Monthly Archives: September 2012

Where else can I go to lower my IQ a couple dozen points? I’m sure the Internet will provide

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Yesterday the publisher of the Bismarck Tribune announced that they were no longer going to allow public comment on most stories posted on the Tribune website. The reason given was that many comments posted by users “have been in poor taste and nothing more than personal attacks on either a person or group.” That’s an understatement.

I’ve often stated that if I start feeling too intelligent I simply have to go peruse the Comments section of the Bismarck Tribune website to knock off a couple dozen IQ points. It was serious tinfoil-hat territory, and it did as much to hurt the Tribune’s credibility as their editorial bias…but in a slightly less guarded tone.

I hit my teens during the dawn of the personal computer age. I remember calling local BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) with my 300 baud modem nearly thirty years ago. Even then people were frantically pounding away at their keyboards, typing outrageous things they’d never have the nerve to say to someone in person. It was a valuable lesson to learn back then rather than right now, where everything you type is instantly available worldwide forever. Some would say I still step in it, but we can debate that another time.

Now how do I lower my IQ on demand? I don’t watch television. I guess I could still go to the Tribune website and meander through one of Clay Jenkinson’s rambling missives occasionally. Of such garrulousness I simply say, brevity is the soul of wit.

In any case, even though the local tinfoil-hat crowd has been silenced within the Tribune’s purview, I’m sure the Internet will provide a suitable alternative should the need arise.

Fort Lincoln frisbee frolicking

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My little guys have really been looking forward to a trip to the blockhouses at Fort Lincoln lately, so last night I made that happen. One boy had his bike, one boy had his frisbees, and Daddy had his camera. The winds aloft were pushing all the nice clouds away to the southeast, but I was able to catch a few before they moved off. Then it was on to the fun.

I fancy myself quite the proficient frisbee thrower and catcher. I don’t do the frolf thing very often; my favorite frisbee pastime is to do lots of running, jumping, throwing, and catching on the capitol lawn. My latest favorite is throwing multiple frisbees simultaneously and seeing how many little guys can catch ’em! We took that show on the road last night as I threw frisbees up to the roof of the blockhouse and darted around as my fellas threw them back down. All the while trying not to spill camera gear.

The evening came and went quickly, as the fleeting sun darted over the horizon with September velocity. At that point it was time to grab a couple shots of clouds reflecting a pinkish hue and bolt back to the truck for the long ride home. Not a bad little adventure for a weeknight, and since that pesky sun sets so early this time of year I think we all made it to bed on schedule!

Off duty at 22,000

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This is my 22,000th photo through my newest camera. The subject is something that has drawn my eye every time I pass it on I-94 near Sweet Briar. Over the extended weekend I decided to venture out at sunrise and, since I’ve photographed all the obvious stuff in Bismarck-Mandan ad nauseum, I needed to travel a little further and get this shot from my photographic “bucket list.”

This is an old police/security vehicle sitting alongside a little gravel road along the interstate highway. While it has a reflective Air Force Security logo sticker on the door, I don’t think that’s original. The car is not directly accessible from there; one has to hit a couple of gravel roads to find it. That’s easily accomplished with a little GPS or Google Earth.

The clouds mostly obscured the sunrise until the sun had come up quite a ways. That actually provided a nice photo opportunity of the car, since I didn’t have to deal with any blazing highlights or deep shadows. Clouds are a great natural diffuser of light. I turned around to capture the sun poking through, although I didn’t care much for the power lines (see yesterday’s post).

Once the golden cast of the sunrise faded, some nice dramatic blues remained. That allowed me one more angle before moving on. People sometimes ask me how I have time to grab all the photos I post on here from day to day. The answer is, quite simply: I don’t. I maximize the photo opportunities that I do get, and then post the photos over time. One photo trip can sometimes provide a week’s worth of blog material if it’s a productive one. In this case, yes, I did find some other fun stuff…and yes, it will have to be posted later. 🙂

I didn’t think this was going to turn out but I snapped it anyway…

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Saturday morning, while working on something else that I’ll likely post in the next day or two, I noticed that the sky behind me was doing something really cool. Yes, I was out at sunrise and pointing my camera the other way – more on that later. The clouds had obscured the rising sun for the most part, but once it began to poke through I took notice. Sadly, there were power lines in the way of an otherwise nice sunrise landscape shot.

I went ahead and maneuvered closer to the power lines to include them, since I certainly wasn’t in a good position to avoid them. In this case I they actually provide a nice bit of geometry to the shot. While not ideal, they do lead the eye toward the horizon and the rising sun.

Certainly not ideal, but not a total throwaway shot, either. Since I do freelance industrial photography and an advocate for North Dakota’s energy industry, I’m somewhat sympathetic to lines like these anyway. Now, about the photographic subject that had me facing away from the dramatic sunrise…well, that’ll have to wait a day or two.