In recent months, I’ve been learning some new processing tools, so I’ve been reviewing older photos that were originally rejected for one reason or another to give them another chance with new techniques now available to me. This image of Bryce Canyon was captured just before sunrise in October 2013 after an unexpected snowfall.

About the photo: The image was captured on a Samsung S3 cell phone but originally rejected for two major reasons. In the pre-dawn light it lacked contrast, the cloudy sky made it look gray and dull. In the lower right corner of the image, a guardrail meant to keep people like me from falling off the edge sneaked its way into the image. Using Photoshop Elements, I dealt with the fence. That tool is nowhere short of amazing at removing objects from a scene. That cliff edge at the lower right corner looks as natural as can be and there is no indication that I can see that it’s been doctored to remove a bit of chain link fence. Once the fence was gone, it took a pass through Aurora 2019 and and another through Luminar 2018 to add some punch to the image.

In most browsers, you can click on the image to enlarge it for a better view. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner

This week, Tina Schell challenges us to “…pay some attention to curves  – in nature, in architecture, on our roads and in our lives … just about everywhere if you think about it.” You can read her entire challenge post here. It’s an opportune topic for me, with Barrett-Jackson’s Auto Auction in full swing this week in Scottsdale to capture some more curves, those curves of the classic automobile like this 1934 Duesenberg in the opening image. From the curvature of the green exhaust manifold to the long sweeping curve that runs from the front fender, along the running board to the rear fender, this classic car uses curves to accent it’s classic architecture.

With a few exceptions, today’s cars are much more boxy and utilitarian. Though nearly all cars today feature an almost egg-shaped wedge layout that is wind-tunnel proven to provide the highest fuel economy, that’s about where the curved design ends. It’s one of the reasons cars today are hard to identify. They mostly all look the same, certainly not like this mid-1950’s era Ford coupe in the image above.

This 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III features curves in copper and steel, but the radiator grille and hood ornament give away the vehicle’s lineage as the quintessential luxury car. The copper and steel design was a rebuild of the original design commissioned by the car’s owner and Rolls-Royce collector John Gaul in 1946. Since then, it’s become famous at European concours. This beautiful example of automotive curvature was up for sale in 2018 in Scottsdale, but bidding did not meet the current owner’s reserve so it did not sell that day at auction.

My last example of classic automobile curvature features a 1950’s era Cadillac. This car was sitting underneath a covered area, but it was parked in the last row. The sun was at an angle that caused the shadow of the awning to accentuate the curved lines of the fenders and hood. When I saw the grille shining in the sun contrasted by the darker tones of the car in the shadows, I envisioned a black-and-white treatment. I am looking forward to heading to Barrett-Jackson. I’m writing this post on Monday, and our tickets for Thursday’s auction are already bought. I am already looking forward to sharing photos from the 2019 Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction with you in a week or two.

John Steiner

Bismarck, North Dakota.

In August, 2015, Lynn and I were in Bismarck for a Civil Air Patrol activity. While there, I decided to scout around for a place to capture the sunset. What came of that evening’s exploration was an image of the Missouri River Valley captured by my cell phone. I’d gathered other images with my Nikon, but the cell phone capture above ended up being my favorite. The majority of images captured that day were featured in a blog post on macro photography as I spent some time in a small garden that was ablaze with summer flowers. 

This trip, in September 2018, we stopped to visit again. In this post, I will give away my secret as to the best sunset view and the probably the best view of the Missouri River in Bismarck-Mandan. The location is high on a bluff overlooking the river. Just off Burnt Boat Drive, the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District manages the location known as Chief Looking’s Village. The site also overlooks a larger park called Pioneer Park. Turning off Burnt Boat Drive, a short uphill drive to a small parking area will bring you to a garden created in the memory of Sonali Seth.

The site, a recent target of an archeological dig to discover more of the history of the Mandan Indians, provides plenty of “front row seating” to watch the sun as it sets. What better way to ease the tensions of the day than to walk through the garden and take a few moments to watch the day begin its journey into night.

The view from the bluff is best shown as a panorama. Select the image above to get a better view of the overlook in a higher resolution. The large bridge on the left allows I-94 to connect Bismarck to Mandan… But I digress from our visit to the garden.

