This weekend I’ll post a couple things from the peace officers’ memorial ceremony on Wednesday, but there’s no time to do so today. I did want to share this photo, though, because it is one of the few photos I’ve taken that lends itself to a particular effect.
I love HDR (High Dynamic Range” photography, especially with drone footage. I’m no master, but I hope to improve. I love the way I can grab details from the lightest and darkest parts of the photo and blend them all together into a “hyper-realistic” final product, and if done with the proper restraint it can be breathtaking while still not entirely artificial looking. Sadly, so many examples of HDR imagery (especially when it first took off) are overblown, oversaturated, pasty conglomerations that reduce the technique to an eyesore.
Not this one. I wanted a “painted” effect for the Peace Officers’ Association honor guard, and it worked. I had the right lighting, I had the right subjects (they stood STILL), and it all came together. I’d love your feedback on this effect. I’ll post a couple of photos and a video sometime in the near future.
This is the sunset from last Saturday night. I was on my way home from a men’s prayer meeting and noticed the sunset as I passed the capitol building, so I whipped around for a quick photo. By “quick” I mean I took 98 of them and ended up choosing the fourth one.
Check out the “Sunsets” category if you like this one, there are plenty more. Or the “Sunrises” category. Or the “Skies and Stars” category…they’re all good.
It’s past my bedtime, so I’m just going to share the photos. I didn’t get out until after I got my kids put to bed, and I let them stay up late in the first place. One more benefit of homeschooling.
Thanks to the legislature, this will be an annual event commemorating the men and women of law enforcement in our state.
Two weeks ago the Bismarck-Mandan area got a visitor. A large visitor, namely a C-17 Globemaster. This is an enormous military cargo aircraft, and it made quite an impression. Thankfully I had arranged an opportunity to climb around on it!
As soon as it arrived, the trucks lined up. These are vehicles belonging to the 81st Civil Support Team (CST), a special National Guard unit which was heading to Alaska for a week of training.
While the Executive Air trucks began pumping fuel, the guardsmen began assembling the ramps needed to get their trucks up the steep ramp. Being able to transport like this is one of the capabilities they need to maintain, so they have their own ramps and train on getting their equipment mobilized.
Let’s get back to the airplane a little bit. She’s a big girl, and I don’t think she minds me saying so. The cockpit is so high up that they can’t even see obstacles within around 45 feet of the nose.
Those are some big wheels! Three deep. They have to be able to hold a load of over 170,000 pounds according to Wikipedia.
I don’t like heights, so when I caught myself wondering what the view would be like from atop that tail I quickly found something else to ponder, something less dizzying.
“Does this make my butt look big? GOOD.” I don’t think it’s possible to properly convey how big this thing is, especially since it’s gotta be able to hit 500mph and 45,000 feet.
As you can see from the tail, this aircraft came to us from Mississippi. They got to hang out in Alaska with the North Dakota folks, so I hope they brought jackets. 🙂
iPads…is there anything they can’t do? The crew use these instead of the checklists of old. The loadmaster was busy making sure the load was distributed properly, then putting his calculations into the aircraft’s computer. That computer will then provide the pilot and copilot with information regarding their takeoff and their flight. They don’t just floor it and hope they don’t run out of runway.
Load shift in the air is unacceptable, so this equipment is arranged and secured very carefully. Look how high up the ceiling is in there!
By the way, the North Dakota CST has the coolest logo in the entire nation. Just sayin’.
Can’t forget everybody’s luggage! It would stink to ship out for a week long training and forget your toothbrush. Between the flags is a porthole for the crew to look in on the cargo area. Behind that wall are a couple of bunkbeds for the crew, too…this aircraft is capable of long flights, especially with mid-air refueling.
Ready to roll. At this point I bolted to one end of the runway, based upon my conversation with the copilot. The wind seemed to be in such a fashion that they’d take off toward the northwest. But the wind can change…
Kinda makes that passenger jet in the foreground look like a little cigar tube by comparison, doesn’t it? And they aren’t even side by side, so the airliner looks artificially large.
I’d love to say I got great photos and/or video of it taking off, but the wind shifted and they needed to take off in the direction opposite I’d expected based on an earlier conversation with the copilot. Darn. I was all set to catch them flying overhead, but instead got to watch them take off away from the camera. And a light pole was in the way, to boot. But here’s the video I did get (I was there primarily for photos):
This poster hung on my dad’s garage wall for years. It later hung on mine. I haven’t decorated the garage at my new house yet, or even finished painting the drywall, but I may make a copy and hang it there, too. I believe, while everybody’s human and there are a few exceptions, that law enforcement personnel are heroes. Period.
