The figure below looks a little down... because he is lost! I left him somewhere on the streets of St. Paul recently :(  If you see him, please email me. There is a reward of $5 if found. Seriously, I'd rather have him back than have to buy a new one (he was a birthday gift from my wife).

This year was supposed to be exceptional for autumn colors. Its about two weeks past peak color for leaves in our area, but I finally got out today and took some shots. I didn't have anything specific in mind so I went with what felt right. If I had a dog, it would be the ideal moment for walking him around the neighborhood. As well, it was the perfect fall day for riding a bike.

(Click on photo to see full size)

I wanted to add to my St. Paul collection and thought that the Blair Arcade and W.A. Frost buildings at the Western & Selby intersection would make great backdrops. I tried a few different characters and scenarios but wasn't completely satisfied with the results.

I realized that the best angles were from the middle of the street. Obviously that is a problem due to the high volume of traffic during rush hour, which also happens to be the best time of the day for the type of light I want. Its an accident waiting to happen.

Then it occurred to me that I should create an accident scene. I didn't need to be in the middle of the street to get the shot, just a couple feet from the curb :)

Yesterday was my birthday and I received some new Preiser figures to play with. Edwige found the hazmat crew I had been wanting for months. I have a lot of ideas for photographing them, but my first thought was to bring them down to the old loading docks at Sibley and Wabasha in the lowertown area of St Paul.

The ceiling at the docks is always dripping some kind of liquid, I assume it's water. I thought it would make a great scene for my hazmat crew to investigate. While there, they discovered rusted barrels possibly containing toxic waste.

I realize that some of my photos do not give the viewer an understanding of just how small the figures are. So, in the second shot I placed my foot in the scene for reference.

Edwige and I biked to Minneapolis to check out the OccupyMN demonstration. I thought that it might be a great opportunity to shoot some minis protesting at an actual protest.

My shot does not represent what we witnessed (I embellished my scene a little bit :) The crowd was pretty calm and relaxed. There were not as many people as I had hoped, but we had some nice conversations with the few people that stopped to see what we were doing.

In the coming week, I hope to get out and photograph minis with what is left of the autumn color.