Best Of Photo - Runners Up

The end of 2009 is officially here. As I've done the previous three years since starting my daily photo blog is to post my favorite photo of the past year on the first day of the new year. I will be continuing the tradition tomorrow. The first day of the month is also 'theme day' in the City Daily Photo community, but my theme day and the communities theme day are different. So as a compromise, I will be posting two photos tomorrow, my 'best of' photo and the scheduled 'theme day' photo.

As for today's photos, these are my other personal favorites that I could have easily used for my 'best of' but came in a close second place. The big photo above is the new TCF Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Gopher football team. The four photos below are of a katydid, Metro State University, Hastings Bridge, Highway 94 Overpass.

   

Frosted Christmas Trees

I only made one visit to the Mall Of America during the Christmas Holiday Season. One thing I've noticed is they've changed all of their decorations throughout the mall. Well, sort of changed them. What I've always seen year after year now has a 'frosted' look to it. I'll post an older photo of the Christmas tree below, one from 2007, the other from 2006, each with a slightly different look. Don't get me wrong, I like the change, I was just surprised to see the same decorations in disguise gave it such a new look.

 

How Did They Do That?

When I first saw this house, I had to do a double take. Take a look at the size of the tree with the lights in it. That is a well established tree, I would estimate 60 feet tall? How they get the lights in this tree and keep power to it, is another question I would like answered....

Christmas Lights Tour

Not Quite Rockafeller Plaza

I always wonder how one gets Christmas tree lights so high up in the air like you see in this tree....after all, it is twice as tall as the house!

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thank you for stopping by on the days that you do to make this photo blog what it is.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Major snow storm is underway. They are predicting 16-21 inches of snow....oh my. So far, my work has closed for the first time ever with the company in 11 years.

The Blue Tree

There is something I like about blue LED Christmas lighting, perhaps the uniqueness, perhaps the calming colors, perhaps it just not as busy as the multicolored lights or it's just different than the over used white bulbs. I do like this capture that was sent to me from swc, enjoy!

What Do You See?

When I look at this Christmas wreath that is suspended in mid-air at a horizontal position, all I see is a great big decorated Eagles Nest. Call me strange, but that's what I see....how about you?

Woolly Mammoth Spotted In Cottage Grove

That's right, this life sized Woolly Mammoth made of chicken wire and wood frame, hay, some rope and a great imagination can be found along Highway 61 in Cottage Grove.

No Access

A view down one of the streets in Cottage Grove.

Natures Artwork

Snow, Wind, melting, wind, more wind....oh what fun nature has with blowing and drifting snow.

Winter Is Here To Stay

Blistering cold temps have set into the Twin Cities. The morning wake up weather should be around -7 F (-21 C), however, we are suppose to see a rise in temps throughout the day and should top +18 F (-7 C). The good news is, according to the calendar, we only have six more days until the first official day of winter!!

Impressive Tree House

I drove past this two story tree house last month where there as still a few leaves on the tree. I waited until the remainder of the leaves fell off to return here for a photo opportunity. The tree house is quite impressive and sticks out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood. I can imagine how much fun this would be in my younger days.

Published Photo For Twin Cities Daily Photo

One of my co-workers, Todd Swank, aka ShortArmGuy, brought in a newspaper from the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle in Colorado. A friend of his had seen a photo of him in their newspaper, so he sent him a copy of it. Todd had no idea what photo it was, since he hadn't submitted anything to them before, nor heard of the newspaper. When he got a copy of it and looked at the articles, it turned out to be two photos that I had posted here on Twin Cities Daily Photo back in September of 2007. There was three of us posing after our Fantasy Football draft. Todd brought the newspaper in to show me, since it was one of my photos of him and myself posed in the photo. That's me in the red shirt, Todd is on the right, with another co-worker, Nick, in the center. The second page of the article has the other photo of mine, it's the one of several people gather around a bar during the nights draft.

This particular photo has gotten quite a lot of traction in the search engines for the past couple of years. It's currently number 7 in the Google Image search using the search term Fantasy Football. There is also photos of girls in bikini's if you don't want to see that, don't click the link. Being number 7 on the phrase Fantasy Football is really huge in the world of search engines. I'm sure it lead to my photo being published in the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.

  

Let It Snow

We had our first major snow storm on Tuesday and into Wednesday. From what I heard, this snowstorm hit about two-thirds of the United States.