Even late in the summer on this September day, there were flowers blooming in the garden. The gallery of images features several other close-ups of blossoms enjoying the late summer evening with us. In researching the park for this post, I happened upon Sonali’s obituary. She passed away as a young woman of 32 years. You can read it yourself here. Her family left a lasting memorial in creating this garden. Generations of visitors will discover the beauty of the garden when they may have only been looking to watch the sunset. The garden is only a few minutes from the Interstate. Take I-94 exit 157 north on Tyler Parkway, then a left turn onto Burnt Boat Drive. On your left, you’ll see the sign in the photo below. Turn onto that drive and follow it to the parking area at the end of the road.

More information on Chief Looking’s Village and Pioneer Park can be found on the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District’s website here. I submit for your review a gallery of images captured that evening in the garden. All images (except the opening cell phone photo) were captured using a Nikon D500 with a Tamron 16-300 mm lens. To view an enlarged image in most browsers, click on a photo. From there you can scan through the gallery.

John Steiner

In 1999, I was introduced to what is the largest pyrotechnics displays I’ve ever seen. The story goes all the way back to 1969, however, when a group of fireworks aficionados founded Pyrotechnics Guild International, commonly known as PGI. In 1973, the group held their first convention in Grand Haven, Michigan. The convention is open to members where they can attend classes, participate in a trade show, learn the latest in fireworks safety, or have their creations in visual and physical arts exhibited and judged. The highlight of the convention for the general public, though, is the display that is open to non-members several nights during the week or so of the convention which was held this year in Mason City, Iowa in August.

Since first coming to West Fargo in 1999, the convention has been held in my neck of the woods eight times. It was last here in 2017. I planned to publish this post a few weeks after the convention but somehow I lost track of the fact that I had only published but one photo that found its way to a Cellpic Sunday on August 13, 2017 where you’ll find I featured the opening shot of this post. Those first years, Lynn and I would park in the neighborhood and watch the fireworks that launched overhead thus saving the cost of admission. It turned out to be false economy as the best part of the show takes place at lower altitudes only viewable from the grandstand. When PGI comes to your part of the country, spend the few bucks for admission, if you are a fireworks fan, you’ll be glad you did.

On that Friday night finale we viewed four presentations including three performances set to music. The program started just after 9:30 PM and concluded just after 11:00 PM, during which, except for short breaks between presenters, the sky was filled with pyrotechnics. At some point, we learned that we might be watching the very last visit of PGI to West Fargo. Future construction plans for the Red River Valley Fairgrounds are likely to impede the safe operation of such a large fireworks display. That was disappointing news.

Next year, PGI moves to Cheyenne, Wyoming. That’s really not too far. Maybe we will be in the neighborhood during our summer travels and we can take in one of their shows again. To find out more about PGI, you can visit their website here. The gallery of images below are but a few I captured with my cell phone that mid-August evening in 2017. It is best viewed on a dark background which, in most browsers, you will find if you click on an image to enlarge it. From there, you can scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Fargo, North Dakota.

This week, Amy asks us to share those small things that attract our attention (those of us who like to dabble in macro photography anyway). Her challenge is pretty ‘open-ended’ asking that we simply share our images that fit our own concept of “small is beautiful.” You can read her entire challenge post here. Over the last few years, I’ve dabbled in macro photography, especially since the purchase of a 16-300mm lens. With it almost fully extended, the images it creates are truly full-featured macro photography. In the opening photo, dew on a prairie grass gathers along a single spider web and around the plant.

Stepping out of our house in Fargo one day, I noticed this interesting spider. This is a common garden spider, a colorful species and harmless to humans. The web being made was attached to the steel siding on our condo exterior wall.

Regular readers here will probably recognize the dragonfly featured for my last image in this challenge. It is one of my favorite macro photos. The sharpness and fine detail in the transparent wings demonstrates the sharpness of the lens even at a high magnification level. In most browsers, you can click on an image to enlarge it.

