April showers, viewed from afar

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I took my boys out to Fort Lincoln to poke around with our cameras and watch the weather roll by. Rolling by is exactly what it did, missing the park entirely. The clouds did plenty of rumbling as they drifted past. My guys thought it was pretty cool that we could see rain and wondered if it was going to hit our house as it started to dump south of Bismarck. It was getting close to bedtime, so we headed back to find out.

Along the way we spotted a rainbow, something that hadn’t yet manifested while we were atop the hill. We stopped for a quick photo op and then headed back to town. Yep, our house got rained on. We had just enough time for a snack and some bedtime stories, then it was off to bed for them. I’m about to hit the pillow myself.

Happy Industrial Revolution Day! (Or Happy Romans Chapter 1 Day for us Bible believers)

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This is a view that few people get to see. The glowing red on the other side of that smoked glass is a vortex of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit reaching over two hundred feet high. It burns powdered coal which has been cleaned and dried, making it a very efficient and clean source of power. And it’s right here in North Dakota. You could put the state capitol building inside this boiler!

When you hear about “clean coal technology” you should note that North Dakota is pretty much the epicenter of innovation. At this particular power plant, by the way, over $200 million has been spent over the past thirty years on development of environmental technology. New processes have been brainstormed here that are of interest to power generation companies all over the world!

By the way, April 22nd is called “Earth Day” by some. This day was so named in order to fight global cooling back in 1970. That should tell you right there how much credibility the global cooling warming climate change movement has. Add to the mix the fact that it falls on Lenin’s birthday and mounting evidence that the “environmentalism” movement is merely a home for displaced socialists, and it all starts to make sense. After all…no matter what manifestation of global weather crisis is used to incite panic, the ONLY purported solution has always been global socialism.

Back to the photo. The power coming from plants like this powers homes, businesses, hospitals, schools…you name it. It provides life-saving heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. It powers information technology, life support systems, manufacturing, and who knows what else. Yet there are those deranged individuals who wish to vilify the energy industry and treat such technical innovation with disdain. They’re truly detached from reality and I welcome them to relocate to a third world country if they find nobility in primitive living.

Incidentally, the Bible talks of people who worship creation rather than the Creator in Romans chapter 1. This is nothing new. Actually, the people pushing this climate agenda wouldn’t be pushing it at all if the solution wasn’t global socialism. That’s why I choose to have a Festivus of sorts, one that recognizes the value of the technology and innovation that makes this country great. I’m not the one who brainstormed this answer to Earth Day, but I am certainly on board. Happy Industrial Revolution Day and/or Romans Chapter 1 Day!

Minnesota legislator calls North Dakota’s capitol building “embarassing” – while theirs crumbles

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It’s probably quite easy to discern from reading this blog that I’m quite enamored of North Dakota’s capitol building. I photograph it often, my little boys love to visit its halls and peer down from the observation deck windows, and of course there are the holiday adornments in its windows at various times of the year. Pretty cool, I must say…even if I’m a little bit biased.

Minnesota Republican representative Matt Dean, however, thinks otherwise. According to this article, he had plenty to say about our state’s headquarters:

“Has anyone seen North Dakota’s Capitol? It’s like State Farm calling: ‘We want our building back.’ …It’s embarassing.”

Ahem. Not only is our capitol distinctive but it’s also quite reserved and pragmatic in its design. It’s no opulent palace or apotheosis of government overspending…and we like it fine. Besides, according to that Forum article, Minnesotans need to “repair [their capitol’s] crumbling outside walls, its outdated electrical system and interior that is falling apart” …it sounds like they are the ones who need to be embarrassed about their capitol!

Unlike Minnesota’s, our capitol building is in fine shape…with current electrical (and ample backup generation) as well as free wireless internet tip-to-toe and a cafeteria with an AWESOME taco bar on Wednesdays, it seems far more habitable than its neighbor to the east.

Perhaps if Minnesota wasn’t known for being the nation’s biggest welfare state – with nearly forty percent of its state budget going to entitlement programs in 2009, for example – and put more money into infrastructure than they do into printing entitlement checks, they could afford to keep their state capitol building from crumbling. Until then, go ahead and take your petty pot-shots…we can take it.

By the way, which do you think Minnesota tax-n-spend legislators (including “Republican” Matt Dean”) will accomplish first: repairs to their already neglected, dilapidated capitol building, or a brand new taxpayer-funded stadium for the lackluster Minnesota Vikings?

