I chose to cap my last vacation day with a sunset photo, something I didn't think I'd get today. After yesterday's soaker I figured we were in for more of the same, and I was okay with that. I spent much of Labor Day inside the Garage Majal working on motorcycles and motorcycle related tasks, organizing, cleaning tools, and that sort of thing. Since today was a beautiful day, I spent it working in the yard, and then set off in search of a great sunset vantage point.
This is the view from a minimum-maintenance road east of Crown Butte. There's a pond in the little valley on this road. It's a fantastic place to chill and happens to be a perfect sunset viewing spot in the middle of summer. Well, we're not in the middle of summer anymore. I had to venture down the road a little further since the sun sets further south nowadays. Yesterday brought a lot of rain, so the road was composed of gooey mud in spots.
The mud and swelled pond, which actually covered the road in one spot, didn't stop me from finding my photo. I made good use of my 31 inch tires, four wheel drive, and wiper blades! It was worth it.
In order to have photos free of power lines, I did have to do some hiking to keep them out of the camera's view. While waiting for the sunset to progress, I looked up and took some interesting angles of the power lines and towers. It's always creepy when standing under high voltage lines and hearing them crackle overhead.
The clouds' shadows were busy in the east, making for some interesting shadows toward Mandan. Since they cover so much sky, they appear to converge on the horizon. That makes them look almost like rays of darkness emanating from a single point on the horizon, but that's an illusion caused by perspective.
Then it was over. I'd positioned myself so that the sun met the horizon in this crook of the butte's silhouette. I was fortunate enough to have some dramatic clouds in just the right place, and I fine tuned the shot by positioning myself in relation to the butte. I could actually make a very big difference just by walking away from the truck in one direction or the other. The sky turned gold, the clouds turned dark, and then the show began to fade. Before it got too dark I whipped around and braved the mud and water one last time, then pointed the truck homeward once I was back on firm, dry ground.
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( 3.4 / 85 )
There are a lot of places in North Dakota which, sadly, I've never visited. One objective of my recent photo vacation, since dubbed the Cold War Vacation, was to rectify that. So here we are, at the Valley City railroad trestle bridge. If memory serves me correctly, this is North Dakota's longest bridge. Since I'm sure it's been photographed to death, I thought I'd try for some unique angles to show off its geometry.
Not a lot of words today, just some fun shapes and lines compliments of one of North Dakota's many interesting sights. I'm still just scratching the surface of the Cold War Vacation photos, but more are on the way very shortly. Have a great weekend!
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( 3.5 / 69 )
The stars you see streaking in a cloudy stream above this blockhouse at Fort Lincoln are a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, as are we. Last night's crisp air made for some very clear skies and brilliant stars, so some friends and I ventured off to take advantage of them in the wee hours of the morning. For them, it was the end of their day. For me, it was the end of a long photography journey which began Friday.
As you can see here, I clocked a LOT of miles collecting photos from all over eastern North Dakota. I've got too many to even allude to here, but you can bet they're going to trickle out from time to time in a constant stream. Hint: the friend who accompanied me called this a Cold War Vacation. I'll let your imagination take over from there.
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( 3.3 / 98 )
This is the first year that I've been able to enjoy a State Parks vehicle pass in my truck. Don't ask me why it's taken this long...I can't explain it. In any case, I've got one now, and plan on putting it to good use yet this year! For instance, this recent bolt up to the blockhouses at Fort Abraham Lincoln. I got there just in time to catch the fleeting sunset.
Some of the tourists there looked amused as I rolled up in the Monster Truck™, grabbed my tripod and camera bag, and ran out into the middle of the forts to get the right angle. Later, as I was wrapping up, a couple walked by and asked how the sunset turned out. Thankfully, as you can see for yourself, it turned out just fine.
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( 3.3 / 156 )
I'm old enough to remember Clyde, the former star of the Dakota Zoo. If I remember correctly, I think he was the world's largest Kodiak bear. A life-size wood carving of Clyde has been placed inside the zoo's Discovery Center in his honor...that's one tremendous bear!
A friend of mine once told me that there are three things that concrete does: it gets hard, it turns gray, and it cracks. Well, wood carvings do a couple of those things. As the wood ages it often develops cracks in inconvenient places. This carving of Clyde appears to have done so. I don't think it detracts from the statue or its tribute at all, but it did make an opportunity for a "splitting headache" joke!
This statue really is quite large, as was the real Clyde. To get this shot I had my camera on a monopod, with the foot wedged into my collarbone, and the camera fired by remote as I held it aloft. Oh yeah...I was standing on a stump at the time, too. Here's to you, Clyde!
This isn't the only remarkable tribute to Clyde, although it's far more permanent than my other favorite. Right after Clyde's passing, someone made an enormous sand sculpture of Clyde lying on his back on the sandbar beneath the original Liberty Memorial Bridge. It was quite plainly visible while driving over the bridge until nature took its course and slowly whittled away at it. I wish I had been a photographer back then! I'm sure pictures of it are floating around somewhere...just not in my collection.
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( 3 / 116 )
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