Minneapolis-St. Paul is a city best understood from above. In Above & Across Twin Cities, our photographers did more than capture stunning aerial imagery of the Stone Arch Bridge, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Mississippi River. They chased light, weather, and the perfect moment across all four seasons to bring this city to life from a perspective most of us never see. We're going behind the shot with the photographers themselves and hearing the stories of how they found their shot, what surprised them, and what it feels like to see the Twin Cities from an entirely new altitude.
Above & Across Twin Cities will be available May 12. Pre-order your copy today.
Dan Anderson
View of the CPKC Holiday Train crossing the Mississippi River. Photo taken by Dan Anderson.
A little background on this event: every December, the CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) Railway travels across Canada and the United States with a specialized train decorated in colorful LED lights for the holidays. It stops in over 200 cities - including Minneapolis and St. Paul - to host live concerts and collect donations for local food banks.
I've wanted to photograph the Holiday Train for a long time, but it’s a busy time of year and something always seems to get in the way. In 2024, I made it a priority and put together a plan. The train’s schedule and stop locations are available on their website, so I used Google Earth to trace the tracks between stops and scout a good vantage point. I noticed the train crosses the Mississippi River on the Soo Line Bridge, and just upriver is the Camden Bridge, which has a sidewalk perfect for setting up. From there, you can see downtown Minneapolis in the distance. I had my shot planned.
On the day of the shoot, the temperature was 18 below zero - cold even by Minnesota standards. Dressed in every warm layer I owned, I walked out onto the bridge, set up my tripod and camera, and waited. Timing trains is not an exact science. Two other photographers joined me - one with a camera, the other flying a drone. We stood there together, freezing, waiting, and comparing camera settings. Eventually, the drone pilot spotted the train approaching and gave us a heads-up. As the train came closer, you could hear the conductor blowing the horn to the tune of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
This became a memorable photo for me - not just because of the image itself, but because of the planning, the bitter cold, and the magical holiday atmosphere, complete with music in the background. What I love most about photography isn’t necessarily the final image, but the memories created while capturing it.
Michael Anderson
Above Witch's Hat Water Tower, Prospect Park. Photo taken by Michael Anderson.
I grew up in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, just on the other side of the Mississippi River from the Witch’s Hat Tower. That tower was always there—part of the backdrop of growing up, especially in my early days and now today, as I’m back living in the neighborhood where I grew up. Over the years, it’s become a frequent subject in my photography, something I keep coming back to in different seasons, different light, and different conditions.
This image had been in my head for a while, which is pretty typical for me. I’ll come up with an idea for a shot and then just have to wait it out until everything lines up. In this case, I knew I wanted the tower after a fresh snowfall.
When the conditions finally came together, I knew I had to act. I had been following the weather forecast several days leading up to the nighttime snowfall, and when morning broke, I grabbed my Mavic 3 and started across the river into Prospect Park.
Shooting from above opened things up in a way that felt right for the scene. It let me build the composition more deliberately, focusing on that classic landscape technique of layering—foreground, mid-ground, background. Once I got my drone in the air, I knew it was going to be an impactful shot - the tower sitting there, with the skyline in the background, surrounded by fresh snow, is about as Minneapolis as it gets.
I’ve photographed this tower a lot over the years, but this one stands out as my favorite. Maybe it’s finally getting the conditions I’d been waiting on, or just how clean everything looked after the snow. Either way, it’s the kind of shot that makes the waiting game worth it.
Mark Bergeron
View of downtown St. Paul and the Lafayette Bridge. Photo taken by Mark Bergeron.
Long-exposure evening and night photos, particularly when reflected off a body of water, are some of my favorite pictures to shoot. My earlier attempts of this vista were met with limited success due to a number of reasons: rough water surface, too many boats, unfavorable cloud cover, etc. On this particular April evening, all the variables seemed to come together. Only a moment after this shot was taken, a slow-moving barge would creep into the bottom of the frame.