Right place, right time

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My friend Ken and I were out bouncing my truck around the back roads and trails in search of a couple of old farmsteads to explore with our cameras. As usual, many other opportunities presented themselves along the way. Case in point: this lovely vista along a section line road just after sunrise.

There’s so much color in the sky around sunrise and sunset, adding a special touch to an otherwise unremarkable scene. Everything takes on such a unique vibrance during that Golden Hour light, and it’s great when that happens with something photogenic nearby…and a great friend to share the experience.

You’ll probably interpret this picture one of two ways

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This farmstead sits just southeast of Center, with a pretty close view of the power plant to the east. Hat tip goes to my friend Cathy who spotted it and described its location for me to find. I haven’t had much time to go exploring the old section line roads these days, but hopefully I’ll get more time over the summer now that we’re not in a flood fight.

On one hand, a person could look at this photo with disdain and lament the loss of a family farm. Understandable, but in this case I like to consider the progress of North Dakota’s energy industry, one I’ve loved to champion for many years now. We have abundant resources and the ingenuity to brainstorm new ways to use them more wisely and cleanly. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward (or so they say).

Not with a bang, but a whimper

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Well, I guess that’s that. I just got done working the video crew for the last Dakota Wizards game ever. It was a little surreal, given the team’s long and proud history in the Bismarck-Mandan area. They lost a close one today to the Bakersfield Jam with a score of 93-91, and just like that – it was over.

The game play was good, so don’t let the title of this post lead you to believe that the Wizards went quietly. Once the last buzzer sounded, though, it didn’t take long for the lights to go down and the place to empty for the last time as home to an NBA game.

Many sports franchises have come and gone here in Bismarck. Anyone remember the Dakota Rattlers baseball team? The Bismarck Blaze or Roughriders indoor football squads? For a small town with seemingly fickle interests, the Dakota Wizards have been a unique success story in professional sports here in North Dakota. They succeeded where teams in other cities slowly faded away. The crowd involvement activities during breaks in game play were fun and energetic, sponsors seemed to be always present, and the Wizards managed to rack up a few league championship titles as well.

That’s what made it so odd when, once today’s game concluded, things just shut down as usual. While Kevin Rice’s number was retired during a brief ceremony at halftime, there wasn’t any sort of fanfare celebrating the history of Dakota Wizards basketball here in the capital city. Bummer. It was a great run while it lasted.

We still have Bobcats hockey to ease our craving for local sporting events, of course. Otherwise I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the next big thing is, and if it can enjoy the success and longevity of the Dakota Wizards.

Our day under the stars

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Today our family and a bunch of friends reserved the planetarium at Valley City State University for a show and had a blast. I’d love to show you all kinds of descriptive pictures of the stars criveting* around the dome, but quite frankly I wanted to sit in a seat, recline with one of my little boys on my lap, and enjoy the two shows put together by the students in the astronomy program. That’s exactly what I did. The gentleman was kind enough, however, to let me have the place to myself after the show to get a few shots in. This was NOT an easy subject to light!

This was a special private event, but the U does put on a monthly public show (I believe on the third Saturday of each month) that you can attend. Click here for the planetarium’s web page to get more details.

*crivet: v. To creep and pivot simultaneously. (Origin: Cf)

Just playin’

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In February I posted this photo of some old bridge pilings sticking out of the ice southwest of Mandan. I liked the lines of the sky and progression of the height of the wood protruding from the ice, as well as the color. This was shot as part of a monthly photo contest themed “shadows.” Shortly thereafter I decided to play around and came up with a couple of alternate versions.

First, I thought I could better illustrate the shadows by converting to black and white. That made the sky look empty between the horizon and clouds so, in an effort to focus the eye more on the shadows of those wooden pilings, I decided to crop it to landscape proportions. It also allowed me to capitalize on the apparent emptiness of the distant sky.

Then, to illustrate the cold of the ice a little more, I put a 12% blue overlay on it. I almost think that I was a bit too heavy-handed with the blue, since I’m going for a subtle effect, but here it is. While I maintain the bleak black and white look of the photo overall, I think it helps make the ice look even cooler than its surroundings. If not, it still allows the ice to stand apart from the rest of the photo.

