One week later, a look back: 2010 in pictures

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I thought this view of the capitol from behind was appropriate for a look back post. A lot happened in Bismarck-Mandan and North Dakota as a whole this year. Many times my cameras were there. Here’s a little sample of some of the things that caught my eye and shutter in 2010. The bold blue text is a link to the original post with more information and sometimes additional photos. Enjoy!


I was hired to document Falkirk Mine’s big event: Chief Ironsides, the 13 million pound dragline, crossed Highway 83 for the first time in years. It was so cold, my camera batteries were freezing up.


I got an amazing photo using only my cellular telephone. I don’t ever want to upgrade away from this phone; the camera’s too good!


My list of homemade 4×4 hybrid vehicles grew by one: I present to you the 4×4 Ford Galaxie!


Some unique weather conditions caused a lot of very dramatic spikes of light around town. I chose the river as the best place to photograph them.


The lights beneath the new Memorial Bridge were modified to address nearby homeowners’ concerns and were turned on, creating an interesting light artifact visible to westbound drivers.

I finally took the time to explore the Antique Mall on Main Avenue in Bismarck. I found some very interesting items, including some photos of the North Dakota state capitol building that were intriguing, to say the least.


I found the best spot in Bismarck to get a shot of the capitol interacting with the moon.


After this February trip I already figured I’d taken my coolest photo of 2010, and now that 2010 has passed I think I was probably right.


I found some American flags waving victoriously in a very unlikely location.


After a storm dumped an overwhelming amount of snow, ice, and something in between, crews scrambled to fix miles and miles of downed power lines in some very challenging conditions.


I spotted this homemade P-51 Mustang replica, sporting a Geo Metro engine, at a meeting of the local Experimental Aircraft club.


Power outages continued as the icy crust from early April’s storm almost immediately melted, turning the area into a mudfest. Power line towers and poles for miles west of Mandan were bent, twisted, and broken. Crews worked diligently to repair the lines in spite of the conditions.


Not to worry: many workers like these brave souls worked tirelessly to get things repaired and power restored. They worked at an impressive pace in challenging conditions.


Accomplished mime and all-around amazing performer Dan Kamin (dankamin.com) performed with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra. The performance highlighted the many talents of our Symphony as well as its conductor, who did quite a bit of acting as well.


I took a friend’s Canon 7D camera on a test drive for a Fallen Farms shot. I knew it was the camera I’d been waiting for, and within a couple of weeks I had one of my very own.


I added the Categories feature to the ol’ Blog. Now you can click on a category title (in blue, by the title of the post) and find similar posts going all the way back to the beginning.


North Dakota finds itself in the middle of a viral movie marketing campaign for the film Super 8. I of course hop in with both feet…


Memorial Day 2010 was highlighted by a B-52 flyover and a stirring speech from Major General C. Emerson Murry (retired). We lost Maj Gen Murry later in the year.


I found a new favorite sunset spot for my photography outings. It’s hard to get to if you don’t know the way, it’s got spectacular views in all directions, and I’ve gotten plenty of use out of it already.


The Barnstormers Tour came to town for three absolutely packed days of nostalgia and rides. My little boys and I went all three days but I didn’t purchase a ride.


I introduced you to Bill Jundt, the head of the crew who arranges the window shades of the capitol tower displays for July 4th, the new year, or the colored Christmas tree. The local media must read my blog, because they then picked up on the story for Christmas.


I took advantage of my newfound vantage point to catch the capitol and the moon perfectly aligned.


I got a response from the Super8 viral movie campaign, and am now an official Rocket Poppeteer!


I broke my rule about entering deserted farm houses just this once to get an amazing shot of this abandoned living room and picture window.


A large group of local photography enthusiasts took part in the annual Worldwide Photo Walk this year, with great results.


Art in the Park 2010 featured a very talented chalk artist who uses perspective to give his artwork a 3D look.


Cold War Mancation, Part One – Oscar Zero, the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Historic Site.


