Sunrise…on my tummy…

…makes me happy…oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to kick into John Denver mode there. Yes, it must be a disorder: I was lying in a field at sunrise this morning, listening to my iPod and waiting to see what the sun would do. So much for sleeping in! Before getting down on the ground to get this angle, I was on my feet for a while. So I guess you could say I was outstanding in the field. Okay, I’ll quit the puns. Here’s the pix:

I was hoping that we’d get more of the red/purple thing that the sun has been doing the past few days, but that wasn’t the case. I believe it’s because of the clouds on the far horizon, which don’t give the sun a chance to refract or something to that effect. Not only did that strip the sunrise of its colors, but it also prolonged the time I had to shiver until the sun poked its head above the clouds. The wait was worth it, as I got quite a few neat shots. This is one of them.

There were some ups and downs to this little adventure. It seems that I can’t leave the house without something blogworthy happening, and today was no different. While I got lots of nice sunrise and pre-sunrise pictures, I also had some other trials. First, the cap for the lens I was using fell out of my pocket out in the middle of this field, and I noticed it once I’d hiked back to the truck. Being of the stubborn sort, I hoofed it back out there and actually found it within five minutes! To help, I brought the camera and lined up the picture the same way, then followed my tracks back toward the truck. Whew! Canon charges an arm and a leg for those things. Oh, one more thing:

This is what the last few photos looked like. Yuck. As it turns out, the beautiful little prime lens I was using to shoot this somehow sucked a bunch of dust into itself. I got home, looked at the pictures, and was immediately horrified. Inspection of the lens showed that yes, there was some nasty gunk on the lens…but not on the outside! Somehow it had gotten inside. That’s a mystery to me.

A lot of those other dots are caused by a dirty sensor on the camera. This is a problem unique to digital cameras, since film uses a new surface for each exposure. When you own a digital camera where you change lenses a lot, there comes a time to clean it. Sensors attract dust, and dust shows up when you point the camera at bright stuff with narrow apertures (I think this was f/22). Drat.

I just ordered a couple of different sensor cleaning kits, so it’s time to try them out. It’s never fun to stick foreign objects into a $1500 camera, but I honestly don’t trust anyone else to do it for me. I’ve always been the same way with my motorcycles, mountain bikes, and other stuff. There are too many horror stories flying around out there. So I’ll be sticking a solvent swab into my computer very soon. Hopefully I’ll do it right, or it’ll be hard to come up with more photography for the ol’ Blog!

Thursday Morning Light

Obviously there was a fantastic spectacle last night (Thursday) with all the Aurora Borealis activity. What I didn’t tell you (yet) is that the day started out with a lightshow as well. Shown above is the sunrise from Thursday morning, an amazing display of color. A sunrise like this will really make a photographer’s day, but to have the day bookended with such a Northern Lights display will make this day stand out in history.

Just in case you wanted to see the front of the church, here ya go. Aren’t those colors in the morning sky simply amazing? The same sort of thing was happening in the sky this morning, but I didn’t get out of the house in time to catch it. Sunrises and sunsets with this type of dramatic color only happen for a few minutes, and then they’re gone.

Thursday Night Lights – aurora borealis gallery

I was about to go to one of my most anticipated events of the year, the Image Printing Christmas party, when the call came in. It was my friend Chuck, calling with the news that the Northern Lights were in full swing. I already had my coat on, but the destination had changed: We were heading north!

As you can see, my favorite Northern Lights probability indicator was going crazy. It had good reason to. Below are some of the wild imagery Chuck and I brought back from the frozen tundra:

When we first got there, the sky had a lot of reds and yellows mixed in with the greens.

In the eastern sky, the auroras swept upward towards the zenith. You can make out the constellation Orion as well as the Pleiades in this shot…that should give you a sense of magnitude.

After a while the reds went away, but the lights took on more of a ripple effect for a while. This was taken facing east as well.

This is a goofy angle, but it does show a good example of the winding snake-like formation reaching up through the night sky. All the upswept lights merged in a big vortex over our heads!

Here’s the vortex. The light was moving so fast, the camera didn’t have time to absorb it. I pushed the camera to the limit and was able to get the shot, sorta. Because I had the sensitivity set so high, I also got a lot of other stars in the mix. But this is where all the lights were coming together.

This ribbon of light followed the Milky Way across the sky. It rippled too fast for the camera to do it justice; it takes a long exposure for the camera to truly capture what’s going on.

