I didn’t realize that flax blooms for such a short time! Thankfully I happened upon this field at the right time. A couple of days later all the blue was gone. Apparently the flowers only last for a day. Even though each flax plant makes many flowers, I guess these fields are only visible for a fleeting moment each season.
I understand that traversing this region in a horse-drawn wagon during any number of inclement North Dakota weather situations could lead one to term the Badlands as such, but in this era of modern convenience I can only conjure words such as beautiful, breathtaking, and the like. At no time is that more evident than at sunrise or sunset, of course.
One other thing: critters. That word may seem too diminutive for something as enormous as a North American Bison, but what the heck. Thankfully they’re docile and don’t mind photographers. I choose to use a long telephoto lens for my bison shots, thank you very much.
The herd is always on the move, and during this particular shot we got that lesson in frightening fashion. While snapping away with the telephoto and allowing myself to get too wrapped up in the action, I pulled my eye away from the viewfinder to discover that the herd had all but enveloped our immediate area – car and all. We hopped in the vehicle and made a slow, steady retreat.
I’m a city kid, so I don’t understand horses…other than that they are special, empathetic creatures. I followed a couple of packs of wild horses and watched them interact. Once they realized I wasn’t advancing on them, they got back to doin’ their lazy horse thang, and it was calming to watch them at leisure and play.
I am still busy with “new homeowner” stuff, but would like to get a couple of Badlands trips in yet this year. You can bet that I’ll share the fruits of such journeying should my wish come to pass.
I got to cross one more location off my photography wish list, sort of, as I took my family to the Medora Musical a couple of weekends ago. One place I wanted to scout for a future “dark-to-dark” photography day was the Wind Canyon Overlook at the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was everything I expected, but even more challenging to photograph.
I took a quick panorma with my mobile device and scouted out some other potential locations for the future. I’d like to catch this location at pre-dawn, sunrise, sunset, and at night. A friend and I are scheming to make that happen yet this fall…we’ll see how that actually works out.
I’ll never run out of things to photograph in Bismarck-Mandan, or North Dakota in general. Time, however, is another issue. But I had little boys who loved to grab one of my spare cameras and photograph prairie dogs and bison with a 300mm lens, so I intend to make more trips as soon as we get more settled into our new house.
Here’s one for you: even those these lines have clearly been in place long enough to perform their intended service to the point of becoming obsolete, there are still federal subsidy programs in place from the 1930s to provide telephone and electric connections to rural areas. Once a federal program like that comes to life, look out: you’re probably going to pay for it forever.
There’s so much color in the sky around sunrise and sunset, adding a special touch to an otherwise unremarkable scene. Everything takes on such a unique vibrance during that Golden Hour light, and it’s great when that happens with something photogenic nearby…and a great friend to share the experience.
Photography doesn’t end once the shutter is clicked, or even once the photos are processed. Any photo can be revisited and cropped, processed, colored, or even manipulated in countless ways. That’s part of the appeal for me. While I save the “manipulation” part for a select few photos, it is occasionally fun…as long as it’s used stylistically and not deceptively. Photoshop is easily as fun as photography itself.
I managed to capture this incongruous mixture of random rural elements while out on some remote gravel road, as usual. This particular photo is actually from quite a while back; I spent most of my weekend unconscious while trying to sleep some sort of cold/flu/sinus malady instead of outside with the cameras.
I sure was excited for the Northern Lights which resulted from a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun over the weekend – but of course it was cloudy! I actually don’t mind that so much, since my ailment had me bedridden (or couch-ridden) anyway. If conditions had been right overhead and I’d missed the event due to illness, I’d have been plenty frustrated!
Here’s to the start of another great week.
These two critters slowed down and walked very tentatively across the shore ice. I didn’t stay more than a few seconds so I don’t know if they made it without breaking through. I suspect they may have bolted across because of a pair of coyotes we saw out on the ice earlier. Neither are something you’d expect to see while out along the river on a nice, sunny afternoon!
I wanted to catch this church at sunrise but just barely missed it. It was still very picturesque, with the water in the foreground and rolling hills behind. I also found a lot of other fun stuff on this little photo trip. I wanted to peruse the inside of the building but chose to move along instead…this time. I’ve read that the Sims church is the oldest Lutheran church building west of the Mississippi, so I can’t help but be curious about its interior.
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