Category Archives: Skies and Stars

Moon upon the left

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So there I was: blazing down a gravel road at sunset, working my way back toward town. The sun had descended past the horizon, with only the purples and pinks in the eastern sky remaining for another couple of minutes. It’s a magical, fleeting moment that occurs after the brilliant, blazing light of the sunset has passed…and it’s a marvelous window of photographic opportunity in its own right.

That’s when I saw this sign, locked up the brakes, and hopped out into the ditch with my camera and tripod. I had to wander a bit to get just the right angle, but it wasn’t difficult. I had just enough time to try a few exposures before the light began to fade.

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that I often like to make musical references in the title of my posts. In this case, I’m referring to the song by folk singer David Mallet. Here are a couple of lyrical samples:

There’s a moon upon the left,
And there’s a star upon the right.
There’s a nightingale a singin’
To the wondrous summer night.
There are gentle deer a grazin’
In the meadow with no fright.
And there’s no past and there’s no future, only now.
We have chanced upon this fragile scene somehow.

…

Now there’s a cottontail a’watchin’,
O’er his lady as she sleeps.
I’m a lover of tradition,
Here’s my heart it’s yours to keep.
Won’t you take me as I’m giving,
We’ll be lovers in our flight.
Cause there’s a moon upon the left,
And there’s a star upon the right.


The days are already getting longer and even though (presumably) we’ll have a cold snap to brave our way through before winter’s over, those calm moonlit nights are just around the corner – perfect for those hand-holding walks with my sweetie. Soon, I tell myself…soon.

I was getting really bored with being able to feel my fingers, so…

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I decided to hike up to the top of Fort Lincoln with a friend for some shots of the decorated blockhouse! The fort to the east had been equipped with Christmas lights, acting as a beacon to those traveling south on Highway 1806 or across the river in the Fox Island area.

I have a pass for the park, but not a key for the padlock on the gate at the bottom of the hill…so it was time to walk. The walk up the hill was exhilarating, with the brisk winter air and the workout of trudging through the shallow snow most of the way. I was amazed at how clear the sky was and how crisp and bright the stars appeared as a result! Once we got up top, the breeze picked up and the temperatures seemed to drop. We had time for a few quick shots before deciding to work our way back down to the truck.

Of course, I had to stop for one other shot on the way back: the constellation Orion over the southwestern blockhouse. You can spot the constellation most easily by locating the “belt” of the hunter, which is formed by three very bright stars right in a row. This constellation doesn’t appear in the North Dakota skies until fall, peaking right around now, and will disappear slowly over the southern horizon as we approach summer. I used my mammoth MagLite, the model fueled by six D-cell batteries, to paint the blockhouse with light.

Now I’m back at home, snug and warm, and had a couple of satisfying photos as a result. Now it’s time to snarf some Pizza Rolls in honor of Jeno Paulucci and go to bed. As I will say every day until Monday, Merry Christmas!

They’re back! The Northern Lights, that is

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Thanks to my network of spies, my cell phone vibrated my pillow tonight and set a great sequence of events in motion. My wife heard the phone, answered the text, woke me up, and I was on my way to catch the auroras before they faded! Naturally I headed out of town as quickly as I could after picking up my best friend.

Taking great photos of the sky ironically requires a good foreground object to put things into the proper perspective. In this case I found one of my favorite old windmills. I love these trademark North Dakota artifacts, but they do come with one caveat:

They don’t always point in the direction you’d prefer. This shot had some great aurora activity in the background, but the head of the windmill isn’t really facing in a photogenic direction. Sure, I could Photoshop it, but that’s not how I roll.

That’s more like it. I had to stumble around in the dark for a bit and try different angles around the area to see which one presented the best angle. Of course, once I moved in a certain direction, the auroras flared up in the other. I’m so accustomed to this taunting by the sky that I’ve actually developed a little bit of patience!

As auroras go, tonight’s weren’t even that dramatic. I’m told there was a lot more “spike” activity before I dragged my tired butt out into position. I don’t care, though…it’s literally been YEARS since I’ve been able to take decent Northern Lights photos due to the solar minimum. I’ve often joked that I single-handedly extinguished the auroras by buying digital cameras with the intent of photographing them! Now it seems that a frustratingly dormant period of solar inactivity is coming to a close, and I’ll be ready to capitalize on it.

Under the Milky Way tonight

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I thought I’d borrow an 80’s song title from The Church for this post. I spent last night with one of my best friends (of which I am blessed to have three) out at Sweet Briar to catch the Delta Aquarids meteor shower. We were not disappointed.

While I did not catch any of the faint meteors on camera, we did see some spectacular ones and plenty of satellites. Of course, when the really amazing ones with glittery trails came by, I wasn’t in the process of taking a photo…so I came back empty-handed in that regard.