The terrorism that overtook our state over the past year wasn’t a pipeline issue for me; it was a law enforcement issue, plain and simple. The pipeline will be great for North Dakota, but that was none of my concern. What I had a problem with was my friends having to change their online presence due to doxing and threats, their families being threatened, and residents of Morton County fearing for their safety while law enforcement tried to keep up with the influx of thousands of lawbreakers.
When protesters stood on Main Street in Mandan with a pig’s head on a stake, you bet that made my blood boil. When they accuse my friends of atrocious crimes, yeah I take it personally.
That’s why it’s so cool to see our communities rally around our law enforcement officers. Billboards, decals, rallies…we make it clear that we support and appreciate those who are sworn to protect and serve. I hope we never have to endure another such event, but no matter what happens I think it’s pretty obvious that the residents of Bismarck-Mandan BACK THE BLUE.
As the old poem goes, the fog comes on little cat feet. The hail on June 9th, 2001, however…well, that came in its own indescribable fashion. The most noteworthy memory of this is the two underpasses on 7th and 9th Streets filling up with ice and water. I was at a friend’s house that evening and remember walking to Thayer Avenue just east of St. Alexius to watch the city clearing chest-high piles of hail stones with a payloader and grader!
In the process of going through old motorcycle racing video tapes last week I found the footage of this event, footage I had presumed lost. This was before I was into photography or videography, so even though I had a digital camcorder at the time I did not have a steady hand. But shaky amateur footage is better than none, right? Have a look:
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it was over ninety degrees out that evening, so once all the hail fell it began to melt and give off steam. That’s why it seems so dark and foggy, it was a sauna outside. My camera gave multiple high humidity warnings before actually shutting down to protect itself. 12th Street was half river, half avalanche for the duration of this storm. It was unbelievable. The hail piled up in a low spot at 12th Street and Thayer Avenue, forcing the city to bring in heavy equipment and dig/plow it out. . The clouds were incredible. And the underpasses needed to be dug out and cleared by that same sort of heavy machinery.
We North Dakotans, residents of Bismarck-Mandan in particular, love our law enforcement personnel. The last eight months haven’t just been trying on them, but on the community as a whole, and as a result I think the bond between citizens and LEOs has been forged even stronger. You’ve probably noticed many cars sporting the above decals, which I believe are still available at Signs and Wonders along with other places.
Understanding that relationship, I put together this quick meme early on in the conflict. It may seem prescient now, but I really just understand the fact that our community respects those who put it all on the line to keep our community safe and uphold the law.
And we ain’t done yet. Back the Blue billboards have sprung up around town, events are in the works to celebrate the law enforcement community, and there’s even legislation in the works to honor them.
Yes, that’s right. Senate Concurrent Resolution 4015 (PDF) will not only designate a special day as Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor fallen law enforcement officers, but it also calls for a blue light display to adorn the capitol on an annual basis. I made this hasty mock-up as an example of what I can envision the capitol looking like each May. (Yeah, without the snow. I discovered that I haven’t actually taken any night time photos of the capitol unless the windows are all lit up with something, so I had to do some heavy-handed Photoshop on the easiest shot I had available. Cut me some slack.)
The resolution has been in the House awaiting a floor vote since March 20th. If you feel motivated, let your legislators know how important it is that SCR 4015 gets passed.
So yeah, we support our law enforcement. I sure hope that their tough jobs are made a little easier by knowing that they’ve got the appreciation of North Dakotans that respect them, pray for them, and acknowledge that (while nobody’s perfect) they protect our communities with dedication and professionalism.
One more windmill in the casualty category. This one actually isn’t too far from my property. I took off a little early on Friday and roamed for an hour or so before finding this shot. I’d played around in the river bottoms a bit, but didn’t find the inspiration I was looking for. Thankfully I came upon this shot, although it’s too bad that the windmill is so badly damaged.
I’m primarily a video guy, but not when it comes to drone work. Yeah, I can do it, but there would have to be a really unique subject or conditions for me to want to do video seriously with an aerial camera. Drones (I hate that word) are kind of a one trick pony in a way, and to get remarkable drone (I used it again) video one has to do a lot of planning or live in an area that’s breathtaking without drones (dangit).
So what do I like to do, you ask? Use the unique ability of being able to position a high quality camera anywhere I want. Sometimes that may be up in the sky, but normally it’s at an altitude just slightly different from anything you could get without a really tall ladder. Typically I try to keep the effect very subtle, so that the angle catches the subconscious eye as unusual but without making it obvious that I’m shooting from an aerial camera. Or, in this case, out over the ice that would never support my weight if I tried conventional photo work. It may not look like it, but I was only about a foot or two above the ice.
I was hoping for a sunset, and that never really materialized in the typical sense, but there was still some scattered color in the sky to the south. So I worked the area, snapped away a few times, and caught what color there was in the fleeting moments before all went dim. And the best part is, I kept my shoes dry.
(Click on the image for a larger version)
