The (ice) fog comes on little cat feet

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

I’m always giddy to use a line from my favorite Carl Sandburg poem, thus the title. And on cat feet it came, only this time it was ice fog instead of the traditional kind. It left just as slyly, leaving me only one location to try to grab a few shots of its remarkable effects!

With an otherwise crystal-clear sky, the airborne crystals of this ice fog turned any bright light source into a blazing spire piercing the darkness above Bismarck-Mandan. In some places with enough bright light sources close together, the sight was reminiscient of aurora borealis!

I noticed these by accident, keeping true with my typical modus operandi: stumble into the right place at the right time, with my camera in my possession. Why do you think my motto is, “it’s better to be lucky than good?” I had stepped out to run an errand for my wife when I saw this phenomenon in the sky, and I took quick advantage of it. I’m glad I was timely in doing so; within twenty minutes, the ice fog has gone. Little cat feet, indeed.

2010 from a different angle. A few, really

This is the fifth time I’ve done this. I got a camera in 2005 and started this website on January 1, 2006. You can see the first post here, which naturally features the capitol with “2006” in the windows. As a result, taking pictures of the capitol on New Year’s Eve isn’t just a fun pastime of mine, it’s also an anniversary of sorts.

After running a video camera at the Wizards game, I stopped up at the capitol grounds on my way home. Man, was it COLD out! I would take a few shots (with my remote so I could keep gloves on) and then sit in the nice, warm truck for a while before trying a new angle!

There were a lot of cars coming through. Many just stopped and looked up at the numbers in the windows. Some, however, were as insane as myself and braved the cold to get out and take a couple quick photos.

I used my 10mm lens for most of these shots, which gives the tower a unique bit of perspective distortion. It also allows me to fit it all into the shot, something that’s not easy to do with most lenses. I snapped a few and then bolted to my nice, warm home. Happy New Year!