Minnesota is well-known for its lakes, ten thousand of them, some people say even more. Yet perhaps the real success and prominence of the Twin Cities was built upon its rivers, the Minnesota and Mississippi (shown here). The rivers not only provided a means of transportation, as remains the case today, but prior to electricity, the rivers were the engine behind the “Flour Milling Capital of the World,” where for more than half a century, the flour milled in the Twin Cities was internationally distributed. Like many people growing up in the Twin Cities, the love of water was not lost on me. It is so very intertwined with the history and culture here, so I am honored to have this photo included in this book.
View of the Weisman Art Museum. Photo taken by Mark Bergeron.
I attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, during the construction of the Weisman Art Museum but graduated prior to its completion. Every day as my classes took me back and forth between the campuses via the Washington Avenue Bridge, I’d see progress and wonder, “What the devil is that supposed to look like?” The museum’s shiny veneer and jagged angles certainly made it stick out amongst all the Romanesque and Beaux-Arts architecture that made up most of the campus.
More recently, I became intrigued of the many other examples of Frank Gehry’s astounding work from around the world, specifically the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. This gave me motivation to revisit the campus and photograph a unique piece of architecture right in our backyard.
My dedicated day to visit was met with cold, overcast clouds and rain, bringing a bit of mood to the capture. I retraced my footfalls across the Washington Avenue Bridge to grab that same vantage point I remembered. Luckily, the bridge does offer cover from the elements. I was thankful to sneak in, just as I had done on so many occasions years ago.
Malik Blaylark
View of downtown Minneapolis from North Loop. Photo taken by Malik Blaylark
This photo was taken on the first street photography photo walk I hosted in 2022. It was myself and four other photographers going down Washington Ave in the North Loop, and I had just found a spot at the end of the Washington strip around 10th and Washington Ave to get some really cool high vantage point street photos. After getting those photos, another photographer had messaged me asking to join in on the photo walk. Of course, we let him join, and once he showed up, he apparently had a secret spot nearby to get a similar high-up photo of the Downtown Minneapolis skyline. Being eager street photographers, we didn't hesitate and jumped at the chance to see a new location.
Well, lo and behold, the reason none of us had been up there was because you had to live there to get to this spot. Luckily, while he didn’t live there himself, he had a friend who did. Once we all got up on this rooftop patio, we were blown away by the view. We all took tons of incredibly memorable photos, including this one here, which was one of my favorites that I got that day. I think my favorite overall was a photo of all of us standing on the rooftop patio, lined up with me in the middle holding my camera in the air like the Statue of Liberty, and we were all silhouetted with the background being the lights of downtown.
That was definitely one of my favorite photo walks I’ve ever been on, and I really miss the photographers I went on that walk with. I haven't seen them in years, but I’m sure they’re doing great things. It’s nice to know that a photo from that walk will be shown to everyone, and the story behind it will hopefully inspire others to go on some wild adventures with other like-minded photographers.
Above Nicollet Mall. Photo taken by Malik Blaylark.
This photo was taken on the 4th of July 2024. I, in fact, did not use a drone for this photo like many had asked me. There’s a 360 indoor watch deck on the 50th floor of the IDS Center Downtown Minneapolis that is owned by the hotel located on the first floor, and they host free events up there every so often. One of those special occasions just so happened to be the 4th of July. It was actually my second time going, but my first time going by myself and with my new camera, so I was pretty excited.
I decided to actually vlog the event as well for my YouTube channel because I thought it would make for a fun video with a view that not many people know about. They let you up around 8 pm, I think, which leaves about an hour or so before it starts to get really dark. I took that time to take plenty of photos from a very unique perspective, including this and a few of the other photos in this publication. This one is one of my favorites that I took that day. It shows downtown’s skyways, the famous Nicollet Mall, and the infamous Northeast Minneapolis, all in one photo.
