Looking back at one of the most memorable Memorial Day addresses I’ve heard UPDATE: Now with text of his address available for download

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Let’s not forget that Memorial Day is about one thing: honoring fallen heroes who died defending our freedom. I typically attend the ceremony held for such purpose at the Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery each year, the most memorable of which was in 2010. It was during that ceremony that I witnessed a stirring address by C. Emerson Murry, former Major General of the ND National Guard. He was the keynote speaker of the event, and a very memorable one at that.

The words that struck me the most from his keynote address are best paraphrased as follows: “To be born free is an accident. To live free is a responsibility. To die free is an absolute obligation.” That made me set my camera in the grass and hastily type it into my phone so I wouldn’t forget it. Maj Gen Murry fulfilled that obligation, and it’s due to such men and women of our armed forces that we enjoy the freedoms we take for granted.

The National Guard provided me with the text of his remarks in PDF format from an issue of the Guardian magazine, and I’m pleased to be able to provide you a link to that PDF: (Click Here)

It was the last chance I had to hear him speak; Maj Gen Murry passed away in September of that year. You ought to take the time to read about the life of this remarkable man by clicking here.

The eclipse wasn’t total…neither was my fail

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My boys and I ventured out to Fort Lincoln on the night of the eclipse to see how visible it would be. I don’t own a welding helmet (yet) but figured I might still be able to get a good shot if the cloud cover helped a little bit. It did…sorta. Things were still bright and I found myself wishing for a ten-stop neutral density filter. I ran out of patience and we took off, perhaps a little early, but I felt like it was pointless trying to get a shot while so ill-equipped.

I looked at this shot tonight from the beginning of the eclipse and it’s actually not that bad. If I’d waited a little longer for the sun to approach the horizon, backed off a bit to bring the blockhouse and sun closer in size, and waited for the clouds to roll and the eclipse to proceed more fully, I might have had something. This photo isn’t a total loss, but sadly it’s only a hint at what could have been.

We did run into some folks who had built a neat pinhole viewer out of a long slender box with a window cut in the side. It made it very easy for my little guys to see the eclipse while not being tempted to look at the blinding sun. As a photo trip it was only a partial success, but I think as a father-sons trip it worked out just fine.

Parted down the middle

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What do you do when those cute little saplings you planted in the 80s start encroaching on overhead power and/or phone lines? Well, sadly, you’ve gotta cut ’em. As you can see, that can get a little awkward.

I got a chuckle when I noticed this line of trees on South 12th Street a while back. I’ve seen the same sort of phenomenon along Divide Avenue as well, and I’m sure it’s not an isolated situation.

If trees are becoming a hazard near power lines on or near your property, you can fill out an online request on MDU’s website and request that they come and trim the trees back to a safe distance. As the pictures above indicate, sometimes the result of all that safety is a sight that would make Edward Scissorhands proud.

We’ve got a man down, Dude

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So there I was, working this abandoned farmstead with my camera along with my good friend Ken…when I noticed something right in front of me that had escaped my attention the entire time I’d been there: a windmill. You’d think that, with my penchant for photographing old windmills, it would have been the first thing I’d have found; however, this one was lying face-up in the grass at least a hundred feet from where one would expect to find it.

It would be interesting to find out the story behind this…the absence of twisted metal leads one to believe it was removed and not torn asunder by the prairie wind. It wasn’t talking, but I’m glad it did manage somehow to attract my gaze so I could try a few angles for my “Fallen Farms” series.

Compression

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30 second photo technique: by keeping my distance from the east blockhouse at Fort Lincoln I was able to “compress” my shot in order to get it in perspective with a couple of other local landmarks: the state capitol and the Cathedral tower.

How is this most useful? When doing things like this: putting the capitol directly in front of the sun. Twice a year the sun sets directly behind the capitol, and in order to get this perspective I had to drive out nearly to Lincoln to capture it with a 300mm telephoto lens.

