12/12/11 Rime in the Black Hills

Rime, rime, oh how I have dreamed about you. I always wanted to get macro shots of rime but have never had the opportunity to see it. With a moist, stagnant air mass in place over much of the northern Plains, I finally had the chance to see some. We actually went searching for a high point that put us above the massive layer of fog to get the moon above the clouds but couldn't find a place, it was just to thick. So here are a few pictures of rime that developed on the trees, weeds, and a park bench. The guy gold panning was a interesting foreground as well!



















Hope ya like em! Check back here every once in awhile for new pics! I will probably try to get more rime tomorrow before the pattern shifts and the fog moves out, taking the rime with it, and bringing even colder air. By the way, it was about 15F when I was taking these pictures. I also learned a valuable lesson, steel toe boots=bad idea in that cold of air.

Chip

11/19/11 Winter Wonderland

It is only mid-November...so why not dump a foot of snow and drop temperatures below zero? Went out and about on the town as the snow fell and got some pictures. Total at my place was a solid 12". Was pretty much snowed in as they don't plow the roads here till at least a day after the event, and when they do it, they use graders!









Any guesses at what the black stuff is on the lake?







Thanks for checking my blog out! Share it with others and follow!

Chip

10/23/11 A jaunt through the park

It was Sunday evening I was going for a run around the lake and park that I live next to. It just so happened to be a great sunset and the fall colors were out in all force (and have seemingly been for a month now it). I had my cell phone and did a bit of editing because it sucks with the midtones and they were way to bright. I think they came out pretty darn well. Enjoy!

Gradually you see rays from the cloud shadows (crepuscular rays) and then a pretty pink finale right next to my apartment. In the last picture, if you look real close, you can see a whole family of deer in the bottom right, they didn't show up very well though. It is the local family that I see almost everyday around my place. They are around at all hours of the day and even bed up against the apartment. I am going to get fresh venison one of these days...


























Hope ya liked the shots!

Chip

9/28/11 Auroras

After a very unsatisfying Monday with really high hopes (and turning out we missed a big show by a mere 15-30 mins), I ventured back out on Tuesday hoping to see an aurora. I watched the aurora observation charts and maps very closely, and was pleasantly surprised. I ventured out in the Black Hills, aka, the backyard and looked and looked for a view. After avoiding about 20 deer, I found a decent lookout and sure enough, aurora!

Here are a few pictures of the auroras:


In the image below, you can see a vivid pillar to the right side.



The pillar moved more westward and is pretty cool looking.


I put all the images together with a photoshop action and you can see the entire event put together in one image.



And then one final image taken from the road. This is about three miles from the city and you can still see the green from the aurora. The red is my tail lights as I had my foot on the brake. Pretty neat you can see them so close to the city.



And as mandatory with any aurora, here is the video:

Hopefully there is another CME from the sun soon. I really enjoy shooting auroras under the clear sky. It is so peaceful and tranquil under all the stars of the universe. A few more blog updates are to come soon as well. Tomorrow I will be out shooting a prescribed fire in the Black Hills and then this weekend I will probably get some shots of the waxing moon. Stay tuned!

Chip!

September 9th Aurora in Gillette, Wyoming

I got lucky and caught the aurora on Friday in Wyoming! My first one! And a dream come true! It was a very active day with a giant solar storm. There were supposed to be more this weekend, but as of yet, none that I have seen. It came and went very fast and was barely visible to the naked eye.

Here are three shots that I randomly selected.









And the time lapse of the entire event. Probably only lasted about 6-7 minutes.



Until next time! Thanks for checkin it out!

Chip

8/27 & 8/29 South Dakota

What? Yea, I moved. I now reside in the great city of Rapid City. Anywho, it has been a long time since I posted anything on here, and if anyone ever checks (which I doubt) then I apologize.

On Saturday the 27th a few isolated severe storms went up off the Black Hills. They were high based and small, but were quite pretty. I played with the storm that went just south of the city, and even dropped some small hail at my house (after I left, the subi isn't gonna see hail falling if I have my way).

Here is the first look.


An my it had a healthy looking rain free base as it neared my location:


The rain and hail shaft can barely be seen in the above, but as it passed to my north, it became much more visible and would be the main attraction with the cell. At the time radar indicated around 2" hail, and there were several reports of 1.75" hail at this time:


Once it crossed the highway, these two little buggers showed up in the sunlight:


The furthest south rainbow was very dominate and on display for a long time. Here it is in its full stretch:


The different individual shafts of hail and rain falling out of the cloud base were amazing:


The right side showed itself for a bit too (I am lazy and didn't edit out the splattered bugs on the windshield):


I followed the storm on a bit but decided that was the best show it was going to do as the convection was getting soft, and let it go. Here is the final look before I turned my back and headed west home:


On Monday the 29th, a late evening linear MCS made its way across eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota after originating in Montana earlier in the day. It put on a decent light show and provided the first opportunity I have ever had to take lightning shots here. I immediately went for the towers I see every day. Convientially I have a great view only a few blocks down the road.

First shot I got, I was planning for them to be super bright and had the ISO as far down as it goes along with the aperature way up to counter what I thought would be a blinding shot. Yea, it wasn't so the best shot of the night (CG wise) came with those settings:


I also got two cloud to cloud (CC) flashes as well. Mind the raindrops...I haven't configured a device to stand under or hang off my window that allows me to shoot in the rain yet, so they are taken through the windshield:


Not a bad first week. I am excited to see if or what the small second season of chasing brings about out here the next few months!

I will try to have another blog up soon with some shots of my trip out here that included stops in Notre Dame, Iowa State, and the grand city of Mitchell, SD. In the meantime though, feel free to bug me to get it up!

Thanks for looking!
Chip