Mandan Airport hosted a fly-in as a companion event to Buggies ‘n’ Blues. The weather was perfect (for once) and there was a ton of participation!


I found a new perfectly picturesque location for my Dakota Roads signature shot. This was a brand new (like, literally a day old) Highway 1.


Cold War Mancation, Part Two – the defunct Nekoma Missile Site, part of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Complex.


Cold War Mancation, Part Three – the former Omega radar tower, now part of a Naval computer operations something-or other.


The Global War on Terrorism Memorial pays tribute to North Dakota soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the GWOT.


Cold War Mancation, Part Four – the gigantic PAR (Perimeter Acquisition Radar) array is a feature of Cavalier Air Station.


By patiently spending an evening in my favorite photo hiding/sunset spot I was able to take a variety of photos in multiple directions.


Cold War Mancation, Part Five – Minot…including an extremely rare pair of vintage fighter planes.


KVLY’s tower got demoted in 2010 to the world’s SECOND tallest man-made object. As a former employee, it’ll always be the tallest object in my heart.


Mandan Fire Department hosted plenty of emergency services agencies in an amazingly fun event for the kids with demos, hot dogs, and fire engine rides!


I found out that those ginormous brass doors on the front of the State Library building DO actually work.


Drew Wrigley became the first person to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota in 70 years.


A large crowd gathered on November 11th to see the Veterans’ Memorial
cast a ray of sunlight on North Dakota.


The 2010 Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony was particularly fun this year, and my little boys got to have their picture taken with some famous North Dakotans.


As wonderful as it was, Christmas 2010 was missing a few notable displays around Christmas and Mandan.


Christmas on Kennedy Avenue was one of the best Christmas displays in Bismarck-Mandan this year.

So…there you have it! There are plenty of other posts in between, but in looking back I thought those were the most noteworthy. Who knows what 2011 has to offer? One thing’s for sure: you’ll see it here!

2011 from the Bird Woman’s point of view

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One of the state’s most famous statues stands stoically in the cold as the state rings in the new year. This shot was actually a bit of a challenge, as there are spotlights in the concrete floor around the statue which cast a lot of hard light around the area.

Always up for a challenge I grabbed a couple of snow shovels I keep in my truck for when the fun gets out of hand. I laid one shovel over each of the spotlights, did my photography, and used the shovels to clear additional snow away from the lights so they could do their thing.

The first Big Dipper of 2011

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Yes, I was one of the many people wandering around the capitol grounds last night in the cold to get snap a few photos of the capitol tower with the windows lit for the new year. There are always a lot of people driving through and taking photos, and it always puts a few questions in my mind:

– What kind of photos are people getting by shooting handheld with a flash? Shots like the one I took above take 30 seconds on a tripod.

– Why do I always attract security? Is it my camera gear? No worries, I passed at least two background checks last year alone.

– Can it be that there are so many people who take pride in our cities and our state like I do? That’s an encouragine one.

It’s a challenge on these long shots like the one above, because I have to time it for a 30 second chunk of time when there aren’t cars driving through my shot! Otherwise I’d have white and red streaks of light along the road as the car travels through the frame. Sometimes that’s a really fun effect, but not one I want in a shot like this. When it’s bitter cold like it was last night, that can be a chilly wait!

As I watched others work their way around from place to place and take their snapshots, I wandered to a few locations of my own around the capitol grounds. I even found a new one that I don’t think anyone’s tried yet. Of course I’ll post them here, once I get the chance to hop into Photoshop and prepare them.

This was the last shot in the series, where I decided to take advantage of the mostly clear skies and capture the Big Dipper, part of the Ursa Major constellation. I had to combine a couple of shots because I needed to expose for the sky separately from the capitol tower itself. I almost gave up on this shot, but then I had an inspiration for making it happen the way I envisioned it. Then I froze for a little while as a few more cars of onlookers came through, finally nabbing what I needed and hopping back into the nice, warm truck.

I call this one the first Big Dipper of 2011, because Friday night was far too cloudy to spot any stars. Once again…Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2011!