John Steiner

As I’ve branched out in photography from landscape to other types of photography, I’ve added new, more versatile tools to my camera bag. In late 2016, I made my biggest photo investment in a new camera body, the Nikon D500. Reviewers at the time heralded its capabilities in action and wildlife photography. In my nearly two years of ownership, I haven’t taken the opportunity to focus much on either genre, but I have at least taken advantage of the camera’s power in these areas. If you’re looking for a review here, you’ll be disappointed. My only purpose here is to share some images I’ve considered successful and probably not likely to be duplicated with my other cameras.

My best use of the camera came in January, 2017 when I tried my hand at rodeo photography. Having never before attempted anything like shooting a rodeo, the camera made me look like a pro. The image above of the rodeo bullfighter and an angry bull on the fly would have only been a very lucky shot with my older cameras. That’s because the D500 can deliver 200 shots at 10 images per second if you so choose. From reviewing the collection of images, I discovered that a bull can remain aloft with all four feet above the ground in four to five images. I have the opportunity to pick the best shot of the sequence. Once selected, the remaining images can hit the bit bucket.

Birds on the wing are hard to capture without a good automatic focusing system that can track moving objects. This shot of harris hawks on the hunt, captured at Tucson’s Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Raptor Demonstration was captured in conjunction with the Tamron 16-300 mm zoom lens. The image below is a close crop of the image above done to show that the D500 hit focus perfectly on the eye and beak this hawk in flight even though he was moving at a very high rate of speed across the sky. I still haven’t mastered all the options of the auto focus system on the camera, but I have learned how to set it to a small area of the camera’s viewfinder. The system quickly locks on and tracks a moving object as long as you keep the subject within the bounds of that area. You can adjust the size of the area quickly as well, should the need arise. 

In previous years, I’ve enjoyed shooting images of the Blue Angels in flight. The Tamron lens does a nice job of bringing the aircraft closer, and judicious cropping brings the aircraft larger in the frame. Since the D500 is not a full-frame camera, it’s smaller sensor doesn’t support tightly cropped and highest resolution at the same time. As the majority of my shots end up here or on other shared Internet media, the resolution and sharpness are certainly adequate for the job. 

Prior to the D500, though, the one type of shot that eluded me included those of the two opposing aircraft coming at each other. Catching two high speed jets just as they crossed paths depended highly on luck, and I was always out of that capacity. With the D500 in continuous high speed mode, I could lock onto one  of the aircraft as it approached and follow it to lock focus. As it neared the point where the two aircraft would pass each other, I simply held the shutter down while continuing to follow the one aircraft. Examining the sequence of images, I found at the rate of 10 images per second that there would be at least one frame where both aircraft were in the frame as was the case in the image below.

The gallery of images below features several shots taken with the D500 at different venues, all of which required a high shutter speed to stop the action and capture a small moment in time. In most browsers, you can click on one of the images in the gallery to enlarge it and to scroll through the images.

John Steiner

In previous posts here, I’ve focused on Canyon Lake, a reservoir created by one of a string of four dams on the Salt River. In 1925, the Mormon Flat Dam was completed creating the smallest lake in the chain. The lake is about 50 miles (80 km) from Phoenix. Only about 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Apache Junction, the drive is scenic and winds through the Tonto National Forest and parts of the Superstition Mountains.

The steamboat has been operated by the same family since 1987. The steamboat’s name, “Dolly” came from the original owners, Dolly and Paul Kennedy. The vessel accommodates 142 passengers and a crew of 3. The tours are popular and on our first trip to the area we were unable to purchase tickets as they were already sold out. Be sure to order your tickets in advance.

Though the large paddlewheel at the stern gives the impression it’s a steam powered boat, it’s powered by twin 225 HP John Deere marine diesel engines. We found the crew of three to be enough to provide all the service and attention we needed. Members of the Verrado Hiking Club made this excursion a club outing for us.

Our pilot for the day was Senior Captain Jeff Grimh, Co-owner and CEO of the company. A US Air Force Veteran, Jeff has piloted the Dolly for over 25 years.

