Day 22...King Boreas, Titan, and Euros are Winning

KING BOREAS, Titan, and Euros are Winning

The first serious signs of the St. Paul Winter Carnival have arrived.  I think the official start is tomorrow, but Rice Park was beginning to transform into a Winter Carnival wonderland with the ice throne already constructed and things being set up for the kick off.  

With icy cold winds whipping through the park, I'd say King Boreas' brother Titan (north wind) and Euros (east wind) are kicking butt over Vulcanus Rex.  

But the good thing is...that makes for REALLY frozen ice sculptures and lots of wintery photo opps to come in the coming days of the Carnival.  I can't say whether I'll brave the cold for many of those opportunities myself as I'm truly "frost burned" out on this weather!  But I love the crystal clear ice of the sculptures and I'm sure the parades will lend many opportunities for some good "street" shots.

We shall see what the future holds. 

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Day 15...Sparkly Park

SPARKLY PARK

Today, I kind of feel like this image is a compromise, but I guess every day is not going to produce perfection.  This is where I wait for the bus in the evening.  This is as close as I could get to capture the essense of what it's like when the sun goes down there.  This is the same park I took yesterday's shot from but I'm facing south with the Landmark Center to my back.  

Rice Park is another one of those St. Paul spots that is just a place you love to go during nearly any season or weather.  The City took down the big blue tree that's normally the focal point of the lights during the holidays, but since the holidays are over, now it's just all sparkle in a non holiday way.  

Tonight it was snowing as I waited for the bus, and it was such a pretty winter evening, other than the fact that I was nearly freezing to death trying to get the right angle on my shot!  The reason I'm not significantly pleased with the shot is it just seems a little grainy, and just not as beautiful as I'd hoped, but it was the best of what I got today.  I think I've concluded that night stuff, unless I have more time, is just not my forte.

I would love for warmer weather to come now, and time for me to shoot something that is not so "St. Paul."

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Day 14...A Snowy Day in the Park

A SNOWY DAY IN THE PARK

Rice Park and Landmark Center, gorgeous really at any time of the year.  I've been there several times during the holidays when it was all lit up and sparkly.  I love that state of existence for the park.  But today, the park was magical in a different way.  It was covered with a fluffly blanket of snow with a bright blue sky surrounding it from above.

With the blue sky, I debated doing this photo in color, however, I think the black and white version definitely emphasizes the snowiness of the moment.  The Landmark Center is just one more of those very photographed architectural icons of St. Paul given that it's such a beautiful building and set across the street from such a wonderful green space in the middle of the city.  I'm sure that the St. Paul Winter Carnival will be invading the park soon, so we'll see if it produces some fascinating images of classic Winter Carnival scenes.  

I know that many of the sites I've shot during this project have been photographed many times over, but I'm thoroughly enjoying adding all these great places to my own portfolio and at the end of the year, I may have to look through all my shots and print some enlargements to hang in my surroundings.  

I can't believe that it's already week two of this project and I've easily come up with great things to photograph every day as well as experimenting with methods I've wanted to try all along anyway.

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