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Happy New Year! Well, in an hour and forty-five minutes or so, anyway. Got any fun plans? Got some pretty exciting ones here. Today (well, tomorrow actually) marks a milestone here on the ol’ Blog. More on that later. Time to enjoy the evening.

9000

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It seems like it’s been a slow year for photography, but somehow I have managed to run just over 9,000 shots through the Canon 7D I bought this Spring. This is number 9,000. I decided to give it an aged feel in Photoshop when I saw it, blowing out the highlights and adding some artifacts to make it look somewhat like an antique print.

Happy New Year!

Our favorite Bismarck-Mandan Christmas display

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If you like Christmas celebrations, certainly you’ve passed by this house near the intersection of Kennedy Avenue and N 23rd Street. If you haven’t, you only have a couple more days in which to check it out! It’s worth your time.

This display gets better every year, with familiar characters placed strategically around the yard. I like to think that this version of the Grinch is the one after his heart grew three sizes that day!

Of course, the stars of the show have to be the abominable snowmen…not one, but two! The original big guy now has a little Mini Me monster to keep him company.

Some of you may recall that some chowderhead(s) stole the head off the big snow monster a year or two ago. Not only has the big guy been repaired, but I’m told that security measures are in place. Hopefully nobody tries it again, but if they do I hope they get a beatin’!

Let’s not forget the real reason for Christmas, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. No Christmas display, no matter how elaborate, would be complete without a nativity scene.

A sign out front invites passers-by to get out and walk around, taking in the sights. The weather was pretty decent so I accepted the invitation to take my little boys out for a walk. They loved the whole display (and the free candy).

It’s nice to see the display still going strong for a few more days after Christmas. I’ve always liked continuing past Christmas Day until the New Year’s holiday has passed before taking down Christmas decorations and getting set for another eleven months of waiting. If you need one mroe little shot of Christmas cheer, don’t hesitate to take it all in before the displays get stowed away!

The True Meaning of Christmas 2010

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Despite all the efforts to combat it, Christmas is here. What was once a celebration of Christ’s birth has become artfully hijacked. In some ways it’s been converted into a time of commercialism. In others it’s become simply a time of tradition; family, food, fun. I’m not saying the exchange of gifts is bad and, quite frankly, this world needs more tradition and family time. Whether good or bad, these things are a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas.

One thing I first realized when I became a Christian is that there’s way more to the Christmas story than I’d ever known. Jesus didn’t suddenly spring up and change the way God dealt with man forever; his birth was foretold. Around the time of his conception, you didn’t have to explain to an Israelite who the Messiah was. He was foretold by the prophets. His lineage was known and predicted, as well as his birthplace of Bethlehem. They were literally waiting for him to arrive. Check out Isaiah 53 and you’ll see how important Christ’s arrival is, and what was foretold.

Another thing I realized is that we Gentiles are not God’s chosen people; Israel is. We, however, through the faith in Jesus that his nation didn’t have, are grafted in. In both the old and new testaments, Jesus is referred to as a light to the Gentiles. As Paul points out in Romans, the grace God shows the Gentiles is intended to provoke Israel to jealousy. He made a covenant with them that he will not break, and his wish is that they’d come around.

The Christmas story as told in Luke is simply beautiful. I love to try to picture that starry night (because I’m a starry night kind of guy) and the magnitude of the events that unfolded around Jesus’ birth. People were waiting for his birth. This night was prophecy fulfilled, the opportunity for God’s chosen people to be redeemed. Later on, because he wasn’t the type of Messiah they wanted, they rejected him. When Stephen was stoned in Acts chapter 7, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He was ready to redeem his people, but again they rejected him and killed the messenger, Stephen. Thus we are now in the church age, the time of the Gentiles.

Christmas 2010 has been such a blessing. For one month between November and December we had two three-year-old boys. We’ve got a White Christmas, and PJ loves to help Daddy shovel snow. My wife and I, although busy beyond belief, occasionally get time to stop and remark how thankful we are for the blessings we’ve been given. The Lord gave me an amazing woman, and gave us the two most precious little boys ever.

