Tuesday evening I headed up Scout Mountain, which is just south of town. Trying to find a new location for my students to experiment with astro-landscape photography. Here’s a few views taken over a four-hour period. The city lights of Pocatello in the valley are easy to see, but also causes a fair amount of light pollution. Another shot looks northeast at the thinest edge of the Milky Way. If one looks close the Andromeda Galaxy is visible. Kind of cool I think! And lastly, there’s a shot of the Milky Way directly over head. Cameras used were a Nikon D800 w/14mm Rokinon lens and a Nikon z6 mirrorless with 24mm-70mm Nikkor lens.
time-motion
International Dark Sky Park
In November, I went out to Craters of the Moon National Monument with several of my photo students. The monument has been designated an International Dark Sky Park and the night we were there was on a new moon. That was one of the “darkest” experiences I have ever had, with the exception being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when I was in the Navy.
Star trails at Craters of the Moon National Monument and International Dark Sky Park.
Archaeology and Photography
This past week I was able to spend several days at the Idaho State University Anthropology Department’s archeology field school over in west-central Idaho. Archeology site director, Dr. Andy Speer and his students were very accommodating in letting me poke around shooting stills and videos, along with capturing sound bites. Hopefully a nice documentary will come out of all this and will help future summer archeology field schools.
The field school/archeology dig site was in the Sweet Ola Valley on a private 1700 acre ranch located in the Boise National Forest. What an incredible view! The area is rich in history and more documentaries are there if I just had the time to keep digging!
The first night there, I couldn’t work on my astro-landscape work due to thunderstorms that kept rolling up the valley. Night two was crystal clear but I was too exhausted to stay up! The following night started off favorable, but then clouds kept scudding right though my field of view, but I at least captured one interesting image.
Here’s a few still photos from the documentary project. Enjoy!
Dr. Andy Speer (L) examines artifacts extracted from pit by Miranda (R).
Dr. Andy Speer directs Daniel to prep artifact of photo documentation while Mark (r) observes process.
More Arbon Valley Star Trails
The first night of December, I went up to Crystal Summit with my long-time friend and colleague, Wilson Hurst, to engage in some astro-landscape photography. Clear skies brought a considerable drop in temperature….5oF (-15oC)….the micro-brewskies stayed nicely chilled! After three hours (which seemed like all night!), we packed up our gear since everything was beginning to ice over. Here’s a few shots from our adventures in the Rocky Mountain deep-freeze!
Arbon stars near Crystal Summit.
Arbon Valley Milky Way
Sun and Stars over Arbon Valley
After days and nights of freezing fog and clouds, I finally caught a break for some astro-landscape photography. Once the sun fell behind the horizon, the Milky Way was incredible. Unfortunately, it was directly overhead and I was aiming to the south in order to capture the sun setting in Arbon Valley. In the distance there’s Bradley Mountain to the left and the Deep Creek Mountain range falling in the background.
Photographing at 6,000-feet (1,829 meters) on a clear January night gets cold….8oF (-13C)!!! But, it was a pleasant evening listening to hoot owls and coyotes. In addition to watching airplanes cross the sky, there were satellites and meteorites as well. It’s interesting the different colors appearing from various light sources that our eyes simply do not detect at night (our rods and cones lose their color vision in low light levels). I had to finally give up after four hours, as my equipment, including my 14mm super wide angle lens, was completely covered in frost and ice!
Starry Night on Christmas Eve in Arbon Valley
Just a quick post on astro-landscape photography of the Milky Way shot tonight on Christmas Eve. I found this beautiful spot just as I entered Arbon Valley, which is just over the mountain and through the woods from my house. For this shot I was facing east-southeast, towards Old Tom Mountain and that’s the highest snow covered peak in the first photo. I started shooting around 4:45pm just as the sun was setting and continued until 7pm. It wasn’t too bad until about 6:30pm when the temps dropped to 10 degrees F (-12C). The second shot was repositioned to include Scout Mountain, which is north of Old Tom.
