Saturday, January 16, 2010, 02:02 PM
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In 1984 we spent about a year living in the town of Shimoda Japan. Located about 3 hours from Tokyo, the town is a well known hot spring spa and beach resort area, but also a rice farming and fishing village. At the time it also had a very active shipyards. I spent almost every day photographing the town and the countryside around Shimoda. Being away from major cities and professional photo labs I decided to primarily work in black and white, although I had been working exclusively in color for about seven years at that point. But like my earlier color work I used a 4X5 Sinar camera for all of my photography. I processed the film and made contact prints while in Japan and larger fiber based prints back at our studio, then located in St. Paul. I had a show of the images in 1985 at Film in the Cities in St. Paul Minnesota with Stephen Shore (his of course were his American images and were color photographs) and a show in Japan later that same year with my wife Ann-Marie Rose, hers being hand colored black and white and shot with an 8X10 camera.
I had not forgotten about the work, and in fact my office in our studio hangs work from that series. But given that it has been 25 years I decided to do a short run small book of 25 of my favorite photos from that project. Click on the image above right to see the cover. The book is available on Lulu at:
Izu Shimoda 1984 Book by David Husom You can preview all 25 photographs here as well as order a copy of the book.
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Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:07 PM
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Minnesota has a small bump at the top where the US - Canadian border extends beyond the normal 48th parallel that divides the two countries. This is due to a 19th Century dispute over where the true source of the Mississippi was and the fact that the US wanted access to Lake of the Woods. It is the most northern point in the lower 48 (contiguous) states. To get here you leave the US in Roseau MN and drive through Canada for about an hour. When you cross from Canada back into Minnesota along the dirt road that leads into the Northwest Angle here is the border maker. Note the cut in the trees running north behind the marker showing the border. (Don't forget to check back in with US Customs at one of the remote border stations via video phone). Click on the image to see a larger version. Photograph Copyright David Husom 2009 All rights reserved.
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Once you get to the town of Angle Inlet (to call it a town is a stretch—but it does contain a post office and a store), you find about a half a dozen resorts. Drop your boar into Lake of the Woods at any of the boat ramps and head back west to the point where the inlet becomes an unnamed creek and you are at the true most northern point of Minnesota and the contiguous states. From out in the water looking back south at the border you see the clear cut line that runs the length of the US-Canadian border in the Northwest Angle. To the right is Manitoba, to the left is Minnsota. Click on the image to see a larger version. Photograph Copyright David Husom 2009 All rights reserved.
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Here is the actual spot or tripoint where Minnesota, Manitoba and Ontario Canada meet. The exact spot is under water, but there have been markers nearby on the land at various times. Even in high water it is very shallow and weedy here. But according to our GPS, this is the point. Turning back around the clear cut in the tres (above) is very obvious. For such an important point, it is all very insignificant looking. But it is a spot we do like to visit every few years. If nothing else it is a bit of a challenge to get here. Click on the image to see a larger version. Photograph Copyright David Husom 2009 All rights reserved.
And here is a Flip Video from YouTube showing the same spot. Note the cut line at the very end of the clip. Video Copyright David Husom 2009 All rights reserved. Watch Video
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Saturday, September 5, 2009, 03:33 PM
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Our studio will once again be part of the Mississippi River valley fine art tour. Called the Studio Ramble, this is the 8th year for the tour. I will have some new work and some new projects to show. If you missed the Anderson Center show American Heartland last winter much of that work on display. My co-exhibitor Bill Rodman from that show will be showing his work here at our studio as well. Stop by on Sept 19th or 20th between 10:00 and 5:00.
This years poster and brochure features one of my recent photographs from Arnold's Amusement Park in Okoboji IA. Click on the image on the left to see a larger version.
For more information and to download a map visit: www.studioramble.com
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Friday, June 5, 2009, 03:19 PM
On a snowy day last winter I was invited to be meet with 9 others in the field of historic architecture to pick the ten most endangered buildings in the state. The panel included architects, an anthropologist, architectural historian, representatives from the Minnesota Historical Society and the Preservation Alliance of MinnesotaIt was actually a much more serious and engaging day than I would have expected. Although each of the possible structures had gone through a fairly rigourous nomination process we had to weigh each one carefully to decide not just the worthiness of the entry, but also possible benefits from listing, and if the structure or similar ones had been listed recently. In the end we each picked one building or structure to write up a description of for press releases and the Web. Of course I could not pass up the chance to work on the wonderful fish shaped building in Bena MN. Featured in a number of books on roadside Americana and in the introduction to the Chevy Chase movie National Lampoon Vacation it is certainly a structure worth preservation. Let’s hope that the nomination encourages the owner, town and the powers that be to help keep this wonderful landmark of vernacular architecture in repair.
Here is the full list for 2009: www.mnpreservation.org/programs/ten-most-endangered
As well as a great article from the Mpls Star Tribune about the list: www.startribune.com/local/44569787.html?elr=KArksUUUU
And more on the Bena Fish: www.roadsideamerica.com/blog/fish-landmarks-on-land
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Friday, January 23, 2009, 04:31 PM
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Photographs I have taken in Southeastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin over the past 5 years are now on exhibit at the Anderson Center in Red Wing MN. The exhibition, titled American Heartland, is a two person exhibit with William Pringle Rodman. Rodman, a Minneapolis photographer, has been photographing in many of the same areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin during the past few years. All of the photographs in the exhibit were made with film. I shoot 4X5 color but do make digital pigment prints. Bill Rodman shoots 35mm black and white film and makes conventional darkroom prints. The gallery is open 9-4 Mon -Thur and 9-12 on Fri. The show is up through March 13th. . National Geographic Traveler magazine recently named the Anderson Center, along with the Walker Art Center, Weisman Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Guthrie theatre as one of the five most important arts institutions in Minnesota. Click on the image above left to see a larger version of the exhibition announcement. See the Anderson Center Website for more information
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Photograph of the opening by Michael Lougee Copyright 2009. Click on the image on the left to see a larger photograph.
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