Blue Me Around A Tree

Blue Me Around A Tree, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

So I found this amazing celestial blue centering device out in the grasslands.... no actually what you are looking at is a nearly 40 year old man wrapped up in blue LED Christmas lights (tiny AA battery powered ones from the dollar store) running around a tree in the middle of nowhere at 3 am as fast as he can with out falling down. Yeah, I know. ;-)))

Of note for this shot is that Mars and Venus form a triangle on right with the Pleiades Star Cluster/Seven Sisters. And I need to check my camera's clock. I am thinking since it was showing first light this was actually taken at 4 am.

The Electric Rainbow Acid Test

The Electric Rainbow Acid Test, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.

--Ken Kesey as quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Image notes: single exposure/no hdr. An extraordinarily lucky 1/3 of a second. This near double rainbow was quite the buzzer breaker, at this point the sun was already most of the way down.

Sparky Shortgrass Prairie

Sparky Shortgrass Prairie, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

It's gettin' sparky out there! From a couple of nights ago out at Pawnee National Grassland.

A Moonlit Walk into the Stars

A Moonlit Walk into the Stars, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

The third and final part of the triptych I've been working on for this pier at East Lake, Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument, OR.

Pawnee Prairie Primrose Paradisio

Pawnee Prairie Primrose Paradisio, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

If you live anywhere near Pawnee National Grasslands in NE Colorado, come for a visit now while this rare epic display of primrose continues. I've seen them thick on the grasslands before, but this year might be the best of my life. Go!!!!

Moonrise Is Best Shared With A Friend

Moonrise Is Best Shared With A Friend, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

Not much is more romantic than holding your loved one's hand while you watch the moonrise on Second Beach at Olympic National Park.

I was lucky to spy this photo-op while I was out getting chased by waves trying for the reflection angle in the earlier post. I rushed in and dropped as low as possible to the ground and went for it.

Notes: This is one exposure, no hdr (but some D-lighting in cam).

Ray-Bursting a Gorge-ous Sunset on Steens

Ray-Bursting a Gorge-ous Sunset on Steens, originally uploaded by Fort Photo.

Steens Mountain National Back Country Byway opens up a world of views truly unique to SE Oregon. Besides one of the darkest night skies in the lower 48, Steens also plays host to several plant species that occur nowhere else on Earth (endemics) and serves as an example of one of the largest fault-block mountains in the world (one mountain over 50 mi long!). Yet very few even know this place exists.