"Minneapolis Fire" Photography Post: September 21, 2015

"Minneapolis Fire." After class one evening last week I was walking to my car when I noticed the stunning sunset that was beginning to take place overhead. I made my way over to the Washington Avenue Bridge on the University of Minnesota campus and shot countless frames as the colors deepened over the horizon of the Minneapolis downtown skyline.

I did minor editing on this photograph. As always, I used editing to bring the photos as close as possible to the way that the image looked to the naked eye. The incredible colors and natural saturation that was present was jaw-dropping!

The photographs above and below were taken the same night among the extraordinary curving facade of the Weisman Art Museum designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. The building with the vertical "stripes"  is another gorgeous piece of architecture on campus, Bruininks Hall (formally STSS). Isn't the way that the sunset interacts with the facade gorgeous?

"Purple Sunset" Photo of the Day: September 13, 2015

Yesterday evening I spent a good deal of time wandering throughout the parks surrounding the historic Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. During a dazzling sunset, I made my way to the shore of the Mississippi River to get some photographs of the dramatic purple colors. Here in Minnesota, god is a Vikings fan!

"Cradling the Sun" Photo of the Day: September 11, 2015

"Cradling the Sun."

Photo of the Day: July 4, 2015

Is this heaven? Spending the evening on Coogee Beach in New South Wales was a terrific way to end the daylight hours today. It was truly a visual masterpiece. Also, to everyone back in my home country of the U.S....happy Independence Day! ‪#‎photooftheday‬ ‪#‎beach‬ ‪#‎australia‬‪#‎sunset‬ ‪#‎art‬ ‪#‎photography‬

Photo of the Day: June 15, 2015

Gold Coast, Australia. This photo was taken from the top of Q1, the tallest building in Australia. The way that the architecture of the city interacts with the ocean and rivers was gorgeous!

Nightfall Above Chicago

Sunset Over Chicago

Throwback Monday? I guess that is what I am doing with this post about an experience that I had while visiting Chicago this past summer. As a college kid studying architecture, exploring downtown Chicago for the first time was an absolute blast for me. One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting the Willis (Sears) Tower observation deck. The 1,454 foot tall building is the second tallest in the United States and watching the sun set over Lake Michigan and Chicago from such a high perch was truly a breathtaking experience.

Yes, we do look extremely tired. We had several very busy days!

The gridiron urban layout of Chicago.

The lights were captivating. 

P.S. I just did a post dealing with me photographing the sun set while atop an observation deck in downtown Minneapolis the other day. I thought that it would be interesting to post this "throwback" close to that one to compare the two series. Let me know your thoughts!

Sunset over Minneapolis

The At&t Tower (left) and the Target Tower (right)

Earlier this week I spent a portion of my evening in the observation deck atop the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis. As the sun began to drop closer and closer to the horizon line, I managed to capture some of the effects that it had on the surrounding buildings. 

The IDS Center rises into the sky, reflecting the sunset in its deep-blue glass.

A view from within the observation deck. The tallest building on the right is the Capella Tower. 

The setting sun casts the shadow of an American flag on the glass facade of the IDS Center.

Krakow, Poland

I am going to briefly turn away from the "nature" part of this photography blog and show you some photos that I captured last summer during my trip to Poland. Krakow is one of Poland's largest cities (second only to Warsaw) and I had the chance to stay there for several days. I took these photos while the sun was setting on the beautiful town square one evening.

Also during my stay in Krakow, I got to travel the surrounding area. The city itself is beautiful (with the town square taking the cake as the most beautiful part of the city in my opinion) but there are many things to travel to elsewhere. An old (and MASSIVE) palace was extraordinary to walk through and also did a great job at making my house feel super small!

Poland played a huge role in the second World War and I also got to see many places still remaining from the war. The most memorable was going through Auschwitz concentration camp. Walking through the halls and streets where so many people died was both horrific and distressing. Nonetheless, it was truly life changing.  The camp was liberated by the Soviet Union on January 27, 1945.

Santa Monica Beach at Sunset

If you ever get the chance to be in Santa Monica, California, make sure to stick around into the evening. Oceans provide stunning sunsets and its almost like someone flips off a light switch when the sun finally shrinks over the horizon...one moment the sun is casting its rays at the beach, the next moment its gone over the horizon, not to return until the next morning. Here are some photos that I got while visiting some relatives a while back.

Above: Gulls follow a boat in the sunset.

Below: Clam holes in the moist sand.

One last hunt for clams before the sun goes down.

A Gull watches the sun set.

"Cradling the sun"

These photos are ones that I took a while ago but have never posted. In the one above, I positioned the camera so that a "Y" shaped tree branch would appear to have the sun resting in it. The lower photo is a shot of the sunset that evening.

Happy June everyone!

 This first photo was taken directly after a thunderstorm. It is a close up of a Fir Tree branch. (Note the "upside-down" reflections in the water droplets)

This next photo, a panorama, I took during sunset over a lake. I think that you will agree that it is quite beautiful.

Sunset

Here are some photos that I took recently after a 35 degree day melted most of the snow off of the trees.

I love photographing sunsets and I hope that you enjoy these photos!

One year!

Today marks exactly one year since I started this blog...and I must say that I am very surprised. It started out as just a link that I e-mailed to relatives so they could see my photography in one convenient location. Not so anymore! It has grown to a surprising size and has been viewed in, as of this posting, 33 countries spanning 5 continents! Thank you so much for helping make this happen!

I snapped this photo while my little brother played on our swing set.

Can you see the baby Northern Prairie Skink hiding in this old wooden plank?

Sunset!

The Sun and a frozen lake

These pictures were taken this past April of the lake behind our house during sunset when the ice was just starting to melt off the water. Enjoy!