Mike Melman says he's just another urban photographer, but you know he's a serious artist the moment he says, "If I didn't [take photographs], I'd probably perish." To shoot the photos in The Quiet Hours: City Photographs, Melman has been getting up before dawn since the 1980s to watch cities large and small awaken-Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Fargo, Austin, New Ulm, and others. He loves autumn and winter, and says 6:30 a.m. on a weekend is perhaps the most peaceful time to be out, to capture the beauty and solitude of a city's aging ...
