Badlands balancing act
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40,000 and the tallest outdoor potty in the state
Here’s to another 40,000 photos…I wonder how long it’ll take? Now that I’m a husband and daddy, I don’t have nearly as much free time to go running around with my camera. I take lots of family pictures, though, as you can imagine. One can never take too many of those!
The Old Rugged Cross
I don’t do much black and white photography, but this just seemed to fit.
I’m actually out of words right now; I got up at 5 o’clock this morning to prepare four pages of testimony for a committee meeting in the House of Representatives later this week. So for the most part all you get today is the picture!
Golden Hour pays off big…but the Sweet Hour pays off bigger
Only a severe case of cabin fever could have kicked this man’s butt out of bed this morning at somewhere before six o’clock. I’ve really needed to get out with my camera, and my little boys (ages one and two years) have been giving me some hectic nights and very little sleep. I finally had one morning in which to try sleeping in, with no work or church to contend with…and I got up earlier than ever. I must really love photography! That I do, as well as just getting in the truck and roaming. This time bore plenty of fruit.
I found this barn along a gravel road. I bundled up and followed some packed-in snowmobile tracks up to it for a Golden Hour capture that made my early awakening worthwhile. I have plenty of other angles and other photos from other scenes discovered along the way, but I think I’ve already found my favorite. It’s facing south so the impending sunrise is not visible, but its color is unmistakably present.
When the sun has set, your sunset and evening photo opportunities have just begun. In the morning, don’t wait for the sun to rise to get stunning sunrise pictures. Bismarck and Mandan have plenty of sights that look entirely differently when painted from the palette of the morning or evening sun!
I’ve been working on my Bible reading habits lately. In the Bible, tithing (which we Americans tend to think of in a monetary context) is often considered with the “firstfruits” of one’s substance. I don’t consider tithing simply in the context of putting a check in the offering plate; we should give to God the first fruits of other important things, such as our time. Because of that, and in kind of a Psalm 63 sort of way (“O God, thou are my God; early will I seek thee…”), I have begun a habit of reading my Bible first thing in the morning.
This morning I woke early, but not as early as I’d hoped. As I readied my gear in my office for a mad dash outside, I saw my Bible on the desk. Thankfully I was able to stop and set things down, sit and read as I usually do, and to pray before I left. Among my prayers was something along the lines of “Lord, please show me something beautiful through my camera today.” Well, in that respect He certainly answered my prayer. I saw some really wonderful things on my trek today, capturing most of them with my camera.
This reminded me of the hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer” although I don’t pray for an hour every morning. I had that “Sweet Hour” before I even set out for the “Golden Hour.” By doing so I got the morning off to a fantastic start, one far better than if I’d simply dashed to the truck and hurried out on my own.
Prairie ice cube dispenser
Hey, look what I found!
Probably the biggest mailbox you’ll see all day
Orion
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?
The fog comes on little cat feet.
The fog comeson little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
I first read this poem by Carl Sandburg back in third grade or so. It’s hard to remember when, exactly; I was in private school and would go to the 7th or 8th grade for some of my classes, as they allowed students to progress at their own rate. As a result, things tend to blend together in my memory. Then I moved to North Dakota and got rubber-banded back to my current grade in all classes. Sigh…what a buzzkill. Anyway, sorry for dragging you through my childhood. How about that fog photo?
There were two belts of fog tonight: one started above the open channel of the Big Muddy and expanded until it covered the entire river, and the second engulfed east Mandan along I-94. It was downright thick, folks. I was able to hike out along the rip rap lining the boat dock south of Merriwether’s. Actually, I hope I was above the rock; I’d hate to think I was standing on frozen river, as that’d be pretty hazardous! Just kidding…I was standing where the weeds stuck up through the snow.
I tried a number of different exposures and framings, but the fog was advancing rapidly. I settled on this shot since a good portion of the bridge was still visible. It wasn’t long before the entire thing was obscured and I was free to hike back to my warm truck for the drive home to my warm bed. That’s where I’m heading now!
Honk if you’re paying my mortgage.
You can order bumper stickers like the one pictured above by clicking here.