This was the most fantastic evening I’ve had in YEARS as far as the Northern Lights go. They were swirling, dancing, and rippling. It was just like all those nights I remember in the 1980’s, from the last solar maximum. For a year and a half now I’ve been lamenting that we’re in a solar minimum, now that I actually have a camera capable of astrophotography. Well, I’ll be dancing with joy as things start to ramp up and we get light shows like this in the future.

These are a few of my wife’s favorite things

While out looking at Christmas lights, Stacy fell in love with this display on Northview Lane. It’s an enormous tree with LED ornaments which cycle through colors and patterns. There’s also a nice little display below.

This display has always been one of her favorites, at least in the few years we’ve been married or dating. It’s down in Marina Bay in Mandan, where this family decorates their deck like a carousel. Don’t forget the helicopter on the roof!

Homes in Marina Bay don’t seem to be as decorated as they have been in the past. Down in the corner along the river, just past Dr. Scherr’s house, the houses used to have all kinds of nice displays and lights. Nowadays it’s not nearly as fun to drive through the area; only a few homes are decorated this year. That’s okay, there are other “hot spots” for Christmas lights now…maybe you’ll see some of them posted here!

Tuesday night sunset

Sunsets are pretty elusive these days, as the sun tends to have set before I can stagger away from work! Today’s sunset photo was a nice opportunity… my camera and I were actually east of town taking more pictures of spiky frost on the fences.

This was a nice shot because that red sunset gave the wood a nice warm tone, yet the frost and background were still a nice bluish white. In the past year and half since I started photography, I’ve learned that a good photo requires being in the right place at the right time. Tonight I was there.

Those little spikes are absolutely amazing! I’ve got some closeups, I’ll have to post one or two. One thing about a macro lens is that it’s got a very shallow depth of field; once I focus on a point, anything minutely closer or further away from that point are blurred. It’s neat for some things but a challenge for shots like this. I love a good challenge…

Jack Frost strikes…with spikes

I had originally intended to drive out along Apple Creek to try taking pictures of pretty frosty trees. Then I formulated a different plan: run over to the cross country ski trail between Bismarck and Mandan! But sadly, the trees along that path didn’t have any frost clinging to them.

It was back to plan A, although it was nearly dark, when I came along this lonely barbed wire fence east of Bismarck. The frost on this barbed wire came in the form of long, spiky formations. I got out of the truck to visually inspect the fence, leaving my camera on the seat. Once I got a good look at the fence, however, I literally dashed back to get my gear and take a bunch of cool photos such as the one above.

It’s getting late now so I’m only going to post the one, but who knows…maybe one of the other photos of the fence or posts will make its way into a future entry.

This rock is more patriotic than Congressman Earl Pomeroy

This enormous rock, about five feet tall and parked in a very remote location outside of Bismarck, has more patriotism than the American left. The owner of the land on which it sits, I presume, has adorned it with an American flag, the names of some North Dakota soldiers killed in the global war on terrorism, and the following quote from our President:

“We will not waver; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail.” George W Bush

It’s just a shame that very few people will ever see this rock; I stumbled upon it by accident while out getting the truck dirty. Can you imagine the heartfelt pride in our soldiers the artist must have felt as they painted this tribute to their sacrifice? It’s very moving and I had to tell you about it.

On the other hand, this reminded me of the cowardly Earl Pomeroy, the hapless US Representative from our fair state. While I and several hundred other motorcyclists stood guard outside the funeral of a fallen soldier, he came by to attend the funeral and offer waves and salutes. This happened less than 24 hours after he voted against House Resolution 861, titled “Declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.”

This is so typical of the liberal Democrat mantra of “I support the troops, but I don’t support the mission.” Have you seen the text of the resolution that Earl voted against? If not, click the link above. But first let me point out that this resolution was a show of support: it didn’t promise funding, it didn’t have any policy riders in it, it was simply a declaration that Americans are doing a good work and that they’ll succeed. Earl disagreed.

Here’s some of the text. I left out all the “whereas” clauses because, while they’re part of the text, they are not the meat of the resolution:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the Global War on Terror, whether as first responders protecting the homeland, as servicemembers overseas, as diplomats and intelligence officers, or in other roles;

(2) honors the sacrifices of the United States Armed Forces and of partners in the Coalition, and of the Iraqis and Afghans who fight alongside them, especially those who have fallen or been wounded in the struggle, and honors as well the sacrifices of their families and of others who risk their lives to help defend freedom;

(3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;

(4) declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;

(5) congratulates Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Iraqi people on the courage they have shown by participating, in increasing millions, in the elections of 2005 and on the formation of the first government under Iraq’s new constitution;

(6) calls upon the nations of the world to promote global peace and security by standing with the United States and other Coalition partners to support the efforts of the Iraqi and Afghan people to live in freedom; and

(7) declares that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the noble struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.

