Photos
4x photo submission deadline extended
The 4x (meaning “4 by” as in 4×6 print, or 4×26 print) exhibit at the Duluth Photography Institute has extended the deadline for its call for submissions until Monday, March 4. This exhibit is open to everyone. Just attach your 4xsomething print to a stiff backing, put your name and contact info on the back, and drop it off or mail it to the DPI. We are accepting drop-offs on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., and Monday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. For more important details, please see the “Events” page of the DPI website or call Brian at 218.393.2468.
R.I.P. John Munsell
University of Wisconsin-Superior professor John Munsell died on Tuesday. He taught at UWS from 1967 to 2001 and was one heck of a character.
Speaking of his characters, one of them in April 1997 was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, shown above.
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Homegrown Band Publicity Photo Showdown: Southwire vs. Sexhawk

Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)

Sexhawk (photo by Caleb Renno)
With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up in three months, now seems like a good time to launch a series of PDD polls, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. First up, we ask …
[poll id=”22″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Southwire — 60.4 percent
Sexhawk — 39.6 percent
Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.
Water-smoothed Rocks at Brighton Beach
Mary Amerman of Duluth won the grand prize in Lake Superior Magazine’s 18th annual Lake Superior Photo Contest. Her photo of the water-smoothed rocks on Duluth’s Brighton Beach was one of 1,284 images entered in the contest from 138 different cities, in 18 states, one U.S. Territory (Guam) and Canada.
Duluthian Kenji Ogura won first place in the Artsy/Altered category with a photograph of the weekly regatta. All the winners and finalists are featured in a gallery on lakesuperior.com.
Wicked North Shore Icicles
Former Duluthian here, now a couple of hours further up the shore. My coworker (at the Cook County Visitors Bureau) snapped this photo in the Grand Marais harbor earlier this week. Too awesome to not share.
Photo from Grand Marais, MN on Facebook.
Snow Sculpture
A snow sculpture at the corner of 21st Avenue East and Fourth Street depicts an angel with her arms around weeping children. (more…)
Lake Superior Debris
My wife and I noticed an unusual amount of debris on the shore Saturday morning — lots of shards of glass, clinkers, ceramic, etc. Why now? Was a shipwreck dredged up?
Posted: No Wolf Hunting
Passing along this photo from Ivy Vainio; click the image to see it in context.
Fond du Lac Band passed an ordinance banning the wolf hunt a few days ago.
Dan Kraker provided some fairly decent balanced coverage that explains some of the legal and cultural implications of the wolf hunt in this MPR News story.
Halloween banners
Got any good Halloween photos? It’s the annual call for Halloween banners on PDD. Remember, not every photo makes a good PDD banner.
Some basic rules:
The image must be 960 pixels wide by 167 pixels high. The Perfect Duluth Day logo will be added by PDD’s art department.
The lower portion of banner photos serve as background to the navigation bar, so crop your image with that in mind. Make sure essential elements are not in the area that will be obscured. Don’t stretch the photo to make it fit the ridiculously horizontal proportions. That always looks poopy, and will probably disqualify the photo from bannerdom.
If all of this is too much to wrap your head around, or you don’t have the right image editing software, e-mail the uncropped photo, and we’ll do our best to crop it so it looks good.
Send them to banners@perfectduluthday.com.
Fond du Lac young people march for kids
I was on my way into work this morning and I saw some young people from the Take Back Our Rez Facebook group walking along Big Lake Road on Fond du Lac Reservation. That’s like the equivalent of rush hour as it is the main artery to and from Highway 33 and I-35, lots of cars headed up and down the road on the way to work or school. (more…)
Remembering the Duluth Bicycle Tree
An old “Where in Duluth?” post reminded me of the “Bicycle Tree” near the College of St. Scholastica. Eight years ago, or longer, a collection of bikes started growing on a tree … or whatever happened. I actually never saw it, I only heard about it. Fortunately, Tony Rogers has a whole gallery of photos from 2004.
Photog seeking props
I’m working on a little side project, more or less some product shots. I’m looking to borrow a few items that I haven’t been able to turn up while thrifting which has been mind boggling seeing as how they are pretty common items. Well, for the most part. I think I should only need these for a day, two tops. (more…)
Help-Portrait
This is a “call out” to all Duluth and surrounding area photographers, makeup artists, and hair stylists. I am trying to organize a Help-Portrait event on Dec. 8 at the American Indian Community Housing Organization in Duluth.
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Minnesota Fall Colors 2012 — From Castle Danger to Split Rock State Park
Pics from the Superior Hiking Trail. (more…)
Town of Bell Cemetery, 1902 to 1915
Out in Bayfield County Wisconsin is the small town of Bell (within which is the more well-known unincorporated place of Cornucopia). Two little secret spots in Bell are the old 23-grave cemetery (photos above) and the Lost Creek Falls Trail (photos of that to come in a future post).
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I am Manitou and so are you
Manitou, referring to spirit beings in Algonquian groups of Native Americans, is also the name of a river along Minnesota’s north shore. The Manitou River runs through George Crosby Manitou State Park where I decided to camp alone Saturday night.
Crescent Moon Campground
By David Cowardin
Duluth Outdoors Editor
If you haven’t been to the mouth of the Lester River since the flood hit in June, it’s worth checking out: Rocks and debris have formed an island resembling a crescent moon about 50 feet from shore.
When I first saw it, many thoughts came to mind:
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