Something new was encountered on this photo excursion, the sound of energy! I was setup under a telephone pole. Unfortunately, some of the wires are in the shot. Anyway, all was quiet sitting there in the dark along side the snow-covered road when all of a sudden I heard this deep throbbing sound. It kept getting louder and for awhile I was looking for a plane over head, but nothing showed up. Finally the sound was pronounced and sounded like it was right on top of me, which it actually was. I walked over to the utility pole and it was vibrating with the pulsing of the energy overhead through the wires. Eventually it died down, only to return later during the photo shoot. Shortly after the sound of electricity, coyotes started their singing in the valley below. Very strange and interesting encounter!
Christmas Eve in Arbon Valley. © Terry Ownby. Nikon D800, Rokinon 14mm/f2.8.
Starry Winter’s night in Arbon Valley. © Terry Ownby. Nikon D800 Rokinon 14mm/f2.8
Setting up for a cold evening of astro-landscape photography. © Terry Ownby.
Star Trails at Chesterfield Reservoir Idaho
This first weekend of November, I ventured back up to the lake near the Chesterfield ghost town for some astrophotography. A storm front was beginning to move in from Seattle, so it was very windy and exceptionally cold. My sweetheart decided to join me on this outing and this was her first exposure to hours of patiently waiting for the stars to come out and images to be captured. What an initiation she endured!
In addition to shooting star trails (in the tradition of my friend and mentor, Wilson Hurst), I also tried photographing the Milky Way. Visibility of the stars to the east side of the lake and straight overhead was remarkably good. Unfortunately, I had not anticipated the glow of city lights to my north, which clearly is visible in my star trail shot. The light pollution came from Idaho Falls, which is about 65 miles (105 km) away.
Milky Way directly overhead. © 2013 Terry Ownby. Nikon D800, 28mm/f3.5, 30s, ISO 2000
A toast to my friend, colleague, and mentor, Wilson Hurst. We discovered Big Sky Brewing while photographing stars in the Tall Grass Prairie in Kansas. Here’s a toast to you, Wilson! © 2013 Terry Ownby. Nikon D70, 18-70mm.
Looking north at Chesterfield Reservoir. © 2013 Terry Ownby. Nikon D800, 28mm @ f3.5, Bulb, ISO 100~400.
Looking East at Chesterfield Reservoir, Idaho, with storm front moving in from Seattle. © 2013 Terry Ownby. Nikon D800, 28mm @ f3.5, 30s, ISO 6400.
Looking north at Chesterfield Reservoir. © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Nikon D800, 28mm @ f3.5, Bulb, ISO 100~400.
Looking East at Chesterfield Reservoir, Idaho, with storm front moving in from Seattle. © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Nikon D800, 28mm @ f3.5, 30s, ISO 6400.
Milky Way directly overhead. © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Nikon D800, 28mm/f3.5, 30s, ISO 2000
A toast to my friend, colleague, and mentor, Wilson Hurst. We discovered Big Sky Brewing while photographing stars in the Tall Grass Prairie in Kansas. Here’s to you, Wilson! © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Nikon D70, 18-70mm.
Stopping the Time-Space Continuum
Captured with Nikon D700, continuous frame at 5fps, shutter speed 1/8000s. © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Above is an example from a recent photo shoot where I stopped time in fractional slices. I was using a Nikon D700 set to the Continuous High mode, which fires off 5 frames per second with a normal battery. This illustration uses a total of six images captured during one shooting burst.
On the other hand, the illustration below of star trails uses 22 separate photographs using an external intervalometer by Aputure. These were five minute exposures with 1/10second interval between shots.
Star Trails at Kearn Wildlife Area, near Whiteman AFB. © 2013 Terry Ownby.
Cowboys, Stars, and Prairie Ghosts
Last week was our spring break, so a much needed road trip to the Tallgrass Prairie in Kansas was taken. Wilson, my colleague and shooting partner, joined me for a few days in the Flint Hills, where we made Cottonwood Falls our base of operation. Specifically, we stayed at an eclectic little stone motel called the Millstream Resort Motel, overlooking the Cottonwood River.
