“…stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God…Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?” –Job 37:14,16

I found myself in a unique position today just as my wife called to tell me about the beautiful clouds, looking as if painted upon the canvas of the sky. As usual I was doing some video work but took a second to employ a panoramic app for iOs and nab this shot. Puffy clouds, wispy clouds…they were all there, as if they’d been hand selected and nudged perfectly into place.

Naturally, once time allowed, I couldn’t help but jump into Photoshop for a couple of minutes to make a quick polar (spherical) version of the same shot. Even though I was only able to shoot a 180 degree pan, it still turned out okay due to some Photoshop trickery I learned a while ago.

This year I’ve developed a new love for September. I love the days which are warm, but not too warm. I embrace the cool mornings and used yesterday evening to follow up the TEA Party rally and sunset with a roaring bonfire. The crisp, clear nights are perfect for stargazing and, as I’ve noticed over the past several days, the clouds are quite remarkable.

The past six weeks have been a blur due to a hectic work schedule, culminating in a frenetic Week Six that delivered some marathon days but satisfying progress. Now that the major rush has subsided for the time being, I’m grateful for the opportunity to, as Job was instructed, stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Wondrous indeed.

My boys and I ventured out to Fort Lincoln on the night of the eclipse to see how visible it would be. I don’t own a welding helmet (yet) but figured I might still be able to get a good shot if the cloud cover helped a little bit. It did…sorta. Things were still bright and I found myself wishing for a ten-stop neutral density filter. I ran out of patience and we took off, perhaps a little early, but I felt like it was pointless trying to get a shot while so ill-equipped.

I looked at this shot tonight from the beginning of the eclipse and it’s actually not that bad. If I’d waited a little longer for the sun to approach the horizon, backed off a bit to bring the blockhouse and sun closer in size, and waited for the clouds to roll and the eclipse to proceed more fully, I might have had something. This photo isn’t a total loss, but sadly it’s only a hint at what could have been.

We did run into some folks who had built a neat pinhole viewer out of a long slender box with a window cut in the side. It made it very easy for my little guys to see the eclipse while not being tempted to look at the blinding sun. As a photo trip it was only a partial success, but I think as a father-sons trip it worked out just fine.

The skies have been relatively quiet for a while now, and I’m getting anxious for another chance to go out and capture the night sky in all its glory. There was an opportunity to get the moon at a very close proximity as it traversed the horizon, but clouds and wind shot that down all weekend. I was perusing some of the year’s previous shots while updating my shot log and got one from this old abandoned farmstead during one of the last major solar storms.

A couple of pals and I worked that location for all it was worth, since it offered such an amazing assortment of foreground objects at which to point our cameras. Tractors, windmills, old buildings, stripped cars…you name it, we had it. That includes a skunk which decided to make an appearance at one point, but it scampered back into hiding when it realized it had company.