One more time, with feeling

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I had lots of fun family time this weekend instead of roaming with the camera, but I did want to sneak in a quick 2012 shot. Since I began this blog site in January 2006 I have always found a way to nab a quick shot of the capitol with its windows declaring the new year. During that time I’ve just about shot every available angle of the thing, but I was able to grab something a little different this time around.

I did go out after midnight, chuckling at all the other like-minded souls roaming the capitol grounds with their cameras, but I found the experience lacking this time around. The reason for that is the clear sky; it doesn’t reflect any light on the capitol, so in order to properly expose the windows one must underexpose the building even more than I’d like. That almost gives the 2012 an appearance of floating in midair. Here’s where my “technical creativity” kicked in: I figured I’d let the sun help me out.

I packed up my gear this morning before sunrise, got into position, and waited for the sun to give me just enough scattered light in the atmosphere and on the capitol tower without competing with the 2012 in the windows. It was a fine balance, and I actually set an intervalometer to sit and take shots every 30 seconds so I could catch the right window of time, and that was that.

The shot above has the windows lit with the new year, the tower and town are visible, the sky is a nice blue, and it looks like everything worked as planned. Also important is that I think, out of all the people who photographed the building, I have a very unique photo.

Happy New Year!

In a word: Busy.

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Busy. That would describe my 2011 in as concise a way possible, yet in as verbose a manner as necessary. The photo above? I had to Photoshop the windows in last year’s photo because I didn’t get the time to take a real one…yet.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions; however, I do hope to make better use of my time in the future. That should allow more opportunities for what’s important: faith, family, fotography, motorcycles… 🙂

Happy New Year!

Almost forgot one – the Anderson Building

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I can’t let the Christmas season pass without recognizing one of my favorite displays: the Anderson Building on Main Avenue and Mandan Street. For those of you who may wonder, for me Christmas season starts on midnight Thanksgiving Day until midnight on New Year’s Eve. Thankfully, many others feel the same way to a degree; Christmas light displays like this one are still boldly lit all over town! That allows guys like me to get some “pickup shots” of the ones we missed. Christmas was WAY too busy this time around.

One feature about this building has me wondering: the loudspeakers up top. Personally, I think they need to be sending out Christmas music, preferably some sort of Vince Guaraldi montage or something. What do you think?

Merry (continual) Christmas, and Happy New Year!

So the UND Fighting Sioux are already in the Big Sky Conference? (with a plethora of links)

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My friend Rob dropped a bombshell this week when he revealed documents indicating that UND has been a core member of the Big Sky Conference since October 2010. You can view the contract between the NCAA and UND here (pdf).

Well, wait a minute! Weren’t we scolded and scared by UND and its liberal proponents into thinking that we’d never make it into the coveted Big Sky Conference if we didn’t get rid of that nasty, “Hostile and Abusiveâ„¢” Fighting Sioux logo?

Kudos to KFYR for picking up on this and even sending some props toward Rob for his discovery – you can view their online article here. Here’s where it gets even more interesting:

“This notion that, somehow, the University of North Dakota has misled people about our affiliation in the Big Sky, I think, is inaccurate. We`ve been very upfront about that,” said UND Spokesperson Peter Johnson. “We`ve held a news conference, we made a lot of noise when we joined the Big Sky, about a year ago. We`ve said all along that we`re members of the Big Sky Conference.”

Um…really? That’s news to me. In fact, I have this damning piece of evidence, available by the simplest of Google searches using the terms “und allowed enter big sky conference”:

At a hearing Monday on the measure, the university’s athletics director, Brian Faison, said keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo has already caused scheduling difficulties and would jeopardize the school’s plans to join the Big Sky Conference in July. –ESPN’s College Sports news page, November 7th 2011

Somebody at UND better start getting their lies straight! Here are a few more instances of misinformation which the university either propagate or at least allowed to go uncorrected:

Robert Kelley, the university’s president, praised the law’s approval Wednesday, saying the move would lift the NCAA sanctions and ensure that UND may join the Big Sky Conference. –Bismarck Tribune, November 10th 2011

UND’s move to NCAA Division I in 2008 hinged on finding an established conference. The Big Sky is that established conference and had the controversial nickname and logo stayed, the league presidents — based on prior comments — could have refused UND admittance. –WDAY News, November 11 2011

At best, UND officials have allowed a misconception to flourish, while at worst they’ve misled everybody deliberately. The two quotes above from college president Kelley and athletic director Faison seem to indicate the latter. I don’t see any effort by the university to correct the scores of news reports, mostly sourced by the AP, which indicate a pending entry into the Big Sky Conference.

