Photos Posts

Solon Springs Bottling Works (1915?)

Postcard from Fond du Lac Kaffee Stuga

The old Swedish coffee cottage in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood was featured once before on Perfect Duluth Day in the post “Mystery Photo #16: Holm’s Kaffe Stuga.” It was located on Highway 23 at 123rd Ave. W.

Melrose Avenue in 1947

Street repairs on Melrose Avenue in Duluth. Two watch, three work.

Selective Focus: #perfectduluthday

Summer is over, but don’t fret. Everybody knows fall is actually the best season. Here are some recent #perfectduluthdays. Get out and enjoy.

Where in Superior?

For the 181st edition of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation “Where in Duluth?” we exit the city limits and cross the bridge to Superior. Can you name the location where this sign hangs?

Coldsnap of the Harbor

Coldsnap

John Gregor of Coldsnap Photography takes a picture. I melt.

Nettleton Elementary School 1962 First Grade Class Photo

Among the students in the Nettleton Elementary School first-grade class of 1962 is famed street photographer Wing Young Huie, seated in the middle of the second row. In August Huie was selected as the McKnight Foundation’s 2018 Distinguished Artist. He is the first photographer to receive the honor.

Postcard from Fairmount Park in 1948

This postcard of Duluth’s “municipal zoo,” now known as Lake Superior Zoo, was mailed 70 years ago today — Sept. 8, 1948.

Selective Focus: Nik Nerburn

Photographer and filmmaker Nik Nerburn has a show at Hemlocks Leatherworks and a show opening next Thursday at Duluth Art Institute. His photos are spontaneous glances that grab and pull you in, wondering about the rest of the story.

NN: I’m a documentary storyteller. I make movies and take pictures. Most of my work is about life in the upper Midwest, mostly rural areas, small towns, and places that are changing. I’m currently working on a photo essay about the shifting politics and culture of Duluth and the Iron Range, a documentary film called The Great American Think Off about a philosophy contest in New York Mills, Minnesota (population 1,119), and a photo book called The Grand Terrace Photo League, which is a documentary collaboration between myself and the residents of an apartment building in Worthington, Minn., which houses mostly recent immigrants who work at a nearby pork processing plant. I care about expanding the common life and finding ways to relate across great differences.

Mystery Photos #72 and #73: Duluth in 1926

Tim Winker of Saginaw found two 1926 Duluth photos while going through his family’s collection. “Any guess as to where on the hillside these might have been taken?” he asks.

Slacklining at Palisade Head

The big topic on Perfect Duluth Day’s Facebook page over the past two days is whether the above photo showing a slackliner at Palisade Head is legit or a carefully edited hoax.

Selective Focus: Marissa Saurer

Marissa Saurer is an artist blending photography and painting with digital tools, focusing the camera on food, nature and the environment.

MS: I am a photographer who sometimes tries to walk the line between photography and painting. I do this by bringing my images into Corel Painter®, and digitally painting over them using my own brush strokes.

I have been a food photographer for a few years now working in the restaurant and craft beer industry. While I love food, I have recently expanded into landscape photography due to my love for nature and the outdoors. Some of my work has been specifically to help environmental causes.

Selective Focus: Duluth and Northern Minnesota Film Photographers

Photo courtesy of Kip Praslowicz

There’s a show currently hanging at Blacklist, photography all shot on film by area photographers. The pieces come from members of the Duluth and Northern Minnesota Film Photographers, a group that meets monthly to discuss the process, challenges and variations of shooting on film. The evening will be both a reception for the show and one of the monthly meet-ups.

Mystery Photo #70: East Superior Street in 1908

This photo from Detroit Publishing Company is dated 1908 — 110 years ago — although some evidence in the comments to this post indicate suggest it could have been shot prior to that year. It depicts a scene on East Superior Street in Duluth. The mysteries: What block? Are the homes in the image still there? Can someone recreate the mystery photo with a modern image from the same spot?

Mystery Photo #69: Tall Ship

Based on fashions of the spectators, this photo appears to be circa the 1990s. Throngs have gathered to watch a tall ship sail into the Duluth Harbor. What is the name of the vessel? When precisely did this happen?