Downtown Minneapolis- Hennipin Ave. - PHOTO HEAVY

Last night I tackled the task of photographing neon signs along Hennipin avenue. My friend Andy accompanied me, always nice to have someone watching your back while shooting. Of course, it was also wonderful to have his company.


The first spot that we stopped, because our original intent for the evening was Hennipin Avenue, Lake Street and Lyndale, was Lowry Hill Liquors. We pulled up around 9pm. Lights aglow and dousing the street with their red glow. I got my camera out, switched up my lens and turned around to start creating images. The sign was off. They had closed at 9. Being my, my first though was "I will just ask them to turn it back on." They did. The guy inside was wonderful, his response was "Hold on a second while I figure out which switch it is!" I Love that these photos are unique, because in the little closed sign in the corner is balancing the large glowing sign. These two things are not usually lit at the same time. AWESOME! I also created a close up without the words Liquor Store, in order to not fill my book with Liquor Store signs. Even though that is one of the prominent business that has maintained their neon signs.

After this shoot we adventured to downtown, a trip the the Electronics Cage at my school had become necessary.  My tripod mount had been left at home,making longer exposures nearly impossible. At least long exposures with any control over composition. I also chose to check out a 7D and a wide angle lens to accompany me for the evening. I love the way that the censor on the 7D is able to capture the Neon. It also performs nicely on a higher ISO letting me do a little more hand holding and still capture beautiful images.

Here are an array of the images I ended up making along Hennipin avenue. I filled my card and ended up with over 200 pictures for the evening. Note: all of these photos are straight from camera. No editing, no cropping.

Finally I have handful of signs that are not lit. I plan on adding these into my book to break up the glow of the other signs. I think it says a lot about a sign for it to still be in it's original location after the establishment is shut down. These also almost tell a story of an afterlife, or a purgatory I guess.

Glens Garage & Icehouse Beer

This is Glen's garage. The Icehouse Beer neon sign, is the only one. I love the way that it has been incorporated into this work space.

I also found the 1955 Chevy sign a very interesting visual, especially since the blue of the sign, matches the blue of the insulation on the ceiling. Too bad It will not be something that I add into this book. Maybe next time!

Eat Street & Minnehaha Liquors

On February 5th Katie Engleman (blog) and I made plans to tackle a portion of Eat Street. We met at The Spyhouse Coffee shop on Nicollet Ave. Starting our evening around 6 pm. For me this was, of course, an adventure in capturing the neon signs of the area. For Katie it was about the people and the businesses of the neighborhood. I did not find much neon, other than open signs on our adventure. Though it was a fantastic time going out shooting in a new area, stepping out of our comfort zones, and shooting with a wonderful photographer who I have not had many opportunities to make photographs with.
The one sign that I found that fascinates me is the  Franklin-Nicollet Liquor Store. It was not lit up, but I do plan on returning and creating more photographs. I think in my final book I will display the two images together, contrasting the two images and showing how the glow of neon changes the feel of a location.

My adventure with Katie was the second part of my evening of creating photographs. I had plans to stop at Target, on Lake street, on my way to meet up with Katie. Turns out I get distracted by neon signs very easily. Minnehaha Liquors was lit up and calling my name. For photos of course, not the liquid inside of the store. I feel I created a lot of beautiful images of the Liquor Store. The color in the sky was still hanging on by it's final threads, which made for a stunning blue backdrop for my images.

I have been enjoying my abstract shots of these neon signs. I feel it captures the neon tubing in a way where you look at the craftsmanship of the sign as well as the sign itself.  For these specific photographs I love the way that the tree branches add a natural element to this giant man made sign.

First Day Shooting - Maren & Nick's Garage

My first photoshoot for this essay was scheduled on February 1st 2012.

I was go go to Maren and Nick's house and photograph his small neon sign collection in their garage.

That day was a really good experience for me, finding out which exposures worked best to help capture the true essence of the neon signs.

Here are a handful of the photographs that I created in their garage.

Feedback is appreciated!

Close to Home - Cocktail Lounge & White Bear

I live by a lot of great signs, as the sun was setting it was the perfect evening to capture the glow of the signs with the slowly darkening sky behind them. It was also a great time to play with longer exposures and to see how that affects the neon.

The cocktail lounge sign that you see first, is a sign that I had photographed during the time that I was working on my first Motel Signs project.( An original scan of an image from my July 2011 Series seen below) Many of the lights were burnt out at that time. Cocktail was out on one side and Lounge was out on the other. It warms my heart to see that this sign has been repaired and is now in it's full glory.

In the background of the photo on the right,   you can see that this sign is in very close proximity to The Northernaire Motel sign that was replaced. 

The White Bear Shopping Center sign is one I had never seen until this night.  After photographing the Cocktail Lounge sign, I decided to keep driving. This is what I found, and I was very glad that there was still light in the sky to help define the shape of the sign. I shot many long exposures, 4+ seconds of this sign to capture different car trails. I like how the car trails mimic the look of neon, and therefore compliment it nicely.

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Welcome

Welcome to The Life of Neon. 

This blog will be chronicling my adventure into the world of neon signs. I will be sharing my progress and process as I create photographs that will eventually be displayed in a coffee table book. My intent is to share with you the art of creating a neon sign, the unique locations that they are displayed in once complete and or course where they end up, either in personal collections or abandoned. I will also be showcasing the artists, known as benders, who create these signs.

This project was inspired by a series of images that I created of motel signs, mostly neon, in June of 2011. I decided to continue this project after, to my disappointment, seeing that one of the beautiful vintage signs I had photographed had been replaced by a plastic sign. Because of this I want to learn why businesses choose either to repair or replace their signs that have long been in front of their location.

 Throughout this project I would love ANY feedback. Any knowledge to help improve my understanding of neon is also appreciated! I would also love critiques on the individual images that I post to help me better the images I am creating for this series.

Finally If you know of an awesome Neon Sign and would like to see it photographed, please let me know ASAP.  If you HAVE a sign collection, or work somewhere with a Neon Sign - Contact me.

Neon@MadelinZaycheck.com