Along the West River Road, in Minneapolis, are several modern houses of the stark and low style, quite a contrast with the bungalows of the ‘teens and ‘twenties that fill most of the neighborhood’s streets.

Now see these:

• Ceann Thulabhaig from milou
• view from the restroom, shibuya from 1965 monochrome

The Saarinen (Eilel and Eero) Christ Church Lutheran church, Longfellow neighborhood.

The Saarinen (Eilel and Eero) Christ Church Lutheran church, Longfellow neighborhood.

Now see these:

• Sortie from Elaine
• In case… from Richard Vanek

The Saarinen (Eilel and Eero) Christ Church Lutheran church, Longfellow neighborhood.

Now see these:

• How Things Work from Shorpy
• Birthday shades from HELLO

The Saarinen (Eilel and Eero) Christ Church Lutheran church, Longfellow neighborhood, on a recent chilly snowy night (the dog and I were on our way to retrieve the car after Kelly had retrieved her recently-repaired bicycle from The Hub).

Now see these:

• in between days from Absolutely Nothing
• niagara #4 from myphotosquare
• Kameralehti comp from strap photos

West River Road, Minneapolis.

Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis.

Now see these:

• Birch trees from Feldauge
• A shadowy existence from milou
• prayer wheel from BOXMAN fotologue

West River Road, Minneapolis.

Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis.

The “Lake Wobegon” Scam Artist?

An interesting e-mail came over the transom today:

It’s my pleasure to invite you to my Father’s 70th Birthday Thanks giving service which is going to take place at Geneva United Methodist Church Geneva, Minnesota,united States on May 30th 2008, please Let us know if your compnay will be available on that day to take the Photography service for us and any other necessary things at the event,And get back to us with your package for like 5 hours, presently am not in the state but it’s my duty to take care of this part that’s why, I have to contacted you myself. Let me know if you can receive your payment with a CHEQUE from my client in the states.

There are a few things that are tip-offs here that something’s not on the up-and-up: the payment by “CHEQUE” (not how it’s spelled in Geneva, MN …), the stilted English, the suggestion that I might be an event photographer (take a look at the blurry Holga pictures and strange night pictures, and tell me if you’d really want me anywhere near your father’s birthday “Thanks giving” party…). But I find this almost touching in its lack of ambition: no crown prince of Swaziland, no royal family of Ghana, no lottery winnings from Spain or Ireland, just some guy at the United Methodist church in a little town near Albert Lea. Have the scam artists given up on their dreams and decided to settle down in Lake Wobegon?

A similar trick is outlined here: Scams on Artists, mnartists.org. The trick usually involves a cashier’s check that turns out to be bad, though after you’ve deposited it into your account, and a portion of that bad check being sent back to the miscreant (I’ll pay you $4,000, you keep $950 and send me the change . . .). And since it plays on the dreams and aspirations of someone with an artistic bent, it’s particularly cruel and nasty. Over at Daily Dickinson I pointed out another scam artist put to shame, this time by Emily Dickinson, or someone rather like her. It’s this sort of stuff that sucks the fun right out of the Internet.

West River Road, Minneapolis.

Now see these:

• uninvited guest from the narrative
• Weathered from Perspective Images
• The Candidate’s Toes from Unphotographable

West River Road, Minneapolis.

Now see these:

• Gate of the moon from Aperture First
• ARPEGGI from MONTMARTRE

Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis.

It’s cold here; like, “it will warm up to -1 degree Farenheit” cold; like, your breath doesn’t just fog, it freezes into ice crystals that shatter at your feet. No one around here needs air conditioner service today . . .

Now see these:

• afternoon light from 1965 monochrome
• untitled from UrbanGhost

Now see these:

• Winter Solitude from Perspective Images
• Allons au cinéma from Elaine
• from behind the scenes of paris’ hidden kitchen from Rion.nu

Now see these:

• Santiago de Cuba (Havana Club) from MAKING HAPPY
• frosty morning from Absolutely Nothing
• Don’t leave home without your camera from Still alive

Now see these:

• Grey Stone Fence from A Walk Through Durham Township
• Stonescape from 3 a.m. from Kyoto
• Logan’s Shooters Bar & Grill, Logansport from fourteen places to eat
• encounter from bighappyfunhouse
• Inside the Cage from Black and White Dreaming
• Watching from Wood | Stone
• Full Up from Sopheava de Lumiere
• Winter Tree #1 from tomo (seen at “Film is not dead it just smells funny”)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

This was a completely unintentional triple (or more?) exposure; the sprocket holes on the film tore, and it took a few frames for things to slide back into place. Still, I like the serendipity of it.

A couple of bits of Christmas cheer in case you’re looking for help getting your spirits in the right mood:

• Six funny stories from Kevin Kling: this whole broadcast from MPR is fabulous, but of particular interest today are his story of making a friend at an Uptown bar and how to ask God to ask Jesus to tell Santa that you need a squirrel monkey. And if you need a last-minute gift, grab the book.
• Christmas Past: Dick Gordon talks to illustrator and author Tomie DePaola about Tomie’s Christmas adventures, from a 1940s childhood full of magic fireplaces and war-time blackouts to Gregorian chants at a New England monastery to a San Francisco apartment festooned with a dwarf forest. There’s a great book behind this one, too; I picked up the last copy at the East Lake Street library, but no doubt it’s floating around elsewhere . . .