Illuminating

Last night Nick and I went to a very cool art exhibit. It was a gorgeous night - a perfect 72 degrees and a beautiful full moon. My mom took the kids last night, so Nick and I headed to downtown Mpls around 10pm! We joked that we had not left to go out that late since the early days. We met my brother, Patrick, and his wonderful girlfriend, Jillian, downtown for drinks by the river. After a nice cocktail, we went for a stroll along the riverbank down to the Stone Arch Bridge. Patrick, the photographer extraordinaire that he is, knew about a very cool art exhibit that was going on there. It was so great. Red Bull is sponsoring a FREE art exhibit called "Illume" which showcases the best of action and adventure photography in different categories like "Spirit", "Energy", "Sequence" etc. Each photo is encased in a huge black box, only visible at night when the box is illuminated from within. If you were to stroll by during the day, you would just see a shiny black box. The boxes of light stretched across the mighty Mississippi, with the beautiful crisp Minneapolis skyline as a backdrop. The juxtaposition (yes, I am whipping out an "arty" word) of the modern photography and city against the fact that we were strolling on a historical stone arch bridge while an entrepreneurial accordian player attempted to infuse a bit of a Paris feel to the evening was quite enjoyable. The experience was great and the photos were fantastic - I cannot believe how crazy/brave some of these athletes are....and how crazy/brave/creative the photographers must be to think of the shots and be in the position to take them! If "Illume" comes to a city near you I recommend it....but I have to say what made the exhibit for me was the locale. Were it in an exhibition hall it would have lost at least 50% of it's wow-factor. Below are some pics that, for legal reasons I probably should tell you, I screen-grabbed from the Illume site. Full credit to whoever snapped them! :)