Thursday December 6, 2007 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Spontaneous Order
Friday September 8, 2006 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Boom
What are the odds that a guy with a bass drum walks past the Holcomb-Henry-Boom Funeral Home on Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul while I’m stuck at a stop light and happen to have a camera with me? One out of one, apparently.
Friday March 24, 2006 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
License to Obscure
For the last couple decades or so, automobile license plate design has become increasingly poor. In Minnesota, we’ve lived with the stylized lake shore design (top right) since the early 1980s. I have never cared for it much. I prefer the way license plates used to look—plain design, two contrasting colors, name of the state and a slogan, with large, easy-to-read numbers. Simple and clear.
States have long seen license plates as a sort of advertisement, as evidenced by the obligatory slogan. New production methods, developed in the 1970s at 3M, a Minnesota company, allowed greater freedom than the old stamp and paint method. The current Minnesota “10,000 Lakes” design was one of the early ones and hasn’t changed much over the years. Recently, though, things have been getting strange.
First there was the “Critical Habitat” plate (middle). For an extra fee, you make a small contribution to help preserve wetlands and such, and let everyone know it by sporting this plate. When I first saw these, I was struck by two things. One, it looks like a little wildlife painting. 
Some people like that sort of thing, but I think it’s a bit out of place on a car bumper and makes the plate unnecessarily busy. Second, the numbers are smaller, narrower, and not raised. In fact, it looks like you could crank one out on an ink jet printer. The font itself is not the old standard license plate font, but some sort of artificially condensed version of Univers. It’s noticeably harder to read than the standard plates. And notice how the hitch obscures the second letter. There are a lot of cars with hitches in Minnesota. Did they not think of this?
But the “Critical Habitat” plate pales in comparison to the latest design which came out in December: The “Support Our Troops” plate (bottom). I don’t mind people wanting to show their support for the troops. What I have a problem with is the design. It looks as if it was intentionally laid out to make it hard to read the plate number. It’s got the same font problem as the “Critical Habitat” plate. On top of that, the number is printed in dark blue over a wavy, red stripe. Any competent graphic designer will tell you that dark blue on red is a terrible combination for readability. The wavy shape doesn’t help. Because of the reflective material used, it’s not so hard to read at night with a light shining on it. The background is more reflective than the numbers giving it decent contrast. But during the day, depending on the lighting conditions, these plates are sometimes impossible to read. Especially with numbers that have similar shapes on the top and bottom, like 0, 3, 6, 8, and 9.
I’ve blurred all three plates in the bottom three photos just to show how much harder these new plates are to read under less than ideal conditions. You can still easily make out the top one, but the others are anyone’s guess.
I always thought license plates were meant to make it easy to identify individual vehicles, say if a car is stolen or used in a crime. I guess that’s not such a big deal anymore compared to the fundraising and promotional opportunities.
Thursday February 2, 2006 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Indication Marker Sign
After driving past it for years, I suddenly realized what an absurd sign this is. Photo taken February 2, 2006, in the, uh, Midway area of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Sunday October 9, 2005 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated
My sharp-eyed daughter noticed this when we were doing our yearly apple-picking this morning. Photographed at Afton Apple Orchard, Afton, Minnesota, October 9, 2005.
Monday January 24, 2005 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Cooper Black Outline Shadow Snowcapped
Close-up of some dimensional letters on a government building in Roseville, Minnesota, January 23, 2005.
I’ve seen typefaces like this, but this is the real thing.
Friday November 19, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Strange Cloud, 1990
While traveling east through South Dakota in the summer of 1990, I stopped to snap a picture of this strange looking cloud. The flatness of the landscape and the emptiness of the sky gave it an eerie prominence.
Not long after this, we ran into a swarm of insects so thick we had to turn on the windshield wipers.
That evening, as we continued to drive, a cluster of lights zipped unnaturally fast across the sky just after dusk. It was the only time I’ve ever seen anything I would describe as a UFO. By a strange coincidence, we had just visited Devil’s Tower in Wyoming that morning. I don’t believe in such things as flying saucers and alien visitors, but the effect was unnerving.
We stopped at Chamberlain and checked into a motel. In the middle of the night, my partner woke up screaming that there were green and yellow bugs boiling out of the ceiling. As I fumbled to turn on the light (it was pitch black in the room), I happened to put my hand on her face, which she took to be a fox and screamed all the more. I finally found the light and, after a little while, we managed to get some sleep.
It turned out that the UFO we saw was a Russian rocket body breaking up and burning in the upper atmosphere. It was visible all over North America. No explanation for the bugs, except that they clearly fueled my partner’s hallucination. In fact, she had been overdosing on aspirin, which she was taking in massive quantities to overcome the pain of a toothache which started during our trip. Too much aspirin, it turns out, can cause hallucinations, especially of bugs.
And the cloud? They just look like that sometimes.
Monday September 20, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Magnum, Ph.D.
A brainy looking portrait of Tom Selleck seen on a carnival ride at the Minnesota State Fair on August 26, 2004.
Thursday August 26, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Portrait of the Artist in Concrete
Bust of artist Herman Rusch. Photographed at the Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden and Museum, Cochran, Wisconsin, on August 3, 2003.
Monday August 9, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Less-Than-Perfect Fit
A presumably unintentional contradictory message seen on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, August 5, 2004.
Wednesday August 4, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
SpongeBird SquarePants
Bizarre ceramic flower pot seen in an antique store in Wisconsin Dells, July 31, 2004.
Sunday August 1, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Roadside Attractions, Strange
I spent the last few days at a family reunion in Wisconsin Dells (you’ll find it listed in the dictionary definition for “tourist trap”). One of the stranger things I saw there was an attraction called “Top Secret,” shown in the photo above. It looks exactly like the White House was dropped from the sky. Upside down.
What it is, I don’t know. We were not quite curious enough to pay the hefty admission fee to find out. Supposedly, you have to promise not to tell anyone what’s inside so as not to spoil the surprise (or the disappointment, possibly). Among the typical themes in the Dells (lumberjacks, pirates, Mount Olympus, the Carribean, etc.) it was disconcertingly Dada-esque, and therefore kind of cool. It almost doesn’t matter what’s inside.
Friday July 30, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Big Tractor
Part of the sculpture park at New York Mills, Minnesota. Photo taken June 28, 2002.
Thursday July 22, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Old Clocks
Old clocks seen in an antique store. Photo taken June 28, 2002.
Sunday July 18, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Clocks
Some very laid back hand-painted Friz Quadrata. Photographed in St. Paul on February 3, 2003.
Tuesday July 13, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Where Cars Come From
Photo taken July 7, 2003, at the Franconia Sculpture Garden, Franconia, Minnesota.
Saturday July 10, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Pain, 99¢
St. Paul, Minnesota, February 2003.
Wednesday July 7, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Giant Fiberglass Animals
F.A.S.T., Inc., Sparta, Wisconsin, August 2, 2003. I used to see this place every time I visited my grandparents when I was little, and it’s still there. As seen in Zippy the Pinhead.
Sunday July 4, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Where I Get My Ideas
Photographed June 30, 2002, Wadena, Minnesota.
Saturday July 3, 2004 / Filed under: Roving Photographer
Exactly
Photographed October 8, 2003, St. Paul, Minnesota.