Daily Archives: November 11, 2007

International Space Station flies over Double Ditch

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I heard it was doing a flyby, so I got up early and ran up to Double Ditch Indian Village for a look at the International Space Station. I’ve previously photographed it at the North Dakota State Capitol building and the blockhouses at Fort Lincoln State Park so I decided to try a new vantage point. Since the NASA website tracking flyovers indicated that it would be a north-northwest approach, I chose to go north.

It was a very difficult thing to do, catching a pinpoint as it creeped across the sky, because the sun was starting to rise in the east. The sky was so bright, holding the shutter open long enough to capture the pinpoint of light as a streaking trail left the rest of the photo horribly overexposed. My solution: perform a series of quicker exposures back to back. That left a trail of dashes across the screen once I combined all of the exposures into one, so I filled in the gaps in Photoshop. I wish I could have captured what you see above entirely in the camera, but the fact that the flyby occurred at Sunrise forced my hand. Perhaps I’ll give it another attempt when it flies by in the dark!

Early riser, and some shots to make the hunters jealous

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Saturday morning I had a lot to do, so to stoke the fire of my ambition I got up before the sun and headed out in the truck to stake out a nice photo. Right now the sunrise times out pretty nicely, arriving right around 7:00 am. Perfect. I hit 93rd Street southeast of Lincoln, since I had some potential sunrise locations plotted in my GPS. Instead of YAW (Yet Another Windmill) I chose this lonely tree.

It took a while for the sun to catch up, as there were clouds on the horizon. But once it did, I was able to catch it rising beneath the arc of my tree’s drooping branches. Not bad. Any time I can come home with one photo I like, the trip is considered a success. From here on out, anything else is a bonus.

I hung out a little bit until the sun got up high enough in the sky to make for a blazing sunrise, then figured I’d had enough of standing in the cold. I was wearing long johns and a warm coat, but the cold was starting to gnaw away at me. I hopped into the nice warm truck and headed back to town to get started on a long list of errands, including the introductory animation for the Civic Center screens when the Dakota Wizards take the floor.

Since deer season is in full effect now, I heard a lot of gunshots from all directions. None were terribly close, but I did stay hunkered down by the side of the road. I wanted to minimize the risk of getting shot, as you can understand. Even so, a motorist on Highway 83 near Minot caught a bullet in the leg this week. I don’t want to be come a statistic. My days of hiking with my camera are on hold until the hunting season ends.

Speaking of deer season, I did see this fella. He had four or five of his ladies with him, but I didn’t find them particularly photogenic. I’m no hunter, so I don’t know what a trophy doe looks like…but I do understand the importance of antlers on a buck. This was a pretty decent looking deer, in my estimation. I bet there are a lot of hunters out there that didn’t get a look like this!

Oh yeah…I saw this one, too. I just have to rub it in for those unfortunate hunters who came back empty handed this weekend. This lucky guy also had four or five does with him. Since I’m told the deer are in rut right now, that would explain the sudden socialization. I have shots of all of them, but only felt like posting the big bucks this morning.

So I went out Saturday morning looking for just one good photo. I got many. A lot of times it turns out like that, but then again I do come home empty handed some days as well. I guess I know what it feels like to be a hunter, after all.