Cell phone photo stream part 9

Yes, I’m still digging through previously unshared photos of note on my various portable devices.  Here are a few more:

 

ipod_photostream_7126This cloud dropped a column of rain, but technically you’d call that virga.

 

ipod_photostream_7129That actually isn’t the only cloud doing so.  I had to pull over and do a quick pano to get it all in.

 

ipod_photostream_6995We don’t do Halloween at our house.  We don’t have to; costume days are frequent without need for a holiday.  Bad guys beware!

 

ipod_photostream_6573The town of Fairmount, located in the southeastern corner of North Dakota, nearly had the top of its municipal water tower ripped off by one of the many wind storms that roared across the state this summer.  The only thing preventing this from ending up on the school grounds or somebody’s back yard was the ladder.  A replacement was fabricated by a company in Devils Lake and installed after a few weeks.

 

ipod_photostream_6289Getting ready for a climb.  While I didn’t get to go all the way to the top of the boom, I did get to hike up a ways.  I’m still kicking myself for not taking the one opportunity I’ve had in my lifetime to walk all the way to the top.  I was working, shooting stills and photos, and I wanted to get a compressed telephoto shot of the worker doing a regular inspection of the boom, and before I realized it he was halfway up and I was stuck at the bottom.  Someday…

 

ipod_photostream_0089TJ Maxx is making darn sure that rock gets watered.  Maybe it started out as a pebble?  Maybe it’s one of those spongy things that expands when it’s wet.  I don’t know.

 

That’s all I have for this blitzkrieg of mobile device photos (“cell phone” really doesn’t cut it these days), but I plan on going even further back in time.  I know there are plenty of gems that need to be shared.  Hopefully I’ll have some new photos from the “big cameras” to share in between.

Cell phone photo stream part 8

The blitz continues as I look through the archived photos from my various iOS devices, phones, or whatever portable thingamajig doesn’t qualify as a professional camera.

ipod_photostream_0132I hadn’t seen this truck in a while, but it was parked at the Little Cottage one day as I went by.  The back says “This Truck Contains Obama’s Stimulus Package”.

 

ipod_photostream_0083I took my family to see the Medora Musical this summer.  It’s celebrating 50 years.  It’s a great show and a great experience, but I just can’t enjoy it the same since my friend “Gentleman Wade” Westin passed away unexpectedly.  He was a fantastic Musical host and a remarkable man.  For the longest time I couldn’t even bring myself to see the Musical.

 

ipod_photostream_7372Getting ready for the football show.  Plenty of junk food on hand, of course.

 

ipod_photostream_0058I’m training some future photographers in my family.  Alliteration unintentional.

 

ipod_photostream_0047This was certainly eye-catching.  It looked as if someone yanked the chassis right out from under this Suburban.  I absolutely had to take a closer look.

 

ipod_photostream_6988I’ve never looked into all that’s required to do this sort of suspension modification to a vehicle, but I’m guessing it takes a lot of ingenuity.

 

Yes, I still have more.  Stay tuned!

Cell phone photo stream part 7

Here are a few more photos in my latest batch of cell phone / iPod / iPad collection. It’s cool to always have a device handy to snap shots of whatever catches my eye, even when my 20-pound camera bag is at home or in the truck.

ipod_photostream_5842I posted some photos of this with my big camera, but I also snapped some with my phone.  It’s a tree that grew through the gaps in a picnic table, and it happens to look like a butt sitting on the wood.

 

ipod_photostream_0117I found myself at the state capitol one day, and I always have to take this shot.  I had a fantastic sky to work with that day.

 

ipod_photostream_0115Memorial Hall at the capitol.  I made the mistake of referring to it as the Great Hall one day, since that was how I’d seen it in some SHSND literature, and I was sternly corrected by a veteran on the Facilities Management staff.  Rightfully so…now I get it right.

 

ipod_photostream_5022I’ve had media credentials for the legislature for the past five session or so.  Here’s a quick pano from the gallery of the state House of Representatives.

 

ipod_photostream_5061I took my kiddos to watch a local R/C airplane club enjoying a day of indoor flight.  This is a dogfight in which the planes pull tissue-paper streamers, and they slice through each other’s streamers as they wage combat.  Pretty slick.

 

ipod_photostream_5017I like gourmet sodas, and Mac’s Hardware is the place to go.  Runnings used to have a decent selection, but not the past few times I’ve gone through there.  Mac’s, on the other hand, has expanded their offerings.

 

Think I’m done?  Not hardly.

Cell phone photo stream part 6

The best camera is the one you have with you, and thankfully cell phone cameras have gotten a lot better lately.  I want to continue to share a few things I’ve grabbed since the last time I posted under the “Cell Phone” category.

ipod_photostream_6391I saw this bumper sticker at an paramedic/EMT event this summer.  Very cool.  Since then I saw a guy who had it tattooed on his forearm.

 

ipod_photostream_5833 That “Crazy Russian Hacker” dude wasn’t kidding.  This works like a charm.

 

ipod_photostream_5794

Photographing the Gray House in Sims, ND after taking off work early.

 

ipod_photostream_5746

The cockpit of a King Air 200.  It actually wasn’t too hard to push into the hangar – as long as you have enough guys. We used the hangar as a venue to watch the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on Pay-Per-View.

 

ipod_photostream_6389

Shooting some video of picturesque Powers Lake, North Dakota. Moments later I found a wood tick on my leg.  Ew.

 

I’ll post a bunch more in the next few days.  I have a pretty good batch collected, but I don’t want to dump them all in one gargantuan post.