Once again, with our most prominent local landmark as the foreground object, I found just the right spot – a friend’s yard on a hill in east Bismarck – to line the two objects up correctly. The capitol is very tricky to photograph in this way, because there are few places from which to get both high enough and far enough to accomplish the desired perspective.

The theory here is that I can’t make the object in the background bigger by traveling significantly closer to it, but I can certainly make the foreground object smaller by traveling away from it. After that it’s a matter of having a long enough telephoto lens to get a decent photo of the arrangement. Try it once…it’s fun!

Tuesday sunset

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Sticking with the Double Ditch theme for another day, I thought I’d share a nice picturesque sunset from beneath the cliffs. I had taken my little towheads down to the bottom of the walking trail to stand along the shore and throw rocks in the water, which they gladly did for as long as I’d allow before going home for story time and bedtime. On the way back I noticed that the sky had some really cool ripples and that the color of the sky was very striking, so we stopped for a second to take it in before heading home for baths, stories, stuffed animals, and blankies.

Unearthed beneath Double Ditch

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While poking around the river with my little boys a few nights ago, we found this ancient (by their standards) wreckage poking out of the dirt beneath the cliffs of Double Ditch. What kind of car this might be is indistinguishable to all but the most trained eye. It appears as though it has not only been here a long time, but was also likely buried for an extended period as well. I surmise that the dirt covering it was scoured away by the massive flows of the swelling Missouri River last year.

Plenty of dirt remains caked into the recesses of the engine and what remains of the frame and drivetrain of this artifact of automotive archeology. It just goes to show that nature will eventually reclaim what we leave behind.

I don’t know why people of the last century seemed to think it was a valid idea to pitch their cars into the drink, but it seems that there are a lot of old cars from the 40s through 60s rusting away quietly along the river in various places. Thankfully this practice doesn’t seem to happen often any more. As for the relics that do occasionally appear along the river banks and from beneath the river’s surface, they’re just another noteworthy and even somewhat familiar part of life along the Big Muddy.

Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony 2012

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Yesterday marked the date of the Peace Officers Memorial ceremony here in North Dakota. It’s held annually at the monument on the capitol grounds in honor of law enforcement officers who have perished in the line of duty. Most years it is a solemn look back at distant history…this year it was a reflection on the tragic losses of two officers within the past year. I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, so I’m just going to share a few photos and let them do the speaking.


Standing at attention


Heartfelt thanks and condolences by Attorney General Stenehjem and others


Wreath presentation before the memorial


21 gun salute


Two names added


I’ll gladly admit that I’m a tireless cheerleader for law enforcement personnel here and all across our great nation. Some of them give it all in the line of duty, and this memorial honors that sacrifice. The national memorial ceremony is next week, and since there are two North Dakota families traveling to attend that ceremony, the North Dakota commemoration was moved to this week. Next week is Law Enforcement Week here in North Dakota and all across the USA, so please take any opportunity you get to thank them for their service on our behalf.

Leaning tree

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Poking around by the river bottoms a while back brought me to the right place at the right time, which I think is the most important component of a good photo. The sky was cooperating, the tree held a good pose, and it was just a fantastic moment to be out exploring with my camera.

After all the gloomy skies we’ve had lately, I’m ready for some sunshine…how about you?

Apparently I still haven’t posted all my aurora photos

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The skies have been relatively quiet for a while now, and I’m getting anxious for another chance to go out and capture the night sky in all its glory. There was an opportunity to get the moon at a very close proximity as it traversed the horizon, but clouds and wind shot that down all weekend. I was perusing some of the year’s previous shots while updating my shot log and got one from this old abandoned farmstead during one of the last major solar storms.

A couple of pals and I worked that location for all it was worth, since it offered such an amazing assortment of foreground objects at which to point our cameras. Tractors, windmills, old buildings, stripped cars…you name it, we had it. That includes a skunk which decided to make an appearance at one point, but it scampered back into hiding when it realized it had company.