September 5 - Alarys

Well, the RNC cleared out of St. Paul and we can get back in the bars and restaurants. What better reason to knock off work an hour early on a Friday? Alarys on West 7th is as good a place as any to get a brew when you're downtown, as long as you're not a Vulcan...

Got this with the camera at the bar as our server rang up the bill:

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EXIF: Canon 5D, EF 24-105 4L IS @ 84mm, f/4, 1/30, ISO 800
Exposure Date: September 5, 2008

September 4 - SPPD

It has been interesting being down here in the thick of things over the last week. Yesterday the police presence was amazing. I went out walking with a friend to see what was going on, even walked up to the Capitol to check out the Anti-War folks. As we got back to the office, several vanloads of cops pulled up next to our building and parked, got out and started strapping on the riot gear.

In some ways, it seems like it would be cool to suit up for something like this, but in reality, it can't be all that much fun. I was talking to a relative of a St. Paul cop the other day and learned that the city required these guys to get personal insurance because protestors will often sue arresting officers. Don't they understand that these guys are the ones that protect their freedom to demonstrate in the first place?

Snapped this shot as I walked past one of several groups of officers as I left town:

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If you get a chance to express your thanks to one of these fine folks I suggest you do so.

EXIF: Canon 5D, EF 24-105 4L IS @ 24mm, f/4, 1/1600, ISO 400
Exposure Date: September 4, 2008

September 3 - Last Days

Every time I see people with signs (except perhaps the ones that say "Circle me Bert!"), I wonder if they really take into account what sort of reaction they are likely to generate. Especially the types of signs that come out during events like the RNC this week in St. Paul.

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What's really strange (at least it was to me) is that this guy actually was pretty coherent and had some good stuff to say - church in America these days is too political, it's corrupt, it's not an organization Jesus would identify with, etc. Strange because his sign didn't say any of that. It said:

LAST DAYS
LAST CHANCE
ESCAPE HELL
OBEY JESUS

I dunno...perhaps the "OBEY JESUS" part is where he thinks that matches up to what he was talking about, and I did hear him go off on what seemed to be a huge "end of days" tangent. Is Jesus just a big "get out of jail free" card like in Monopoly though, so we can keep traveling around the board?

What I didn't hear him talking about (and this applies to most of the people I hear criticizing the Church today) is any real solutions to the problems of corruption and self service. Where are the people that have the solutions? Oh that's right....they're actually out there working for the greater good instead of making a spectacle without solving any real problems.

I'm all for free speech, and all for demonstrations. I'm all for criticism where it's due....but can someone make a sign that makes people think positively for a change?

EXIF: Canon 5D, EF 85mm 1.8, f/2.8, 1/3200, ISO 100
Exposure Date: September 3, 2008

September 2 - Vote 4 Jesus

The RNC is in full swing down here in St. Paul. Went for a walk yesterday over by Rice Park where MSNBC has a big stage set up and saw this guy trying to convince a security guard to...well...you can read his sign.

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It's bringing out all sorts of fun people....

EXIF: Canon 5D, EF 70-200mm 2.8L IS @ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 800
Exposure Date: September 2, 2008

August 22nd - Elevator (bonus shot)

I was going through some other photos and liked this one well enough to post a bonus photo. Some of you might recognize my friend Brian from his birthday photo.

Shot this one with my camera low, just below my hip. I really enjoy wide angle lenses and the very wide field of view one can get even in tight spaces.

As you can tell from the EXIF data, it's pretty dark in that elevator.

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EXIF: Canon 5D, EF 17-40mm/4L @ 17mm, f/4, 1/25, ISO 1600
Exposure Date: August 22, 2008

September 1 - Brew bubbles

Missed a couple of days posting - I did make photos, but they were on film, so they'll take longer to put up.

Yesterday I brewed a batch of beer (a very good thing to do on Labor Day), and as I was working on getting the wort to boil, I noticed some very regular bubbles forming, so I grabbed a camera with my macro lens and did a few very closeup "landscapes" of the foam. This shot doesn't actually show how uniform the bubbles were at one point, but I chose this one because of the foam lines and the shallow depth of field.

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EXIF: Canon Digital Rebel XTi, EF 100m/2.8 macro, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 400
Exposure Date: September 1, 2008