Cell phone sunset

sunset_iphone_0721
One more sunset to share before the weekend. I worked late last night and spent what time I could with my little boys and my sweetie when I got home, but I didn’t have to go out with the cameras. I had this shot in waiting…from my iPhone, no less! Have a great weekend…

Cellphone photo stream part 5

Sometimes even I don’t have a camera handy, and all I can do is make a quick grab with my cell phone. I don’t have an iPhone (yet) so the quality isn’t what I’m used to, but sometimes simply getting the shot at all is the best you can hope for. Here are some tidbits from a while back:

At the state EMS banquet last spring, a table of honor was set for those first responders who lost their lives – some in the act of protecting or assisting others.

When you’re a little boy, watching cars go under the skyway can be entertaining for a long, long time. Especially if you count the yellow ones.

A trip to the capitol over lunch brought a surprise discovery – a Lotus! I’ve driven one of these many times…on my Xbox.

Shootin’ the Eric Sevareid Symposium at the Belle Mehus. I made the DVD set of the keynote and other festivities from the week. Everyone apparently tried to ignore the fact that participant Dan Rather used forged documents to try to affect the outcome of a presidential election when he was CBS News’ anchor.

The Great Hall of the capitol. Soon there will be an enormous Christmas tree here.

Lowes was ready with plenty of Shop Vacs after the flood.

The Playstation 3 truck was in town, its driver apparently staying at the Kelly Inn.

It’s not every day you see a Blackhawk helicopter buzzing the lawn of the capitol mall. It’s even rarer to be standing beneath it!

Two down, one to go.

My little boys are absorbing their Daddy’s love of photography. Their toy cameras are starting to bore them; they more frequently ask to use one of my “big cameras.”

There are 10 kinds of people…those who can read binary and those who can’t

I spotted this “leetmobile” in a parking lot a while back and had to nab a quick cell phone shot of it. I couldn’t actually tell you if the binary code thereon means anything, since I haven’t remembered how to read binary code since the 1980s. While I’ve blurred out the license plate, I can tell you that it’s a ham radio operator plate. That means the owner of this car is likely quite tech-savvy, even beyond spraying ones and zeros across the hood of his little Ford.

Here’s a little more information about binary code. It’s basically a way of breaking down letters and numbers to the simplest form, combinations of ones and zeros. “10” means 2, which is why I made the joke in the title.

I actually spent way more of my time as an old Apple II geek using hexadecimal numbers and can still convert it to regular numbers in my head (although not quite as quickly as I could back during the Reagan era). It’s commonly used to program website colors, which is why I like the joke “Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base, are belong to you.” That’s also only funny if you get the corny 80s video game reference.

Okay, now I’ve illustrated my geekdom. No, it’s not my car. 🙂

Cell phone sunset

I set out before sunrise with my camera today, logging about 150 miles of rural roads and a LOT of trudging through the snow with my gear. I got a lot of great shots, but this actually came from my cell phone late in the day. Upon my return home early this afternoon, I ditched the camera bag and took my little boy outside to build a snow fort. Once that was satisfactory, we went to Tom O’Leary hill for some sledding. One last stop at the airport to watch a jet take off, and we were set for home. That’s when I noticed the really cool sunset. All I had was my cell phone, so I did the best I could and headed for home base. I’ve got both toddlers bathed and in their pajamas, and they get to watch a Thomas the Train movie tonight. What a satisfactory day, and I haven’t even had a chance to look at the photos I took earlier!

Cell phone photo stream part 4

This is a picturesque section of the Badlands National Park near the entrance in Cactus Flats, South Dakota. Right after this a wind storm blew in that literally ripped campers and motorcycle trailers apart on the interstate as we drove toward Pierre! I have pics of those, too.

Eight bucks is just too darn much for a movie ticket, but if you’re going to spend eight bucks it had better be at the Grand Theaters. At least they built a facility that gives me the impression that they value my eight bucks. They make going to the movies an experience.

I ran top camera as well as ringside camera for the Mixed Martial Arts thing that came to town. It was quite a ride. Two heavyweight fighters rammed into the chain link wall of the Octagon so hard that it bowed out far enough to bonk my video camera! Thankfully the viewfinder didn’t give me a black eye…we’ll save those for the guys inside the ring.

North Dakota continues to have the best skies. Of course, I give all the credit to the God who created them for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11).

A couple of Christmases ago I was able to ride my motorcycles and document the occasion. It was a little icy in places but that’s no problem.

I built this little electonic “cricket” that chirped until it sensed light. I then deposited it at a friend’s house, who proceeded to check all his smoke detectors and stuff like that before finally discovering it. I score myself pretty highly on this one, but the victim is actually the guy who gave me the idea when he built one a long time ago to use on our coworker. Things came full circle for him, and now I’m the one watching my back!

Of course I’ve got to have a picture from the handgun range. I don’t spend nearly as much time here as I did when I was young and single, but I’m still quite handy with a pistol.

I did lots of photography for the event when Jason Britton (of “Superbikes” on the Speed Channel) came to town. He and his buddy Tony did lots of stunts during the July 4th Parade last year and I was along for the ride. This is after the parade, riding the Cycle Hutt float back to the shop with Jason. That’s Amos (of the 5-Oh variety) in the foreground.

I’m all for a funny license plate; I’ve had a few myself! Guess what? We’re all CO2 emitters. Climate change is a hoax. And some people are able to have a sense of humor about it. Good on ’em.

The Red Dragon. No, I’m not referring to the Thomas Harris novel. This particular dragonfly stood so still at the Game & Fish Headquarters OWLS lake that I was able to take pics with my camera and my phone.

That almost exhausts my noteworthy cellphone photos. Almost As luck would have it, interesting and quirky things present themselves to me on a daily basis (especially the mirror) and I try to capture them the best I can. More to come…