I had a rare day off between seminars…
I had wrapped up the launch of my new full-day seminar in Indianapolis, and I took a night flight to Minneapolis on Tuesday so I would have Wednesday off to go shooting before my seminar there the next day.
I had planned on shooting some of the classic old building interiors in the area, and as luck would have it, one of my readers, Jay Grammond, hit me up on Linked In and asked if I was doing any shooting during my visit. He offered to take me around shooting if I was, and well, son-of-a-gun I was thrilled to have a shooting buddy for the day, so we started making plans.
I had done some research on my own (via 500px.com and Pinterest and Google), but when I arrived, Jay had a wonderful day, with a ton of cool sights, already lined up. We got started around 8:15 am and headed out in the rainy, cold, windy, yucky weather, but mostly we would be indoors, so we didn't sweat it. Our first stop of the day was in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota:
The Cathedral of St. Paul
The cathedral was on the top of my list, and luckily Jay had it as our first stop in nearby St. Paul, Minnesota. They welcome photographers, but they ask that you apply for a photo pass before just showing up, so Jay did apply and the credentials were waiting for us at the info desk. We had about 15 minutes to ourselves, but then…two tour buses packed with tourists arrived and that made things a bit more challenging. We tried to shoot around the tourists, and in some cases, we simply waited them out. I would have loved another 30-minutes with the place empty, but I was still thrilled to be able to shoot there at all.
It's the third largest cathedral in the US, and it was magnificent! This Roman Catholic cathedral reminded me of on ones you'd see in Europe, but here it was in St. Paul. The ceiling was quite amazing, and there's just an awful lot going on here architecturally. I could have spent hours there, but our pass was only for one hour. Here are a few shots (taken mostly with my Platypod, but a few with a tripod, and two handhelds after I thought we were done for the day but on the way out, I couldn't resist grabbing a few handhelds).
The Minnesota State Capitol Building
Our next stop was right down the street from the cathedral; the Minnesota State Capitol building. It was way better than I was expecting. Just beautiful, and there were some historians there that gave us some background on this fantastic building, and showed us lots of things we would have missed on our own. It opened in 1905 and was just recently completely, and the place looked like new.
We just walked in the front door (it's open to everyone). Once we started shooting, everyone was very accommodating, and we were allowed to shoot pretty much everywhere that wasn't currently in session. According to Wikipedia, this Capitol building "…houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office of the Governor." So worth a visit, even if you didn't take a camera (but bring your camera for sure!).
The Lakewood Cemetery Memorial Chapel
This is one I had discovered online in my pre-trip research, but I had no idea how remarkable this tiny chapel in a cemetery would be. The architectural design was inspired by the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. I saw the original Hagia Sophia in Istanbul on a trip there years ago (it was original built as a mosque, but it's a museum now). Sadly I never got inside, so I had just seen the exterior, but the exterior is distinctive enough that when I saw this small chapel in Minneapolis, my first thought was, "That looks like a mini Hagia Sophia"). Inside, this little chapel was stunning! Plus, it was open to the public, and we had the place to ourselves for about an hour, until a couple came in and just looked around. That was it. Glorious emptiness!
A few quick exterior snaps
It was gray and raining outside (all day, everywhere we went), and it was cold (it called for snow in that night's forecast), so I just jumped out of my friend's truck real quick with an umbrella and took a few hand-held shots just to have a reference photo of the outside. These are not great shots on any level, but on a nice summer's day, without the dead trees, and beautiful sky, you could make some wonderful images of its exterior (even though I surely didn't). Still a magnificent little chapel, even on a gray, rainy day.
The James J. Hill Center Research Library
Not far away from the Capitol, in nearby St. Paul is a beautiful library that Jay found (I always search for old classic libraries like this when I do my research before a trip, and I missed finding this one, but Jay nailed it). We asked at the front desk if we could come in and take photos, and they were happy to have us in (everybody, everywhere on this day was so nice and welcoming. I freakin' love the Midwest).
We only spent about 30 minutes there, but it was a fun 30. We had access to the 2nd floor, which I think gave the best views. I balanced my Platypod on the railing, aiming down to get the shot you see below.
Thanks for letting me share these with you.
I was delighted to have spent a rainy day in Minneapolis, mostly indoors shooting such beautiful, fascinating, and just gorgeous interiors. Thanks to Jay for finding these excellent spots, driving me around to them, and for making my day in the Twin Cities so memorable. My seminar the next day was an absolute blast (thanks to all the friendly and gracious photographers in Minneapolis who came out), and I can't wait to go back again on a nice summer's day.
CAMERA INFO: Canon EOS Camera 5D Mark IV with a Canon 16-35mm f/4 lens mounted on a Platypod Ultra base with a Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead. All the shots taken on my Platypod or tripod were taken at f/11 at 100 ISO shot in Aperture Priority mode with exposure bracketing turned on (2-stops + and –). There were a few hand-held shots in the Cathedral; those were at ISO 800 at f/4.5 - 1/5 to 1/8 of a second shutter speed, single exposures.
Credits:
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