The fireworks show was a million times better than it was the previous year. The photos I got were definitely some of my favorites I’d ever taken with this new camera, and I’m really excited to go again this year as well. If you’re not a fan of the bugs that come with sitting and watching the fireworks like I am, I’d definitely recommend checking it out. It’s totally free. You just need to know about it and show up, and then you can also get a similar photo to this one.
Zach Butler
View of downtown Minneapolis. Photo taken by Zach Butler.
This shot was taken in the heat of the summer in 2018. I was out shooting from every angle I could think of—switching lenses and messing with focal lengths. I had posted a wider shot from this series to Instagram showing the light trails on 35W and the entire Minneapolis skyline, but it wasn’t until the following year, when I circled back to the raw photos, that I fell in love with this shot.
This was taken with a 70–200mm lens that was fairly new and I was just getting used to it. With so many talented Minneapolis photographers, it’s always fun to challenge yourself to find a new perspective of the city that you don’t see very often.
I love the layers. The rich greenery and the Mississippi in the foreground, the historic Gold Medal Flour and Mill Ruins Park above it, and the skyline stacked behind it. This compressed shot reminds me of how Central Park meets the edge of Manhattan, on a much smaller scale.
There’s nothing overly complicated about this photo, it was taken right around sunset, with perfect summer light and the skyline beginning to glow.
Omar Ghrayeb
Looking down on Lake of the Isles. Photo taken by Omar Ghrayeb.
This photograph is part of a series I call Colliding Seasons.
It captures a moment that doesn’t fully belong to one season or another. In Minnesota, transitions aren’t always gradual and sometimes they overlap. Fall is still present, the colors are at their peak, and then snow hits, settling lightly across the scene just for a brief time.
What draws me to these moments is their instability and uniqueness, where nothing feels settled. Over the past 5 years in MN, I have seen those conditions a few times, but it’s not always picture ready. The snow doesn’t stay long due to the relatively warm ground and atmosphere, so it begins to melt almost as quickly as it arrives. The clean layer fades, the colors dull, and the scene shifts again into slushy and dirty snow. There’s only a short window where everything feels balanced.
From above, the scene falls into place on its own. The curve along the water creates a natural path through the frame with no clear landmark or focal point, simplifying everything into a clear, structured composition. The snowfall was more about timing than anything else. It all came down to being there at the right time, before the snow started to melt and the scene shifted.
The goal wasn’t to change anything, but to preserve what was already happening. Snow has a way of softening everything, so the focus was on keeping both elements visible, the brightness of the snowfall and the color that hadn’t disappeared yet.
This image isn’t about a specific subject. It’s about a moment of overlap where two seasons exist at the same time, before one quietly gives way to the other.
North Minneapolis junkyard. Photo taken by Omar Ghrayeb.
This photograph wasn’t planned – at least not in the way most people imagine.
A lot of my shots start before I even fly my drone. I spend time looking at maps, scanning areas from above, trying to find patterns that might not be visible from the ground. This location stood out because of how the cars were arranged – there was already a sense of order there, even before the conditions were right.
The photo was taken right after a fresh snowfall. Snow has a way of simplifying everything. It removes distractions, softens details, and turns busy scenes into something much quieter and more uniform. What’s usually a crowded lot became something almost abstract.
From above, the rows of cars started to feel less like objects and more like a pattern.
Then there was movement, a loader moving through the center of the frame. That moment changed the image. Without it, the photo would have been about repetition and symmetry, which is what I was going for initially. With it, there’s a clear point of focus – something that breaks the pattern just enough to give the scene a focal point that you can’t miss with all the white.
Getting the shot took some patience. I was initially focused on framing the rows of cars covered in snow, trying to simplify the scene and bring out the patterns. Shooting in winter adds another layer since cold temperatures drain the drone batteries quickly, so flight time is limited. On top of that, snow makes exposure tricky. It’s easy to lose detail when everything blends into white, so I had to carefully try to keep the tones balanced. The timing also mattered. The loader moving through the frame wasn’t staged – it was just being there at the right moment, waiting for something to break the pattern and complete the composition.
