metro Area was just over 185,000 (wikipedia.org).

Minneapolis bathed in blue

from flickr user Sarah^D
A simple but still elegant twilight photo of Minneapolis which the photographer simply captioned as "home".

The Mile High City

from flickr user glness
I don't usually showcase photographs taken outside of Minnesota but when something is this impressive, it is worthy of breaking the rules.

The photographer says: A 10-image composite of Denver, Colorado from a full-moon night a couple of weeks ago.

Hurrahs!

from flickr user mort0110
2010 May Day Parade in Powederhorn Park.

Target Field under moody skies

from flickr user johnkr09
A stunning photo of the new home of the Minnesota Twins, Target Field, taken under a moody-looking, mostly cloudy sky during Tuesday's game.

Northernaire Motel

from flickr user tjdewey
Stunning vignetting on this photo enhances the rich, dark colors of this historic sign. I wish signs like this would make a comeback to liven up or rather sterile roadsides.

Minnesota Zephyr

from flickr user Photos By Drew.
A great example of how to use HDR photo processing to enhance a photo. The colors literally fly off the screen as the Minnesota Zephyr tourist train sits parked in all its majesty.