Brian Barber Posts

Selective Focus: Photos on Film

Photography exhibit in the windows of 313 West Superior St.


There’s a temporary photo show hanging in the windows of the old Bagley Building downtown, 313 West Superior St. The photos are all shot on film – a variety of formats from an equal variety of cameras.

Homegrown Photo Banners

In an Instagram and TikTok world, it’s hard to ask anyone to edit and crop their photos during the hubbub of Homegrown. But now that things are winding down, if you’ve got any great shots that would fit that weird horizontal space at the top of PDD, send ’em our way, we’ll add them to the collection for next year.

Selective Focus: Look at the Birdy

Recent photos of local birds via Instagram.

Selective Focus: March Aurora

This past weekend’s aurora did not disappoint. Gathered here are some of the best shots, culled from Instagram.

Selective Focus: Nature’s Winter Artistry

Select Instagram photos showing a few of nature’s icy art projects.

Selective Focus: The Old West End

Photographer Nik Nerburn (previously on PDD) has just published a book of photos and stories following the last few years of transformation in Duluth’s West End, more recently and commonly known as Lincoln Park. We get a sneek peek at a few of the images in the book.

Selective Focus: Icy Blue Gitche Gu

Via Instagram, select images of Lake Superior in wintry blue.

Selective Focus: Full Wolf Moon

The January full moon is referred to as the Wolf Moon. Here are some local views of last night’s show.

Selective Focus: Put a Bernie on it

Bernie at Miller Hill Mall

Selective Focus: Moose

So funny looking but still majestic. This week, photos of friends from Frostbite Falls.

Selective Focus: Hoar Frost / Rime Ice

The ice crystals have us surrounded. Surrender to the frost.

Collected here are select Instagram photos celebrating the wonder of water vapor condensation freezing to cold surfaces (hoar frost) and/or cooled water in the fog turning to ice (rime ice). Probably more the latter than the former.

Selective Focus: A Very COVID Christmas

Select photos from Instagram of people from the Duluth area doing their best to keep spirits high and the COVID-19 infection rate low.

Selective Focus: Kitties

From household pets to wildcats, a look at Duluth-area kitty cats via Instagram.

Selective Focus: Kathy Johnson Anscomb

Artist Kathy Johnson Anscomb has used the new perspective she had during the pandemic — stuck inside, looking out the windows at the same view day after day — and turned that into inspiration for new work this year. This week in Selective Focus, we hear how this series came to be.

KJA: Lately I’ve been painting with acrylic or ink on canvas, I’ve also been having a flirtation with watercolor and have some new things on the back burner. I’ve worked with acrylics for more years than I will tell, but going way back to junior high when my ninth grade art teacher got me interested in art. It was all about abstract art when I was in the art department at UMD in the 60s, and I’ve loved the freedom and simplicity of working in that style since.

Selective Focus: Jeff Brown

This week we hear from a behind-the-scenes artist, literally setting the stage for others, creating environments and moods where actors can practice their craft. Jeff Brown is a scenic designer, lighting director and technical director who has worked with the Duluth Playhouse and other theater groups, and expanded his work into designing for museums and other public spaces. Oh, and he loves grilling.

JB: As happens with so many big things in life, I was introduced to the world of theater almost by accident. After some years as an Army paratrooper, I had enrolled at a community college and had one big choice left in order to finish my associate’s degree… A Public Speaking course, or a Stagecraft course? I was not at all interested in Public Speaking, so Stagecraft won by default. I couldn’t have guessed that the course would feel so natural to me and that it would introduce me to people and a field that I had never even considered before.

After being involved backstage in a couple of productions there, I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in technical theater, and I transferred to Minnesota State University Moorhead. MSUM had a very active theater department with a strong technical standard, and I benefited greatly from learning scenic design and lighting design along with construction and production techniques.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!