It’s also the kind of scene that doesn’t last.
This image ended up becoming one of my most recognized and appreciated photos. It received several national and international awards and earned second place in the photography category at the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts in 2022.
For me, it’s a reminder that sometimes the most interesting images come from everyday places, you just have to look at them differently.
Jamie Hiner
Above Maple Grove. Photo taken by Jamie Hiner.
For this shot, I was aiming to capture the amazing colors and structure of the storm clouds after they had just moved over the Twin Cities. I live right near here and knew about this beautiful symmetrical composition of the highways crossing over each other. This was the specific location and position that I wanted to go for while capturing the incredible skies left over from the trail of this heavy thunderstorm.
Although I anticipated this shot and my game plan on position and composition, I did not anticipate and expect there to be a vibrant rainbow from this direction. A lot of times in photography, you have those happy coincidences that help add that extra element.
This image consists of around 4-5 horizontal images stitched together vertically to capture more of the leading lines of the highways running through to the corners of the frame. This image was processed in Lightroom and photoshop.
Above the Foshay Tower. Photo taken by Jamie Hiner.
For this image, I was going for a moodier emotional edit. A lot of times, people enjoy seeing the bright, beautiful, and sunny scenes that bring them a feeling of joy and happiness. I enjoy and strive to create images and art in that way, but I also love capturing images that showcase the raw nature and moodier/darker elements as well.
I am a full-time real estate photographer, so I am often out, driving around the Twin Cities from property to property. This day, I had recently finished capturing content of a home being listed in the area, and as I was driving home, I was appreciating the low clouds and foggy conditions. I got to a point where I got a glimpse of the Foshay Tower lights glowing through the clouds, and I could not resist the urge to head there and fly the drone up right above me to get the perspective I wanted.
I took several angles of the Foshay during this shoot and ended up going with this one. This is also a set of around 4-5 horizontal images stitched vertically to create a wider angled perspective. I use Photoshop to correct all the vertical and horizontal lines to keep the perspective from looking fish eyed. I also chose to darken around the tower to help it “pop out” a little more for the artistic effect. Most of the time, I edit to keep the scenes looking true-to-life with a little extra contrast to bring some boldness to the final result, but for this one, I wanted to take it one step further to bring even more of the focus onto the show-stopping old school aesthetic of the Foshay Tower.
Greg Schulz
View of Target Plaza South. Photo taken by Greg Schulz.
I love doing aerial photography at night, as well as at sunrise and sunset year-round, because of the lighting and the different, relaxing vibe, particularly with city lights and fireworks. This photo was taken after a long day of shooting projects around the Twin Cities metro area, and while driving home, I noticed a good sunset to the west with nice reflections off the downtown Minneapolis buildings. Making a detour into downtown Minneapolis, getting set up and up in the air, I was able to get some sunset views to the west. I then turned the aircraft (drone) around to look the opposite way towards downtown and caught this image. Even though it was late fall, it was a warm evening, and I wanted to capture that warm, vibrant feeling in this shot - not too low, not too high, and looking at the city of lights. Remember, when you think you have a great view of a subject, turn and look around; there might be a magical surprise view waiting for you.
Above the Mississippi River Gorge. Photo taken by Greg Schulz.
This image was taken above the Mississippi River on a late-fall afternoon, with the colors peaking along the bluff lines. Minneapolis is on the left, St. Paul is on the right, and the downtown Minneapolis skyline is on the horizon. After a long day of shooting commercial projects on a warm, sunny fall day, I turned the drone around to check out the view. This is what I saw and captured. The blue sky and angle of the sun help give the mighty Mississippi River a nice blue tint with the fall colors. There are some days when you have your shots planned out, and others, like this one, when you look around and capture something that was not in the plans. It was one of those days when I just wanted to keep flying and shooting as long as the batteries and light lasted.
Above & Across Twin Cities will be available May 12. Pre-order your copy today.