On a recent Saturday I knew I would be in downtown Minneapolis to drop off family for a dance program so I thought I'd photograph in the area near the theater-- the Minneapolis warehouse district, now officially known as the North Loop area. Many of the old businesses are gone; the buildings remain and are being put to new uses. I decided to shoot with an EXA 1a using old lenses-- the 50 mm f/2.9 Meritar, the 50mm Zeiss Tessar, and the 35mm f/2.9 Angenieux and some APX 25 film that I still have. My hope was that maybe matching the older hardware with some older buildings might make something happen. I've had the EXA for years, but used it only for close-ups and copying in recent times; it's a barebones outfit with few conveniences (the Meritar did have the pre-set feature; the other two didn't). Here are some results.
The sign on a building at 125 N. 1st St. caught my eye so I circled around, parked and found my way to the front of the building shown above. (I later found out that it's been photographed frequently, though not much that I've seen in b&w.) It seemed more well-designed than might be expected for a foundry. By the way, seen in the reflection at the right is another eye-catching building (124 N. 1st St) which I photographed unsuccessfully (angle problem arising from shooting handheld at the stopped-down setting) and will have to get back to.
The long side of the Commutator building extends along 2nd Avenue North with a very nice line of inset and arched windows, seen above looking North and below looking South. (These first three photos were made with the 35mm Angenieux.)
I thought that the old-fashioned approach made a pretty fair record of an interesting old building. I will get back to it with a more systematic plan some day; I could probably do most of it with the equipment I used for these.
The piers and pillars on the right are at North end of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge which I crossed to get to Nicollet Island , a tract of 40 some acres with a high school, some residences, a park with trails, and an Inn for food, drink, and lodging. The stone sculpture on the left above was a gift from a city in Japan; it is an enlarged version of an ancient form used for casting a bell; it seems right at home where it is. (This photo and the one below were made with the F/2.8 C. Zeiss Jena Tessar.)
I crossed an old iron bridge to get off the island and into SE Minneapolis where I used the last frame in the dwindling light on these trees rising up by the huge grain elevators of a General Mills installation.
Older parts of the city and their buildings seem attractive to me; as I look at the pictures I made of them, I hope that I haven't made them seem gloomy. I'm struck more by their solidity and style and that's what I hope will come through.
(Photos made on Nov. 11, 2011 on equipment noted above; APX 25 developed in Rodinal.)
