Daily Archives: June 23, 2007

So there I was at the wellhead one night…

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One thing about taking sunset, sunrise, or Northern Lights photos: you need a suitable foreground object. I knew I wanted to try to get the sunset again tonight, since I was out and about at 9:30…but what to do for a noteworthy foreground? I was at a loss, so I did what I am prone to do: get on a gravel road and follow it until I see something. It didn’t take long.

Out in the middle of nowhere, as usual, I noticed this well sticking out of the grass on a hill, not far from the road. Since I have a nice telephoto lens and do NOT have permission from the landowner, I shot from the road. As it turns out, I think that was the best angle anyway. I grabbed a lot of different shots as the sun progressed downward, including quite a few with the sun gone entirely. Even then, the warm glow of the sky was just right.

Mission accomplished; I went from central Bismarck to a previously unnoticed wellhead in a matter of a few minutes, got a ton of really nice photos, and was back home in time to snuggle my boy before tucking him in for the night. Now it’s off to shovel a bunch of Cap’n Crunch cereal into my head, challenge my wife to our favorite board game, and try to forget the fact that I’d just cleaned and wet-looked my tires before this little journey. Dust from a dirt road sticks to a freshly armor-alled tire like sprinkles to a donut. I guess we’ll redo that tomorrow. As I strive to learn this new photography hobby, I’m willing to pay the price sometimes.

edit: I can’t decide if I like the tall version of this photo, or the wide one. Which do you guys prefer? Click below to add a comment.

Golden opportunity on the Missouri River

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“Golden” was the color of the sky last night, and also how I would describe the opportunity to watch a dramatic sky with my lovely wife. We’d been out Geocaching earlier, and on our way back to Bismarck we decided to walk across the Memorial Bridge. The clouds to the north were quite cool, and the bridge itself isn’t going to be around much longer, so we decided to take a stroll out to the middle and watch the sunset.

Not only was the sun creating a pretty nice show to the west, but there was a pretty neat cloud formation to the east. Those clouds later became a thunderstorm that moved off to the northeast, but in this case they just provided a neat backdrop to the BSC hill.

In the mean time, things were starting to roll in the west. Literally. The low clouds were rolling, causing ripples of reflected light in the sky as they formed. Those same glowing ripples were reflected in the water below, making for a really nice scene.

This is the scene as things wound down, with the sun disappearing over the horizon and our departure back to the Bismarck side of the river. Aside from all the pigeon droppings, the Memorial Bridge really is a nice walk. With the sun setting so far north this time of year, it provides a great view up the river in the evening. If you haven’t taken advantage of this walk, you don’t have much longer! The new bridge is set to open next year, which means the demolition and removal of the current bridge. This could be the last summer we have to enjoy it.