While out and about doing some gag-gift shopping for our Christmas party at work, I found myself distracted by gifts for my little boys. We’d already finished shopping for them, but I couldn’t resist. It occurred to me that it was the joy of being able to buy something to light up their little blue and green eyes that had me hooked. It’s just one more joy of being Daddy.

I drove around town the other night looking at Christmas lights, a live nativity scene at Zion Lutheran, and just generally enjoying the town while my wife and the boys were visiting cousins. I had sneaked home and done all the dishes and stuff to surprise my lovely wife and then hopped in the truck with my gear. I actually recorded a potential podcast with my MP3 recorder as I drove around, but I don’t know if I’ll post it here. I love our town(s) during Christmas time, even though there seem to be fewer homes decorating for the holidays every year.


We’ve got plans to just stick close to home and enjoy our precious little family this year. Our property is blanketed by a thick blanket of nice white snow, our little boys are finally old enough to partake fully in Christmas festivities, and the Lord has continued to show himself faithful (even when I’m not) throughout another year. I hope your Christmas is as memorable as mine. If you’ve got anything you’d like to share about your Christmas, please enter it as a comment. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from your friendly neighborhood Imperial Stormtrooper

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Thanks to my friend Sandy for the heads-up on this geektastic sight: the most eye-catching Salvation Army bell-ringer I’ve ever seen! Jeff told me he dons this suit annually to do his part to raise money during Christmas. I can’t think of a cooler way to do it!

Naturally, I wanted to grab a quick photo with my little towheads right away. Having recently posed for photos with Miss North Dakota and the Governor and First Lady of North Dakota, they’re getting pretty good at posing and waiting for Daddy to fiddle with the camera settings and draining flash batteries.

They’ve never seen Star Wars, but that doesn’t mean my boys didn’t think that the Stormtrooper was cool. They were quite impressed, and enjoyed the sight as much as I. I forgot to ask that nagging question in the back of my mind, though: just what is an Aluminum Falcon?

Get your favorite Christmas display “on the map”

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View 2010 Bismarck-Mandan Christmas Lights in a larger map

I’ve recently started a Google Map of my favorite Christmas displays in order to share them with anyone else who loves taking ’em all in. Enjoy, and check back for updates.

If you know of a display that you feel should be on this map, send me the location either with a comment on this post or by using the “Contact Me” link on the upper right of this page.

If you are reading this on one of the website that syndicates my blog, you’re going to have to come directly to bismarck-mandan.com to do it.

Merry Christmas!

A few local attractions I miss this Christmas

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If you’ve traveled up or down Northview Lane this Christmas season, you’ve likely noticed that the giant pine tree isn’t decorated from top to bottom and that the lit menagerie is conspicuously absent from the yard in which it stands. I’m told Dr. Hamar sold this house, which has some worried because he was known as the organizer of Northview’s decorations. Let’s chip in and rent a lift or bucket truck for the new owners, eh?

This tree along north 4th Street was one of my favorites but I haven’t seen it lit or decorated this year.

When I was at Fort Lincoln tonight I didn’t see any decorated blockhouses. This display was lit by a generator running inside the blockhouse. What a cold hike that was…but photographically worth it!

Of course, who can forget the Schaff house, south of Mandan? Sadly, Paul Schaff announced a couple of years ago that he was done with his amazing display, one which could be seen from the Seven Seas and a good stretch of Interstate 94.

I don’t think I ever photographed the Anderson building on west Main Avenue when it was decorated, but I’ve come to expect the Christmas decorates to be lit around the top of the building. Tonight it was dark.

While driving around with my best friend tonight we were pondering that the number of decorated homes has declined steadily each Christmas. On a limo ride earlier this week I noticed that we really didn’t have many Christmas lights to see, other than at Sertoma Park and the Northview area. Hopefully this trend reverses.

As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, don’t let the lack of lights get you down…I sure won’t. Sure, it’s fun to get into the spirit of the season by means of festive decorations, but they pale next to the true meaning of Christmas.