Taking photos of the starry sky requires a lot of things to go right. We need a clear sky, no wind, and decent temperatures for the long exposures. One other thing we need is for the camera to NOT fog up. Sadly, it did just that as a wave of fog rolled in just before we decided to call an end to the evening.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. -Psalm 19:1

Cloud Chasing

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A few Fridays ago I spotted some pretty wild clouds overhead and had some time to pursue them. As it turns out, the sky provided a pretty good variety for me…it just took a little legwork.

Although the previous photo was taken from the parking lot of Bismarck High School, I knew I needed a better vantage point in order to capture some of the more spectacular sights. I headed for Promontory Point to catch the tail end of this weather system. It had some pretty astonishing lift, making for some really visually appealing artifacts in the clouds.

Here’s the trailing edge of this weather cell. While it looks pretty cool on its own, it’s what was taking place within the clouds that was most exciting.

As you can see, the lines forming within this group of clouds are pretty neat all on their own, illustrating some very unique dynamics within the system. I decided I needed a better look, so I decided to head to Fort Lincoln.

Sadly, I was told at the gate that the blockhouse hill had been closed because of these very clouds. I was extremely ticked; I mean, why do I pay for a state parks pass if they close whenever it’s most useful? The blockhouse hill is closed until the sun has risen, it closes at sunset, it closes for weather… it’s ridiculous. I retreated to the Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery for a hasty shot before the sunlight went away for the evening.

Out by Huff I noticed that I once again had feathery company in my observation of local weather patterns. On the way back I saw several more of his counterparts perched atop power line poles along the highway.

As always, I maintain that North Dakota has some of the most dramatic skies. Keep looking up, or you just might miss ’em!

Feather and high places

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“You mean the feather, Daddy?” PJ replied when I asked if he saw the cloud. Yep, the feather. I was pleased to hear his perception of its wispy shape. I’ve been working a lot of extra hours lately with the flood response going on around the state, so the opportunity to take a few minutes and haul my boys around for a sunset viewing in the truck was a real treat. Even more so is hearing how they perceive the world around them and watching them try to capture it on their little toy cameras.

When one goes out to look at the sky, sunrise, and sunset, one often does just what we did: find a high place. At one point my four year old asked me if we could go see the place where Daddy goes on his motorcycle to pray. He heard me talk about a hill I like to frequent when I’m out riding at night where I can just stop and pray, and my boys wanted to see it. So up we went. As we were nearing the crest of the hill, he said, “Maybe we can stop up there and pray for the floods to go away.” Excellent idea. And so we did. He also prayed for all the roads that are closed, and the people whose houses are in the water. That’s my boy.

The Bible doesn’t have much good to say about high places, but in context it’s because of the way they were used: idolatry. The people of Israel used their high places to offer worship to false gods they picked up from people around them. Long before I started reading my Bible I enjoyed going to a high, remote place to pray, so maybe it’s something we’re all inclined to do. But when your prayer or praise is properly directed, it’s not a bad thing. The prophet Habakkuk wrote this, paraphrasing a portion of Psalm 18:

“The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” (Habakkuk 3:19)

I’m pleased to be able to find a high place with my little boys, our cameras, and our prayers…properly directed on behalf of all who are impacted by the flooding.

Interesting shadow

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My eye caught something interesting while I was in the park a while back. While looking up at the trail of a passing jet, I couldn’t help but notice a dark offset beneath it. Do you see it?

This jet was flying pretty high, much higher than the wispy clouds below. As a result, its contrail was casting a shadow on the clouds below it. In fact, the shadow was leading the plane by a long shot from my perspective.

The sky is always a good bet when you want to see something interesting and unique! Timing is a factor and you need to take the right perspective, but there’s always something cool about God’s creation to an attentive eye.

Sunset…moon?

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Yes, that’s right – the Golden Hour light provided near sunset can be extremely helpful in taking a nice shot of the visible moon. The waning sun’s effect on the sky has two effects, casting a pleasing tone on the moon as well as providing a well-lit backdrop. It’s harder to get a nice shot of the moon in a totally dark sky than it is in a nicely colored one.

Of course, both the tone of the moon and the tone of the sky are due to the sun’s effect on our atmosphere, not on the moon itself. Regardless of the “how”, the “what” is a pleasing tone of sky and moon that are more evenly matched than after dark.

If you like photography and have a good telephoto lens, try this sometime. I think you’ll be pleased with the result.

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!

Streaking at Fort Lincoln

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The stars you see streaking in a cloudy stream above this blockhouse at Fort Lincoln are a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, as are we. Last night’s crisp air made for some very clear skies and brilliant stars, so some friends and I ventured off to take advantage of them in the wee hours of the morning. For them, it was the end of their day. For me, it was the end of a long photography journey which began Friday.

As you can see here, I clocked a LOT of miles collecting photos from all over eastern North Dakota. I’ve got too many to even allude to here, but you can bet they’re going to trickle out from time to time in a constant stream. Hint: the friend who accompanied me called this a Cold War Vacation. I’ll let your imagination take over from there.