Our timing for the trip was great, as we had clear skies and no snow storms until after we returned! I had recently read Jim Hoy’s (director of the Center for Great Plains Studies) book, Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales from the Tallgrass Prairie, so many of the small towns he mentioned became our venues for imaging making. Plus, after talking with a local gravedigger, we found other exciting places to visit, such as living ghost towns, abandoned farmsteads, octogenarian speedsters, and an idle gristmill from the 19th century.
In keeping with Hunter Neal’s classic rendition of the Kansas Food Pyramid (see drawing diagram below), I had to continue my quest of sampling biscuits and gravy at the local cafes. We also were introduced to a new culinary delight known as bierocks, at Dave’s Place on the edge of Strong City.
We managed to photograph star trails two nights at the Chase County State Lake, which is just south of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Clear, crisp nights with a half-moon made for some interesting shots. Wilson did manage to have frost develop on his lens while the temps dropped and we enjoyed a variety of ales. Moose Drool Brown Ale by Big Sky Brewing and Single-Wide IPA by Boulevard proved to be favorites!
As I continue my creative research in the Flint Hills, this trip allowed me to pursue my multimedia interests with digital still photography. Here, I’m exploring the visual dimensions coupled with ambient or natural audio. New photographic toys under investigation were my new Lensbaby Composer Pro with Sweet 35 (35mm modern-day scioptic lens), Tascam DR-07MKII digital audio recorder, and a new lightweight carbon-fiber tripod by Induro (CT-214).
Here’s some images from the trip…enjoy!
Windmill near Chase County State Lake, Cottonwood, Kansas. © Terry Ownby.
Forgotten swings at the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse near Spring Hill Ranch in the Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve, sway in during strong prairie winds on our recent visit.To see animation, click on image. © Terry Ownby.
Breakfast at Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls, KS. © Terry Ownby
The only church in Bazaar, Kansas, heart of cattle grazing country in the Flint Hills. © Terry Ownby
Star trails at the Chase County Fishing Lake, just west from Cottonwood Fall, Kansas. © Terry Ownby
Doctor William B. Jones build this farmstead in 1878. © Terry Ownby
Sycamore trees along Cedar Creek, near Cedar Point, Kansas. © Terry Ownby
Strong City Rodeo champions from the past. Blonde-haired Marge Roberts was a trick rider at the rodeo known for her standing upright “Dive” on a speeding horse, during the 1950s. © Terry Ownby
Abandoned grist mill along side the Cottonwood River in a living ghost town called Cedar Point, Kansas. © Terry Ownby
Hunter Neal’s version of the food pyramid, after his photo expedition to the Kansas prairie. © Hunter Neal
Full Moon, Snow Orbs, Confederate Park, and Tex-Mex
After a few days of cabin fever brought on by a major snowstorm and several inches of the white stuff, Wilson and I headed north to the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, just outside of Higginsville, Missouri. The evening was perfect for tracking down those elusive light orbs and we wondered how they would appear against and snowy backdrop under a full moon.
Crisp temperatures at 27oF (-2.7oC) and deep snow provided the perfect cooler for a couple of brewskies. Simply insert beer bottle into deep snow, wait about 15 minutes and enjoy a truly ice-cold refreshing beverage!
Hmm…sorry for getting side-tracked. Back to our scientific and creative endeavors! We did discover that EL Wire (aka electro-luminescent wire) did not function properly at these colder temperatures. Also, those nice colored light orbs we encountered earlier in the season are extremely hard to detect under a full moon and reflective snow cover. The only orbs to significantly manifest themselves were the white ones, and that was still hard to record, being white against white.
So, after several attempts to capture the elusive winter snow orbs and listening to a cacophony of geese, we back up and headed in to Higginsville and enjoyed a nice Tex-Mex supper at the La Carreta cantina located on the main drag of old downtown. Excellent way to spend a few hours in the dead of winter!
Snow Orbs located in Confederate Park under a full moon in the snow. © Terry Ownby
Confederate Park under a snowy full moon. © Terry Ownby
Terry Ownby 