Luke Graner at the Belle Project

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Clint

My pal Luke Graner got a great opportunity last weekend: performing at the Belle Mehus civic auditorium as part of the Belle Project, an effort to bring local musicians to the auditorium. Naturally I took the opportunity to stop in with a couple of cameras.

If you aren’t familiar with Luke’s music, you don’t know what you’re missing. Using a Boomerang digital looping device, he redefines the term “one man band”. He’ll lay down multiple tracks of percussion, vocals, guitar, or even didgeridoo until he’s constructed an elaborate song. Sometimes he’ll peel back the layers at the end, and sometimes the song ends cold with all the Lukes in unison. I learned a lot about music simply watching this process.

One new treat was eldest son Jaxon chipping in for a couple of tracks. He seems quite comfortable on stage, even a stage such as this. As a dad myself I can only imagine how proud Luke must be that his boy can come up and partake in his passion on stage!

I don’t make many endorsements on this site. One that I will make is Luke’s music, which you simply must experience for yourself. In the meantime, you can visit him at lukegraner.com and find links to his MySpace page. Keep an eye out for his next performance, because you won’t want to miss it!

Glorious shade of winter

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Clint

Who says that winter has to be devoid of color? Not I. I don’t even recall where I spotted this barn at sunset, but I sure am glad I did. In fact, the only reason I say that this was a sunset photo is that I vaguely remember pointing my camera eastward when I took it. Boy, I should have had fewer concussions in my active youth!

Like snow off an eagle’s back

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Clint

As I type this, this Eagle statue has only rain on it and not snow. Well, that’s all about to change. Kevin’s saying that we have a pretty good amount of heavy snow coming our way, and the rain has already begun. Welcome to Spring in North Dakota! 🙂

Your message here

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Clint

I spotted this empty sign on a drive south of Bismarck yesterday afternoon. I risked getting the truck stuck in the mud as I eased off the roadway into the ditch, determined to get the shot. I eased slowly onto the grass, bolted out and slogged over to the fence, and did my photographic duty. I dashed back to the truck and started rolling again before the tires could sink into the mud, and eased back out onto the road as if nothing had happened. Then I got to home satisfied that my “long way home” travel route had paid off.

Sunset…moon?

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Clint

Yes, that’s right – the Golden Hour light provided near sunset can be extremely helpful in taking a nice shot of the visible moon. The waning sun’s effect on the sky has two effects, casting a pleasing tone on the moon as well as providing a well-lit backdrop. It’s harder to get a nice shot of the moon in a totally dark sky than it is in a nicely colored one.

Of course, both the tone of the moon and the tone of the sky are due to the sun’s effect on our atmosphere, not on the moon itself. Regardless of the “how”, the “what” is a pleasing tone of sky and moon that are more evenly matched than after dark.

If you like photography and have a good telephoto lens, try this sometime. I think you’ll be pleased with the result.

My encounter with the Whirling Chicken O’ Doom

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Clint

I’ve wanted to take a crack at photographing this chicken at the Village Mart in south Mandan for a while but wasn’t sure about how to treat the photo. I opted for a late night monochrome shot with plenty of grain. I don’t know if it makes it look spooky but my eye likes it. No actual chickens were harmed in the production of this photo…that I know of. The chicken ain’t talking.

Blizzard video from Friday

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Clint

As we were shutting down our offices early on Friday, I took the opportunity to whip together a little bit of “HD blizzard video” for a coworker. I thought I’d share it here.

That’s some pretty poor visibility, eh?

A new dimension to my photography passion

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Clint

Lately I’ve had a little four year old helper on my photography trips! In this photo, little PJ is using my first digital camera, a point-n-shoot I got nearly ten years ago. He’s also wielded my Canon 20D and 7D DSLRs,although they are much more difficult for his little hands to hold.

He’s GOOD, too. So far I haven’t really given him any training other than to show him how to zoom and take the picture. I’m curious to see how he views his world through the viewfinder and am eager to see this perspective totally untainted by outside influence. In time I’ll teach him what I’ve learned about technique, but I do recognize that this kid has natural talent.

I’ve seen photos and video taken by adults with plenty of experience that are off-level, poorly framed, and the like…but PJ frames all his shots nearly perfectly level and has a good sense of perspective. I plan to nurture these talents in him and am beaming with pride to have a little photography buddy to go roaming in the truck with me!

How big is the International Space Station in comparison with the capitol? Now you know

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Clint

Wonder no more, simply ponder the image above. This is a function of the BBC Dimensions website, one which lets you type in an address or coordinates and see an overlay of the ISS for comparison.

They have other overlays and stuff too…check it out by clicking here.

Wallbuilders’ Rick Green visits Bismarck for all-day Constitution class

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Clint

Many thanks to New Song Church for hosting Rick Green, one of my favorite podcast personalities! On the 20th of January I attended an event where Rick spent the day teaching us about something we should all study more: American history. In particular he gave us a few hours of background on the mindset of the nation’s founders and authors of our founding documents, using their own writings to put some context to their work in creating the framework for this great nation.

The rest of the morning and the afternoon session consisted of step-by-step study of the United States Constitution. There’s some extremely interesting stuff in there, and our country has gone down the wayward path it’s on largely because of our ignorance (average citizen and politicians alike) of this document.

I bought a lot of books by various authors and also won a couple, as Rick occasionally rewarded people who could belt out answers to tough questions. One I got was means for addressing judicial misconduct (impeachment), and the other was John Quincy Adams’ signature issue, one which he pursued as a member of Congress after serving as President: abolition of slavery. He was one of only two Presidents to return to public service in Congress after his term, by the way.

I cannot give enough of an endorsement of Rick Green and David Barton and the work that they do. Rick is a former legislator and full time Texan, by the way. I told him that I can’t be a Texan, but at least I married one.

You can learn some very interesting things about our nation, its founders, and the documents which created these United States by tuning into the Wallbuilders Live podcast, a free daily half-hour podcast featuring David Barton and Rick Green. They give a lot of interesting news and background on what they call “the intersection of faith and politics” and refer back to the words of those who wrote the framework of our great nation.

Click here to visit the Wallbuilders website.

Click here to visit the Wallbuilders Live podcast website.

Here’s a link to Wallbuilders Live through iTunes.