What was so objectionable to cowardly Earl that he couldn’t vote YEA on this? Did he object to a “Whereas” in there somewhere? The only one that should count is this one:

Whereas the United States and Coalition servicemembers and civilians and the members of the Iraqi security forces and those assisting them who have made the ultimate sacrifice or been wounded in Iraq have done so nobly, in the cause of freedom;

That clause alone is worthy of a YEA vote. Instead, spineless Earl the Pearl voted along with such notorious wackbags as Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel, one of the guys who keeps saying our soldiers are too dumb or poor to choose other career options. Then he has the nerve to show up at the funeral of a fallen soldier the very next day, putting on his North Dakota face on the flight back, and presumes (correctly) that it will go largely unnoticed.

“Representatives” like Earl Pomeroy do not represent North Dakota or the majority of Americans. Some of them, like our beloved Representative, are backstabbers when it comes to our soldiers at home. They make all the right somber appearances here in North Dakota, then run back off to Washington to be who they really are. I’m glad people like the person who painted this rock are up to the task of supporting our fighting men and women worldwide. If I was a member of Travis Van Zoest’s family the day of the funeral, I’d have denied the two-faced Earl Pomeroy entry into the ceremony…at least until he explained to the hundreds of real patriots outside why he voted the way he did.

The official roll call of the vote can be found here.

The full text of House Resolution 861 can be found here.

Ice 9

If you can name the artist whose song this post is titled for (without a Google search) I’ll be impressed! I was taking the long way home again today and found some really wild ice jams on the river. Naturally I had to go out and photograph them from up close!

I’m not saying how far out on the ice I went to get these, but I can say that I know it was only a foot deep or so before it froze. In all likelihood it was frozen all the way down. In any case, it was solid…and in the event of a plunge through the ice, the only casualty would be my ankles.

Greatest Christmas display in Bismarck-Mandan, 2006

UPDATE:I brought this post back up to the top of the page and added some more photos because Paul Schaff is going to be on the PH Phactor on KFYR AM 550 radio – Thursday, December 7th at 8:15am. Tune in at 8 and go see this Christmas display!

Now’s the time of year when carloads of Bismarck-Mandan residents get together and troll around our fair cities in search of eye-catching Christmas displays. It’s even so popular that local limousine services offer their services to drive you around to the more popular neighborhoods!

Obviously neighborhoods like Northview Lane come immediately to mind, but one house you might not know about really beats ’em all. I’m talking about Paul Schaff’s house, in the far southwest corner of Mandan.

I know about this house because it’s within spittin’ distance of my parents’ house, on a hill overlooking Fort Lincoln school. This is the view of the house from behind…yeah, that’s right: these folks are serious! I took this picture from the schoolyard below.

In years past I remember there even being a musical ornament of some sort, so we’d have to turn down the sounds of Charlie Brown Christmas and roll our windows down as well. I didn’t hear anything like that last night as Stacy and I took a drive past the house.

To get to this house, you need only find West View Lane in southwest Mandan. Let me make it easy: Head south on Highway 1806. Cross the bridge and keep going, as if you were going to Fort Lincoln State Park. At the top of the first big hill is an intersection with 19th Street. Take a right on 19th and follow it until you come to a 4-way stop sign at 8th Avenue SE. Take a left and pass Fort Lincoln School, and you can’t miss the house. From there it’s just a matter of taking a couple of right-hand turns to find them at the end of the road.

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Sure, I can’t go out on the motorcycles without spiked tires (which I’ve done) and it’s a lot colder to go walkabout with my camera… but driving around snowy roads with Vince Gauraldi playing in my truck is the absolute best feeling I get in Bismarck-Mandan all year long. With that in mind, I’ll be posting more Christmas sights here. They’re even better when shared.

Sure wish I knew what this thing is

If you ever find yourself coming home from Fort Lincoln at night, you may have looked up at the hill behind Beck’s Museum and seen this thing lit up at the top of the hill. It appears to be on private property, and I have no idea as to its significance. If you have any information on this particular monument, please post a comment. For once I’m stumped.

UPDATE: This is a memorial to a young man who died unexpectedly. ’nuff said.