We didn’t just come to visit Canyon Lake for the boat ride, but to view the beautiful desert scenery and hopefully get a glimpse of the wildlife that inhabits the area. Wildlife photographers, bring your long telephoto lens along. You will need it. I brought my Nikon D500 camera with 16-300mm Tamron lens. The image above shows the 16mm view of an outcropping. The image below features a view of the tip of one of the outcroppings in the upper center of the image. You’ll note a family of bald eagles nesting there. Had we not seen the mama eagle fly to the peak moments before, we might not have noticed the two fledglings in the nest. We aren’t even sure they were visible before their mother landed.

There were plenty of eagles to see in flight. We even watched an aerial battle between a hawk and another bird I didn’t recognize. (That’s not surprising, I’m not a birder.) I tried to capture some photos of the battle, but they were at a very high altitude and trying to keep the high speed aerial maneuvers in the frame at a great enough zoom level was beyond my capabilities. The only shots I captured were at a much wider angle zoom and had so little detail, they weren’t worth sharing. Having noted that, I will always remember the action between the two combatants.

The zoom lens, again at full extension, gave us some great views of the Bighorn sheep that live in the area. Even at full zoom extension, I cropped the final shots in post production to give viewers a better look at these magnificent animals. The D500’s APS-C sensor and 20 Megapixel capacity provides enough quality for web posting. If I expected to print any of these images, though, I’d want either a full frame camera and appropriate lens or at  least a 600mm lens on the camera I have. Whether or not that lens would be usable on the deck of a moving vessel is another question I can’t answer until I find the resources to purchase one.

Once the sheep start to move, especially as the lower sheep in the image above, jumping to a higher point on the rocks, you’ll want to use a fast shutter speed to be sure you get a sharp image. For techie types, this image was captured at f/6, 1/500 sec. ISO-100. The gallery of images below features some other captures of these mountain residents. On another day, cruising on a relative’s boat, we weren’t so lucky to get views of Bighorn sheep. On that trip, we saw only one, very high on top of one of the tallest outcroppings.

Though it looks relatively small from this viewpoint, Canyon Lake extends through the narrow opening in the rocks you can see in the image above. From there, it extends some distance to the point it becomes the Salt River again. There the Dolly turns around and heads back to the dock for a cruise that’s well worth the price of admission. In addition to the 1.5 hour, six-mile cruise, they offer a three-hour bighorn sheep cruise with Arizona Game and Fish Biologists and two different dinner cruises. You can find more information on there cruises at their website here. The gallery of images below features high resolution photos I captured that day. Most browsers will allow a higher resolution view. Just click on the image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Last week, the Civil Air Patrol National Conference took us to Anaheim, California. Though our hotel was a short walk from Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom, I didn’t have any time to visit. Our hotel was located next to the Anaheim Convention Center. The classic steel and glass architecture was built in 1967 and over the years, it went through six major expansions. This entrance is flanked by a Marriott Hotel on one side and a Hilton Hotel on the other. The other entrance on Katella Avenue is directly across from the Disneyland Resort.

About the photo: The building is too large to fit in an image when captured this closely with my Samsung S7 where I was standing. I captured three photos, one showing the top of the building, one showing the central core, and the third showing the base with the fountains. I then used Adobe Lightroom to merge the three images into one vertical panoramic image. The late afternoon shot features a brightly lit sky as the sun was directly behind the building. The camera’s exposure was set to f/1.7, 1/1200 sec., ISO-50. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner

When it comes to veggies, Mother Nature provides an infinite color palette as can be seen in this vegetable market in Seattle, Washington. The Public Market is a tourist attraction of some repute where fishmongers, florists, grocers and even the very first Starbucks Coffee Shop are steps away from each other.

If you want to see lots of color, head to a Native American Powwow sometime. You’ll find no end of colorful costumes worn by the participants. I’ve only been to a couple of these, but I plan to attend more as my schedule meets their locations.

I’ve shared this photo before, it’s one of my favorites. The colorful lights of Nashville’s Honky Tonk Row are greatly enhanced by the street during a fit of Mother Nature, a quick-moving thunderstorm.

My last entry for this week’s challenge is a more pastel image, the San Antonio Riverwalk presents plenty of opportunities for photography. The colors of the greenery and umbrellas are reflected in the water of the canal.

John Steiner

Washington D.C.

