These actually aren’t such little fluffy clouds, like the title of my favorite song by The Orb. They’re long, linear fluffy clouds. Whether they’re ripples in the sky’s cover or something to do with a jet contrail (after all, we ARE considered “flyover country”) I can’t say. I just know that when I saw them this morning I had to hop out of the truck and throw on a really wide-angle lens to catch ’em!

Not only does this post about tonight’s photography esperience get the title of my favorite song by The Church, it also marks a milestone: photo number 42,000 with this camera. Pretty cool, huh? This is one of the many hilly buttes and features northwest of Mandan on Highway 1806.

I’d been running around with my camera and a friend, a trip that took us all over the area. We even got to stop and talk with another photo pal who’s a member of local law enforcement. We visited the newly opened Harmon Lake, and then decided to head north to see what the sky might provide.

Obviously the clouds gave us a little bit of a break; I’d been fearful that they would blanket the sky and kill any sort of photographic opportunity. After dumping lots and lots of rain on us early in the week, the skies have since turned remarkably cooperative. Tonight was no exception. This is a shot back toward Bismarck-Mandan, as you can tell by the light on the horizon. The sky had a different color toward the south because of all the scattered light from the cities.

Here’s to late nights, good friends, beautiful skies, cameras, and Bismarck-Mandan! All combined, they make for a very memorable experience.

As an avid stargazer I have a love-hate relationship with the moon. I like it when it’s near the horizon, especially when I can photograph it near a local landmark such as the capitol or a Fort Lincoln blockhouse. When it’s up in the sky, however, it tends to ruin any stargazing with its overpowering light. In the daytime, however, it’s another story.

I got the idea of photographing the moon during the day when my two year old pointed out the moon to his daddy. I was able to get out the long lens and my tripod to get this shot with the deep blue of the afternoon sky instead of the black of the night. I like the daytime moon much better, actually. It’s also easier to get an even exposure, since I don’t fight the contrast between a black sky and a brilliant moon.

If you keep track of the current moon phase, then you know that this isn’t a recent photo. It was taken a few weeks ago, actually…I just forgot to post it. Lots of people mind the phase of the moon; I’m told that avid fishermen do. When I lived up in the Rockies, I always knew when the full moon was coming because I’d go snowboarding at night. At 8,000 feet you can see pretty well in the moonlight! As a stargazer, I also watch out for the “new moon” phase as it provides the best opportunity to see the other objects in the night sky without interference from the moon’s bright reflected light.

I hope I’m not the only one who noticed that yesterday’s puffy white clouds, adrift in a sea of blue, looked as if they’d been painted? They were perfect! The Bible says that God’s truth and His faithfulness reach unto the clouds, as well as His mercy reaching above the heavens.

Naturally, I did whatever any imaginative guy would do with yesterday’s skies: I got out and played beneath them! I spent much of the day with my little toddlers, some with my camera, and a little of both. It’s rainy and gray right now as I look out my office window, but that’s okay too. I’m just glad I was able to enjoy the brilliant blue and warm sunshine Saturday had to offer. I hope you were too.

Now that the bleak skies of winter are gone, it’s time to enjoy the variety and beauty of North Dakota’s skies. I looked up this weekend while driving my little boys around with the roof open. I keep a spare point-n-shoot camera handy in the vehicle most of the time, so I simply pointed it straight up while stopped in a parking lot downtown.

Later in the evening, when the little fellas were tucked away in their cribs, I was on my way home from an after-hours recording session and saw similar clouds with a much redder backdrop. I stopped along the top of Hillside Park to get a shot of the color just before the sun dropped over the horizon for good, taking all that red with it.

What a difference a few hours makes, eh?

I found myself out west of Mandan the other night chasing Orion, the constellation also known as the Hunter. Its appearance in the sky marks the fall season, and its disappearance is part of summer. I was awfully cold getting this shot, which was a 30 second exposure at the side of a lonely gravel road. The song “Stars” by The Clean seemed an appropriate iPod selection for such an encounter.

Most folks, including myself, find Orion most quickly by searching for the three stars comprising the “belt.” There’s also another row of “stars” below the belt, but that is actually the Orion Nebula (or M42 if you’re a geek). I took the liberty of drawing some red lines on the photo to illustrate the basic shape of Orion for y’all.

In college I took all the fun science courses I could, including astronomy. Our final exam included naming a plethora of constellations and the major stars from each. I can’t name all the stars of Orion, but I can tell you that the two brightest are Betelgeuse (yes, I pronounce it “Beetlejuice”) and Rigel. For you Trekkies, the pilot of the original Star Trek television series takes place on a mission returning from Rigel 7, a supposed planet orbiting Rigel. I don’t know if that will be referenced in the upcoming Star Trek movie. If you’re really a nerd, keep this in mind for when the movie opens in May. Look for me there; I’ll be the one in the Stormtrooper costume. Just kidding. And what the heck is an Aluminum Falcon?

I took a 400+ mile photography road trip around western North Dakota with a friend on Saturday. You’ll see the fruits of the trip, trust me. But this photo put a fantastic exclamation point on the journey. We got some dramatic shots hiking the wintry Badlands, including wild horses and bison, but for some reason I knew right away that this was my favorite. I was in the passenger side of the vehicle on our way north out of Elgin, so I didn’t see this. My friend Ken is the one who glanced westward as he drove, spotting this geometrically pleasing array of jet contrails. That’s the mark of a good photographer: having the eye to spot each photo opportunity. Wait until you see some of the other crazy stuff we spotted!

I can guarantee you won’t see THIS shot anywhere else. Nobody else would be stupid enough to trudge down U-Mary hill in waist-deep crusted snow! But that’s what you’ve got me for, eh?

I’ve been experiencing some cabin fever lately; I haven’t been able to go out with my camera much this year at all. Thankfully, when I say “this year” it’s only mid-January! But I did get a plethora of awesome shots this afternoon, having left the office at noon to enjoy some Taco del Mar with a friend and taking the rest of the week off. Unfortunately, when I say “rest of the week” it’s already Friday afternoon!

There were amazing sundogs today (or parhelion, to be technical) that I’m sure were witnessed by all. The reason was a combination of clear skies, fierce winds, and plenty of snow to kick up in the air. Those ice crystals form the oddly-shaped rainbows on either side of the sun, giving the government a convenient scapegoat for UFO reports!

On my way back from a fantastic time at the ND Public Policy Institute, I noticed a couple of sundogs in the cold, blizzardy sky. Cold, wind, and a dusting of powdery snow tend to conspire to generate these. I knew just the perfect place to capture this one, then I headed home for dinner with my boys.

Other parhelion posts can be found here and here.

According to this article I found earlier today, the moon hit perigee today. With the moon around 17,500 miles closer than the average, it’s supposed to appear 14% larger and 30% brighter. I couldn’t tell the difference. It was a nice opportunity to point my camera skyward, however.