Last night’s clouds were a blessing and a curse, photographically. After ten full days without removing my camera from its bag, a new record as far as I can tell, I ventured out for some night snow shots. I’d seen a photo online that a guy took by moonlight, holding the shutter open for 120 seconds and catching some really neat effects. Sadly, although we have the full moon required for such a shot, it was obscured by those low, hazy clouds.

I used what I had; the clouds acted as a perfect “bounce” to reflect the lights of the city. I hoofed it out to the end of the boat dock by Merriwether’s, set up my tripod, and was overjoyed to hear the drone of a train whistle across the river. I set up just in time to do a long exposure of the train crossing the bridge – you can see how it’s streaked. The new Memorial Bridge is tucked underneath the east span of the historic NP railroad bridge, and the deep blue night sky on the horizon is sandwiched between a snowy white Missouri River and the wispy haze of the low-flying clouds. Not bad.