Best of MinnPics - December 2014

from flickr user Aaron Groen
Wow. I don't even know where to begin to describe the stunning quality and skill that comes from the photographer behind the Best of MinPics for December 2014. Aaron Groen (the photographer) seemingly spends many nights each month stalking the perfect location (mostly rural) and matching that with the perfect celestial sky which makes for art (which he rightly sells). This photo of a rural church in Jackson County, Minnesota is that rare match of perfect skies and location. A signature of rural life -- the country church under a sky filled with a galaxy of stars.

Here we are, the last entry to the Best of MinnPics 2014. It's been a long journey through 2014. A year full of firsts and lasts. June brought historic floods to the Minnesota River Valley while January saw the deflation of the Metrodome. I showcased 192 photos here in 2014 and while that was less than in previous years, it was the best year yet as I brought in some fun with the Minnesota State Fair Bingo Cards in August and played around with a rural twist back in April.

Be sure to keep checking back through the end of the year and maybe even into 2015...

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Basilica of St. Mary - Minneapolis, MN

from flickr user Paul D

The photographer says: I went to shoot the Spoon and Cherry at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and ended up on this nice overpass facing the Basilica of St Mary with the taillights of the traffic in the background.

Per Wiki, "The Basilica of Saint Mary is a Roman Catholic minor basilica located on its own city block along Hennepin Avenue between 16th & 17th Streets in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the first basilica established in the United States. The Basilica of Saint Mary is the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and is one of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the country."
 


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Angry skies

from flickr user Karen Hunnicutt
Moody skies frame this solitary country church as rays of sunlight break through the ragged cloud cover on this rural Minnesota scene.

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Former church, Ogilvie Minnesota

from flickr user Todd J. Hein
I think that was a former church, at least I am assuming that by the shape of the windows, but the arched window above the entrance says "Grange". So perhaps it was used as a Granger hall at one time. The building slid off of the foundation, I think that the foundation was just sitting on top of the ground.