Across The Mississippi

Maplewood Mall Courtyard

From my shopping trip on Black Friday to Maplewood Mall. This is the main courtyard with quite a few of the booth stores to visit or ignore as most do.

Xcel During Intermission

Took this photo during the intermission of one of the Minnesota Wild's hockey games. I was trying to capture all of the team flags, but with so much hanging from the ceilings, find that perfect shot was next to impossible.

Passing By

Go Go Gophers

Painting The Night Sky

The Green Train

Theme Day: Waiting

Greetings fellow CityDailyPhoto bloggers and returning guests as you make your way through December's 'Waiting' theme day photos. A unique theme day and quite unusual from our standard take a photo of your favorite 'fill in the blank'. The theme today requires the photo to resemble an action, to tell a story, if you will.

I'm using a contribution photo today from swc as my theme day photo selection. Seeing just the apples hanging there in the bare tree, just out of reach. Gravity will get the best of these apples, but how long will they stay up there?

To see additional theme day photos around the world, stop by the portal page for a convenient thumbnail view of all participants. As the time zone changes each hour, more photos will be added.

A Splash Of Color

Lets start your Monday off with a colorful macro shot.

Tops and Bottoms Half Off

I managed to get out and do some shopping during Black Friday. Not something I normally do, but my kids wanted to experience this new shopping tradition. No, I was not one of those standing in line at 4:00 AM. to get the deal of the day. We had breakfast, got a couple things done around the house, THEN we ventured out to one of the smaller local shopping malls.

Coming Soon

This is what it's like to grill outdoors during a Minnesota winter....

Friday Reflections

Round Corners

Now for something completely different. The top corner of the entrance to a very well known fast food joint. The contrasting colors caught my eye while I was waiting in line.

Tugboat Row

Tugboats lined up along shore of the Mississippi River near downtown St Paul.

North Pole Cafe

From Newport, I love this mosaic on the wall outside the North Pole Cafe.

Lazy Sunday

Gate E

One of the entrances to the new Gopher football stadium. I have not been inside to a game yet, being as this was the first season, tickets were a bit tough to get. Not that I tried hard to get them this year. It is on my list of places to see a football game in the future years.

Another View From The Gates

It wouldn't be right to post one side of the stadium and ignore the other. This is the south side of the new TCF Bank Stadium. There is a bit more character on this side with a few more levels, the press box is there somewhere and who knows how many of those are suites.

TCF Stadium - View From The Gates

Made a return visit to the new Gopher football stadium. There wasn't a practice this evening, but there were enough lights on inside to snap a couple of shots. If my orientation is correct, this is the north side of the stadium.

Golden Gopher Basketball

Tubby Smith is in his third season as coach of the Minnesota Gopher Basketball team. Tonight's opponent was Steven F Austin. The game was close until around three minutes left in the first half, the Gophers pulled away at that point and never looked back. The crowd started leaving with about five minutes to play, so the place looks really empty. But with a nearly 40 point lead, the game was well in hand.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

My first thought was, this is a 'red-headed woodpecker'. After a google search, I found out it was a 'red-bellied woodpecker'. [wiki page] There actually is red on the belly, it's just very hard to notice when they are standing. This contribution photo from swc was captured a couple weeks ago. It landed on the feeder, he ran to get the camera hoping it would still be there for photographing. Luckily the bird cooperated long enough.

Britt's Pub

Opened in 1990, started out in a very small portion of downtown Minneapolis, but has now grow to be a very popular establishment. Yes, a British accent can be heard in the building from a few of the workers and guests.

Fall Colors At The Pond

New Home Of Gopher Football

I finally made it over to the University Of Minnesota to see the new TCF Bank Stadium at night. Minnesota Gopher football returns to campus after twenty plus years of playing football games in the Metrodome, several miles off campus. My visit was brief as I was there to see the Gopher Basketball game. I didn't have a tripod with me, but made do with what I could find nearby for this nighttime capture. The stadium is quite impressive and was larger than I expected it to be. The football team was having a practice, so some of the lights were on, just enough for this photo.

What Stands Out

There is a lot to look at in this contribution photo from swc. The unique gutters, more specifically the downspouts initially caught my eye, The new paint job on the building on the right and the faded version on the building on the left. Now, one thing I can't quite figure out is the blue door. Why is it painted blue, why is the door there, what is it used for and does it look a bit on the small side? Crazy capture.