I remember seeing that orange construction sign one day while commuting to work. It stated that the Lafayette Bridge & Hwy 52 road/bridge construction project would begin in the Spring of 2011 and end in the Fall of 2015. All I thought was that it would be a very long disturbance to my daily routine. I never considered the upside to it all. I never imagined that a road/bridge construction project would spawn a *two-year-long daily photography project (2014-15).
The construction meant that the route I traveled while commuting to and from work would be met with daily delays. Little did I know that this would spawn a discovery of areas of St. Paul that I had typically only seen from the Lafayette Bridge or from I94. Little did I imagine that these areas were full of seemingly endless photo opportunities. Little did I imagine that I would completely immerse myself into a windshield photography-style of shooting.
The early stages of the construction project began a distance before the Layfayette Bridge. The Concord Street and Plato Boulevard overpasses came first. Traffic would back up to Concord Street as a result; this is where my exploration of West St. Paul began. There were no shortages of options off of the Concord Street exit from Caesar Chavez Street (opposite direction of Concord Street). I was afforded three different routes into Downtown/Lowertown St. Paul via the Robert Street, Wabasha Street and Smith Avenue bridges over the Mississippi River.
Once across the river my route options to arrive at Energy Park Drive (via Lexington or Front Street) were numerous. I spent a fair amount time traveling/shooting Robert Street, University Avenue, 5th Street, Lexington Avenue and Selby Avenue. I’ve found many delightful things along the way. Cora’s Best Wings, Don Panchos Bakery, Great Harvest Bread Co., Mississippi Market, St. Paul Farmer’s Market, Rice Park, Mears Park an Kellogg Mall Park to mention a few.
A routine is not whimsical, but rather purposeful. A routine is common-place. Routines are sometimes necessary to facilitate an orderly means to traverse through your daily activities. My initial routine upset was re-focused [literally] and I found a way to enjoy an unanticipated change. This next year, deviate from a routine; change it up and create a new one. You never know what is around that next corner or down that street you often drive by. Hopefully it will be something interesting, entertaining, tasty or otherwise pleasing. Happy New Year everyone!
*My photo-posting commitment was less formal prior to 2014 when I began self-hosting my blog out of storage space limitations. I began shooting in all the areas mentioned above in 2011 when the construction began. Much of 2013 is intact on my previous blog Outdoor Guy Photography. All posts prior to July 2012 were deleted :-/ More photos of St. Paul can be found in my 2013 Weekly Shots series. Unfortunately, the entire 52 week series did not survive site size trimming. 3 GB is the max size for a free wordpress.com site - hence the reason I moved to self-hosting. I've used bluehost.com for 2 - going on 3 years now and have been very happy.
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