I was sitting in the rocking chair with my two little boys on my lap, telling them an extemporaneous story about The Little Motorcycle and His Big Race, so I missed a call from my buddy MGK. A check of his voicemail later told me all I needed to know: the light spikes were BACK.

I ventured out, thinking I’d head toward Hillside Park. Then I saw that the spikes were jutting skyward in the west! No matter; I whipped the truck around and headed toward the river. When I got there – you guessed it – not a spike of light in sight!

Patience is not among my few virtues, and I gave up at this point; however, I saw some light spikes to the south and thought perhaps I should pull a wait-n-see. The steam above the river was slowly drifting northward, so perhaps the ice crystals and their lovely light artifacts would soon follow! As a matter of fact, they did.

Not only do I have a great little spot marked out for this shot, but it’s also got ground underneath the snow instead of a churning Missouri River! As the spikes formed, I heard a train coming from the east. Perfect. I held the shutter release down for about thirty seconds before the train arrived, and for a total of 96 seconds as it rolled past. Bingo. I didn’t even get too cold!

This is my favorite photo not just because I had a cool location out on the ice and froze accordingly despite my winter weather gear, but also because of all the little features therein That’s why I decided to upload a larger version. In fact, it’s so big that you will probably have to click on it AGAIN in your browser so it displays full size. If you have a little magnifying-glass cursor when you roll over the photo, click it to zoom in. Check out these details:

– The steam above the river. On the left side of the photo, the light streams through the trees and hits the steam. Very cool.

– The train. I started my exposure before it got to the bridge so that it would “ghost” into the photo, being semi-transparent. Its headlight also illuminated the bridge beams in front of it.

– The refinery. The giant plumes of steam from the Tesoro plant are drifting northeastward, forming a nice pillowy look due to the long exposure.

– The snow on the river. I’m standing just at the point where the ice starts to turn to slush, on the ragged edge of safety. There’s a thick blanket of snow out on the river, so if you are not familiar with the shoreline in this area it’s a good idea to NOT try coming out here.

– The stars. I had a perfectly clear night, and the brightest of stars didn’t disappoint. They made a grand appearance in this picture, streaking ever so slightly because of the duration of the exposure.

There you have it…so many things came together in this scene, things that were beyond my control. I’m just the lucky sap who was there at the right place at the right time, shutter release in hand, to capture it. Moments like this don’t come along easily and, while I had the presence of mind to wait for it, they don’t always pan out like this one. That’s why I suspect I may have already captured my best photo of the year.

Having accomplished what I needed to in Mandan, I came back and took a few minutes to see how my camera would react to the light. Since I needed to do a long exposure anyway, I decided to hold the shutter open long enough to make the taillights of passing cars streak across the frame. I experimented with the settings a bit to make sure I got the blazing beam of light on the bridge’s north edge, the taillights, and the other regions of the picture all exposed the way I wanted to. Fun!

I haven’t had my camera out of the bag since I don’t know when. The past week and a half of family with flu, colds, and whatever else hasn’t helped. Now I’ve got it, yay! I did get to shoot some video outside today at McDowell Dam, and it really helped me feel better (but still sick). Hopefully I can get on the mend for the rest of the week, I hear it’s supposed to be pretty nice out there. Perhaps there’s a chance to take my boys for more motorcycle rides!