As a Wing Commander in Civil Air Patrol (CAP), two of the travel duties assigned are attend the National Summer Conference and attend the Winter Command Council meeting, usually in late February or early March. The Command Council is composed of each state’s Wing Commander and Region Commanders. In addition to briefings of importance that must be shared with the membership, each wing delegation meets with every senator and representative from their respective state to brief them on activities performed by CAP in their state. As North Dakota is a small state, our visitation list is quite small, like all states, we have two senators, but we only have a single representative. Minnesota, our neighbor wing to the immediate east has eight representatives to visit. Larger states have to bring a large delegation of CAP members, For example, California Wing must visit their 53 representatives and two senators in the time allocated for our meetings. Long before I reach Washington DC, my Director of Administration has already scheduled my appointments and I know when I need to be in the Senate and House office buildings and where each person I must visit is located in the collection of buildings.

Our first meeting was in the Russell Building, the Senate Office Building named for Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell Jr, Senator from 1933 to 1971, the location of Senator John Hoeven’s Office. As it turned out, he was called in to a vote just before our meeting. That also meant I wouldn’t be meeting with Senator Heitkamp either. Her meeting in her office in the Hart Senate Office Building was to follow immediately after Senator Hoeven’s meeting. Representative Cramer had left Washington D.C. due to a family illness the day before. This year would be the first time that my meetings would all be with legislative aides. Nevertheless, the meetings go on and I know from previous experience that the legislators get our information based upon follow up contacts.

Prior to becoming Wing Commander, I was twice in the delegation from North Dakota that accompanied our then Wing Commander. This year, due to budget constraints, I had no one with me from our state. When possible we try to take cadets as well as senior members (the name given to members over 21). It’s an educational experience for the cadets and it adds a bullet point about our cadet programs mission for our legislators to meet some of our cadets. Though North Dakota Wing wasn’t able to send anyone but me this year, the Kansas delegation brought several cadets, two of whom were in attendance due to their involvement with CAP cadet activities at the national level. The Kansas Wing Commander graciously volunteered them to accompany me in my meetings. On the left is Cadet Captain Noah Enders and on the right is Cadet Major Donald Leonhardt. Kansas is in our region and these cadets did a great job sharing CAP’s story of our North Central Region and National cadet training programs and activities.

With only three meetings to attend, and those being in the late morning and mid-afternoon, we were able to avoid the rush hour on our metro ride from our hotel in Alexandria, VA to the U.S. Capitol grounds. After our meetings with the two senator’s aides, we ate a leisurely lunch in one of the Capitol lunch rooms, a rare treat for us mid-westerners. Sorry, no photos are allowed in the food service areas. After our last meeting we had time to visit some of the nearby buildings including a tour of the Capitol itself arranged for us by Senator Heitkamp’s office. The view above is of the Washington Monument as seen from one of the patio areas beside the main building.

We walked across the street intending to visit the Supreme Court building, not necessarily to go inside, but to maybe grab a photo or two of the exterior. As we neared the building (on the right in the photo above,) we could see many people milling around and could hear, though not quite understand the person speaking into a bullhorn or other public address system. Were we to approach closer, we’d be in the middle of some sort of protest, no doubt people upset about some recent Supreme Court decision. As we were in uniform, we wisely elected to stay out of photo range and decided to visit the Library of Congress instead.

As with most buildings in Washington D.C. of historical importance, the Library of Congress is a beautiful structure. The images above are details of the Great Hall, the main entrance area into the library, We didn’t spend a lot of time there, but we did go upstairs to get a view of the Main Reading Room. There is a procedure for visitors to be admitted to any of the many reading rooms for research and review. As it was nearing our appointment time for our Capitol tour, we opted to save that for a future visit. The view of the Main Reading Room below was taken from an observation area accessible on the second floor of the Great Hall.

We left the Library of Congress and made our way to our Capitol tour mentioned above. As this trip is a working trip for me, I didn’t want to be dragging around any photo gear, not even my Sony Point and Shoot. All of the images taken this day were with my Samsung S7 cellphone’s rear camera. I took a few photos inside the Capitol during our tour, but I wasn’t happy with any of them, none being decent enough to share. The gallery of images below features high resolution versions of the images captured on our trip to Washington D.C. In most browsers, you can select an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner