Downtown again with a fisheye lens.
Minneapolis has some interesting photo ops in its unique system of skyways. While in these elevated links between buildings, surrounded by glass, you can look up, down and all around. A 180° fisheye lens sees opportunity.
I use a TArtisan 11mm full-frame lens with my Nikon Z6, and a super-compact Pergear 10mm APS-C lens with my Z50. (If you’re puzzled by fisheye lens specs, see this post.)
The full-frame setup is optically better and gives more cropping room. But the APS-C combination is compact and stealthy – and if you’re wondering why that’s important, see my post on dodging security guards.
I was down there recently, walking the system. Now that I’m no longer working, it’s weirdly enjoyable to pass through the lobby of a big office building and swim in the school of white-collars. I’d just left 5th Street Towers and was standing in a skyway framing a shot, when four executive suits photo-bombed me:
Over on the west side of downtown, by the baseball stadium, big parking ramps are connected by l-o-o-o-o-n-g skyways. It’s a peaceful walk, from nowhere to nowhere, and the visual geometry is crazy:
Nicollet Mall is the heartbeat of downtown Minneapolis – although, looking down on it on a cold day in February, the pulse is slow. The long shadows are created by the low winter sun bouncing off the RBC Plaza a block to the north.
Love the black and white work and the fish eye is cool too.
Great images, Jim. I always look at your fish-eye shots and think – I must do that somewhere! I’m off to Dubai shortly – perhaps that is the spot for fisheye images! Mmhh.. perhaps I need to make the investment now!
First I must say that I LOVE my Z50! Yes I put it in my purse and with a compact lens I can get it almost anywhere without problems. It’s a great camera does a stunning job. Second, I love your fisheye lens photos in this post. Makes me want to get one. I wonder if I would have enough opportunities here in Sacramento to sue them though. There are more trees than there are buildings here.