The first show of the new season at Rochester Civic Theatre opens this Friday, The Marvelous Wonderettes. Greg had the idea for the promo shots to drive around Rochester and shoot the four actors with various Rochester landmarks. Of course, the first one to come to mind is the corn cob water tower!
For those of you who aren’t or haven’t been in the Rochester area, Rochester, MN is in the upper Midwest of the USA, part of what is often called the bread basket. So, yes, there’s plenty of corn in these parts. And, judging from the smell and the truck we passed filled with cobs, it’s sweet corn harvesting season!
I loved this shot and the energy they showed!
Rochester is also a year-round home to giant Canadian geese. Silver Lake, downtown, is a favorite site for the geese. We all walked out onto the grass – carefully.
The Mayo brothers’ put Rochester on the map. Their statue stands in front of the Mayo Civic Center, and it was another obvious choice. The evening sun provided some nice warm tones for the photo.
There are several large painted geese around downtown. This one sits (or stands?) in front of the offices of the Rochester Honkers baseball team. It’s just across the street from the theatre.
We wanted to use one of the Rochester welcome signs. I know of two – one north of town on US 52 and one south of town on US 63. I scoped out both ahead of the shoot. The north one is actually near a frontage road which could have made it easy to get to – except for the fence in between. US 52 is a freeway there, so stopping along the road isn’t really a good idea and likely illegal.
The sign on 63 isn’t a lot better. The highway speed limit is 65 mph in that section, but there are at-grade intersections, so it’s not a freeway. We parked well off the roadway, and Greg led the young women through the weeds to the grassy area in front of the sign. I stood on the shoulder with my 70-200 lens maxed out to 200 mm. Trucks driving by honked their horns as the ladies climbed up the hill. We had some decent evening light and the great bright colors of the dresses.
We ended back at the theatre for their rehearsal and grabbed a shot in front of the marquee. It’s hard to believe it’s September, today is Labor Day, and Wonderettes opens the new season this Friday. What the heck happened to summer?
While we were out shooting the corn cob water tower, I moved in for a closer shot of the players. Sounds like the show should be fun with lots of old favorite tunes.
We’ll be there Friday. Hope to see you, too!