Photography doesn’t end once the shutter is clicked, or even once the photos are processed. Any photo can be revisited and cropped, processed, colored, or even manipulated in countless ways. That’s part of the appeal for me. While I save the “manipulation” part for a select few photos, it is occasionally fun…as long as it’s used stylistically and not deceptively. Photoshop is easily as fun as photography itself.

My visit to the convention

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I took the opportunity to flex my media credentials and pop in at the Republican Party state convention last weekend – it’s been pretty hectic since then so this is the first opportunity I’ve taken to sit down and go through some of the photos. Here you see the entrance to the Civic Center arena – I had to camp out a little bit until the red carpet was clear. There was a LOT of activity that Saturday afternoon.

One of the first things I found photo worthy was the men’s room. That’s a spooky sentence to type – no, I’m not a weirdo, I just found the way that this bathroom was wallpapered to be quite entertaining. It should have been no surprise; the entire Civic Center (including the fences outside!) was so adorned.

Even funnier than the rest of the john was this clever sign tacked onto each hot air hand dryer. If I only got one photo out of the whole adventure, this would be my choice. I love a campaign with a sense of humor!

Drew Wrigley, current Lieutenant Governor, candidate and nominee. His youngest is trying hard to cause a wardrobe malfunction in the background. Kids and animals…you should never share a stage with ’em. 🙂

My friend Kurt, consummate professional and one of my role models in this business, technical director of the video portion of the show. He was joined by a veritable “Who’s Who” of veteran broadcast video talent. My friends Mike, Scott, Dan, and Marty were also part of the crew. The GOP was in good hands that day.

Of course I got some of these eagle-eye photos by climbing around in the catwalks up near the ceiling of the Civic Center. It’s funny, I can dangle around in the rafters of buildings like the FargoDome or our own little Civic Center, over the ledge at the top of the Capitol, or atop heavy equipment while it’s operating…but I cling to an eight foot stepladder with white knuckles. Go figure.

Due to some other photographic commitments I was unable to catch much of this convention, including the keynote speaker and some fireworks over the delegate selection debacle. The party is going through some interesting times as newly-active conservatives like myself begin to join the party and assert themselves. I think it’s a good thing.

The lesson I took away from this convention is that we are EXTREMELY energized. Seriously. The atmosphere was unmistakable. While the Democrats could barely get a small assembly to their convention with their beloved Bill Clinton as speaker, we had the Civic Center bursting at the seams. People were upbeat, energetic, and motivated for November. It was a great sight to behold, and I’m confident that North Dakota conservatives are geared up for a long and successful fight to restore liberty and responsibility to our government.

This “Vanishing American” didn’t vanish…he just moved to U-Mary

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Long, long ago on one of our “urban assault” mountain bike rides, I encountered this artwork with some friends of mine. It was late at night and we were biking past the Gold Seal Building since I used to rent an apartment nearby. I remember thinking that it was really cool, but this was long before I got into photography and I never thought to get a picture.

Later on when I bought my first camera and was looking for cool things around town to photograph, a vague recollection of something really cool on the wall of that building with the gold mirrored windows popped into my head. I drove by and examined the building from multiple angles, but sadly it was gone. I was sure I remembered it, but perhaps it had simply been removed? That would certainly be a shame…but in any case, it was no longer there.

A couple of weeks ago I went for a walkabout with a friend who worked in the Gold Seal Building back when it was leased by the MDU Resources Group. I mentioned that building and the etched stone artwork I thought I remembered, and he knew instantly what I was talking about. “That was moved out to the University of Mary,” he revealed. Joy! I knew then that I somehow had to find that slab of stone which had eluded me for so long.

A quick trip out to the ACC Art Show a couple of weekends ago gave me the opportunity to ask someone at the desk of the Harold Schafer Leadership Center if they knew what I was looking for. Naturally they did, and they led me to a concrete patio on the lower level of the building. Voila’ – here stands the stone I was seeking, looking boldly over the Missouri River to the west. Score!

I guess I can cross this one off my Bismarck-Mandan photographic “Bucket List” and move on to the next one. Thankfully this piece, commissioned by Harold Schafer himself, was preserved. It’s available for anyone on campus to see, but it’s in a location that isn’t readily obvious. The best way to find it is to wander the lawn to the west of the Tharaldson Business Center and saunter slowly southward toward the back of the Schafer center. Once you get to the right area you can’t miss it, unless of course you’re overwhelmed by the stunning view of the Briardale woods and Missouri River valley below.