I tried to come up with a scary photograph for Halloween. This works for me. You might say – “Mike! Deer are not scary!” Deer munching grass in a field? Not scary. Deer in the middle of the road? Scary! Luckily this encounter was in the afternoon and I had plenty of time to stop. If I had been on this winding mountain road in Wyoming at night with a bit of ice and snow on the road things could have gone badly for me and Bambi.
Scary!
Not scary.
Archives
All posts for the month October, 2011
The Idaho National Laboratory has been a center for nuclear power research since 1949. It is far out in the desert and security is very tight, but there is one place where they have a few items on display. These are the HTRE-2 and HTRE-3 nuclear reactors which were built and operated in the 1950’s as part of an effort to develop nuclear powered jet bombers.
Last year I started a project called “Embrace the Gloom”. Learn how to deal with cloudy skies and dim sunlight and still get a decent image. This was the last shot from my most recent roadtrip. Looking out towards the Smoky Mountains of central Idaho in the late afternoon of a fall day as I got ready for the long drive home.
This panorama of Bellingham Bay, Washington, has a few glitches (probably far more obvious to me than anyone else) but I like it because I inadvertently caught my photography pal David (photosbydavid.wordpress.com) shooting the same scene.
I think I’m approaching a crossroads here. Days are getting shorter, I’m not sure how much shooting I will be able to do through a Montana winter, and in general I’m starting to suffer from a lack of motivation and energy.
Disclaimer on this next part – I always greatly appreciate the people who visit here. I try not to look at the stats for the site very often but they can be pretty depressing. Probably half of my traffic comes from three posts that were done close to a year ago. I look at the amount of effort and expense I am putting in and wonder – is it worthwhile?
I have not hit the point where I will retire the blog – but I will probably be posting less frequently as I try to recharge the batteries and figure out where to go from here.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by.
You never know what you will find on the back roads. I was traveling through farm country in Wyoming when something caught my eye – a mobile SAM (surface to air missile) launcher! Next to it was a radar and I found a sign saying it was a U.S. Air Force installation. But something about the missile launcher didn’t look right. I got a closer look and realized it was not real. It was a mock-up of a Russian SA-6 missile launcher. Then I realized what I was looking at – a training setup for “Wild Weasel” pilots. “Wild Weasel” is the name for aircraft that are designed to destroy enemy anti-aircraft missiles and guns. Anyway it was a geeky thrill for me, and another reason why I always try to take the back roads instead of the interstates on my journeys.
The mock-up missile launcher.
The radar is on the left, the missile launcher on the right, and it looks like a farmer’s tractor is parked in the middle.
Close up photo of an abandoned farmhouse and barn near Four Corners, Wyoming.
Prints, downloads, and licenses for this photo are available at my store site.
Abandoned farm near Four Corners, Wyoming.
Prints, downloads, and licenses for this photo are available on my store site.