Normally I don’t do any photo roaming during deer (rifle) season. It’s a good way to catch a stray bullet, and landowners are generally pretty edgy with all the randos out looking for a place to hunt – with or without permission. Naturally I’m sensitive to the landowners’ point of view, and one less vehicle ambling down the gravel road or section line can help enhance their calm. But today I opted to roam.

I couldn’t help but stop by this old house, because I haven’t taken a photo of it in years for no particular reason. It’s been twelve years, in fact. This photo is a prime example of why I mark all my photo spots in my handheld GPS so I can revisit them later:

This structure sits along Highway 1804 north of town, and it’s got a great view. The Square Buttes sit – well, squarely – to the west across the Missouri River. I happened to come by with my sweetie at a particularly beautiful time and was able to capture this photo of the moment.

I recently took a little road trip, and along the way I found a trio of really nice barns. I thought I’d take a moment to share photos of them here. Isn’t this one majestic? It was huge.

When it comes to finding points of photographic interest around North Dakota, I’ve got plenty of resources. I have maps. I have lists. I have online resources. I keep an eye out for interesting things posted by others, especially locals in certain places. The Randolph School showed up on one of my maps, so I followed my usual ritual: finding its precise GPS location; pixel-peeping it on The Google; determining if it’s still where it should be; determining if there’s still a road to it (especially in the Prairie Pothole areas); and plotting my way to visit it for myself. When I arrived at the location of the Randolph School, however, I was surprised to see that there were two of them.