Monthly Archives: November 2020

Bigger than you can imagine

Iced-over sunflowers stretched to the horizon.

Lubbock County, Texas
photographed 10.27.2020

Summer’s Sad Soldiers

Farmers around here grew a lot of sunflowers this year. And toward the end of the season, there were a lot of people standing the edges of the fields to get photos. I didn’t stop then, when the flowers were bright and full. But the day of the ice storm? Yes, that was the day I went out to see the sunflowers. The thick coat of ice made everything look blurry and out of focus, an effect I hadn’t quite anticipated but that I rather liked.

Lubbock County, Texas
photographed 10.27.2020

yet despite all this

Normal travelers seeking a route between Cheyenne and Caspar would take Interstate 25, which would take about two and a half hours.

And that is the complete explanation of our route of choice, a desolate and meandering path that added roughly an hour to the drive. But we got to see this. (And we skipped the boring interstate.)

Shirley Rim Rest Area, Wyoming
photographed 8.27.2020

The Festive Alley

“Festive” isn’t generally the first word I come up with when I think about Butte, which is why these lights hanging on a jaunty line in an alley were a bit of a surprise.

Butte, Montana
photographed 8.29.2020

Moon Tree

Of course, everyone knows you’re not supposed to shoot the night skies when the moon’s full. That’s the Main Rule.

Yet, there I was. Although to my (very slight) credit, I was there one day after it was full. But when trips have to be scheduled around other things, and when night-sky photography isn’t the main reason for travel, sometimes you have to take what you can get. And what I got was a nice dead tree – on the edge of a cemetery, even – and a shy moon peaking out.

Greenwood Cemetery
Palouse, Washington
photographed 9.3.2020