What a mess. We have had UND officials advocating for the removal of the logo behind the scenes, lawsuits by non-Sioux persons claiming discrimination, and now this. There are petitions circulating to put this to a popular vote – I suggest finding one, signing it, and letting North Dakota citizens be in charge of what happens with the Fighting Sioux logo and name, the way it should have been decided in the first place.

Christmas 2011: notable absences

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I’m not about to go negative here, I just would like to fondly remember a few Christmas decorations that have brought a lot of joy in the past but were absent this year. Above is the Paul Schaff house, located southwest of Mandan. It was an amazing display, but he stopped doing it after his wife passed away. You could see it from the Seven Seas restaurant!

This tree on Northview Lane used to be decorated from bottom to top. Under its current ownership, however, it’s only decorated a little ways up. I see the house is listed for sale, so let’s hope that the new owners have a cherry-picker!


Speaking of trees, this one on north Fourth Street (just past Divide Avenue) was one of my personal favorites. It was decorated with class and was enormous. It was dark this year.


Back to Northview Lane – this house at the top of the hill had flashing lights, but I didn’t see a sign indicating a radio station for it to sync with. Since he was on 107.5 before The River (now MOJO 107.5) came on the air, I wonder if he got drowned out. Time to spend a hundred bucks on a frequency-agile transmitter, guys.

Another house on a cul-de-sac just past the top of the hill was a home decorated with lots of characters and lights…it too sat dark this Christmas.

2011 is going to go down as a year in which a LOT of things just didn’t happen. Many people’s lives were turned upside down due to the flooding and other events this year, so I certainly don’t want to come across the wrong way by highlighting an absence of decorations. Again, these displays brought joy to a lot of people, and we miss ’em. That’s all. Hopefully new ones and old favorites like the Chmielewskis will keep all parts of Bismarck and Mandan bright with Christmas cheer next year, while proving those pesky Mayans wrong once and for all!

Christmas Lights Map: it’s back (Now with the link included!)

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Sorry, I forgot to include the link to the map on Google Maps when I wrote this post at oh-dark-hundred this morning! This is hardly comprehensive, but it’ll get you going. I’ve resurrected last year’s Google Map of Bismarck-Mandan Christmas Lights for this year, with an addition or two and, sadly, a few subtractions. Highlights include:

– My friend Jerry’s “Peanuts” display on Calgary & Montreal;
– Chmielewski’s Christmas Corner on Kennedy & 23rd Street;
– Northview Lane;
– Acres of musical lights with a Light-O-Rama show on Chestnut Lane;
– Dykshoorn Park in Mandan;
– Christmas in the Park in Bismarck;
– and a wooden cartoon menagerie on west Avenue C.

Notably absent are displays on 4th and Divide, Ridgeview lane, West View Place. I’m sorry to see those places dark, since they had such wonderful Christmas displays in the past.

The link is easy to remember:
www.tinyurl.com/bismarck-mandanchristmaslights.

It’s been an extremely busy Christmas season, with multiple live shows and lots of other videos on my plate. I haven’t had much time to go out searching for lights this year. As a result, I merely updated last year’s list the best I could. If you have any other additions that don’t appear on my map, please submit them using the “Contact Me” link on the top of the right-hand panel, or leave a comment.

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!

Broken connections

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I spotted this dilapidated pole north of Mandan on the gravel portion of Highway 1804 1806. My little boy PJ and I were headed to the site of an abandoned old truck so he could take some pictures of it. On the way back, as dusk set in, I spotted this pole beside the road. I had to hop out and add it to my collection. It’s number five in a series of old power or phone line poles, and I thought I’d share the others:

This one is north of Bismarck on 15th Street, taken at sunrise.

As you can probably surmise from the windmill, this one is near Regan.

This one’s actually on Centennial just north of the intersection with Century Avenue.

This is the same one as above, just taken as the sun sets behind me.

Thanks to the barren trees

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My friend Kyle posted a photo he took with his phone this weekend which inspired me to stop at the capitol near sunset yesterday and snap this quick shot. To the best of my knowledge I’ve never captured this perspective on the capitol; it’s totally obscured by foliage for much of the year.

My little boy told me this weekend that he likes the leafless, dead looking trees because “it means Christmas is coming.” I’ve learned that they also open opportunities to photographers as well!