Crazy Horse Memorial

Well, I have kind of a lot of pictures to share from today. Roger and I visited Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota today. What an interesting place, with a Native American museum that is well worth visiting. Crazy Horse was a Lakota Sioux warrior who fought against the U.S. government in an effort to preserve the Lakota way of life. He participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (also known as "Custer's last stand").



Over 50 years ago, in 1948, the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski received a request from Chief Henry Standing Bear, which requested that a memorial similar to that of Rushmore be carved in memory of Crazy Horse. It has been under construction ever since. Not everyone agrees with the memorial, however. Some Lakota people believe that carving up a mountain goes against the spirit of Crazy Horse. Whatever your beliefs are about the mountain, the museum is worth a visit. Lots of interesting things on display, and a lot about Native American history can be learned as well. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the museum (at least I thought so) was the collection of tribal flags from around the country.











(Below: Here's our flag... the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe!)







Above: A painting of Billy Mills, the second Native American ever to win a gold medal in the Olympics (10,000 meter run, 1964 Tokyo Olympics). He is also the only American to have ever won gold in this event. Billy is also a Lakota Sioux. When I was in high school (8th grade, I believe) Billy was at Bemidji State University to do a 3 mile run for charity and to get to know some students. Our Indian Student Association sponsored a trip to Bemidji to run with Billy, and I wanted to go. It was a great honor to meet him, and somewhere at home my dad has a picture of me standing with Billy after the run.



Above: A "wall" of drawings made by people/students from around the world.













Above: Some of the drawings came from quite a distance... such as this one from Chile...



Above: ... and this one from Germany...



... and even one from Thailand!

Here I am, hard at work!

Here are a few shots of myself that I just got from Roger... he took the above picture while we were shooting the Badlands at sunrise.





Below: Strapping in to head to the next location... notice the camera on the dashboard... always within reach, ready to go!

Badlands National Park - The beginning of a 6 week journey.

(Above: Park entrance sign. You can see quite a few Bison (Buffalo) in the field behind the sign)

This is the first entry of many to come over the next 6 weeks as I explore some of the western United States. I am also expanding the reach of my blog a little bit, as the journal entries from this trip will be shared with the students of Oshki Ogimaag elementary school back in my home town of Grand Portage, Minnesota. I have lived in Grand Portage my entire life, and it certainly is one of the most beautiful places in this world. It is where I choose to live to this day. Outside of the bounds of our little reservation, however, there is a big wide world of wonders to explore. It is my hope that by viewing the images in my blog the students of Oshki Ogimaag gain a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world outside of the reservation. In many ways it is a very big world, which can be intimidating. But when you travel you realize that it is also a small world, and that we are indeed all connected in some way. I love exploring and seeing the beauty of other places while trying to capture some of that beauty with my camera. However, my heart always returns to my home on the shores of Lake Superior. Grand Portage is home, and while I am tempted sometimes by other beautiful places, my heart always longs to be back in Grand Portage. Its always a great comfort to return and see Grand Portage Bay and Pete's Island again.



This trip begins with a week spent in Badlands National Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota. This area is very close to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, home to the Lakota Sioux people. My friend Roger and I spent the first week of my 6 week trip together in the Badlands and Black Hills. Our first two nights we camped under incredibly starry skies in Badlands National Park. It was a little cold at night, but we were plenty warm inside our sleeping bags. Each night we spent some time photographing the stars and the night sky, and during the day we looked for wildlife and other interesting things to photograph.



The Badlands is a very dry area which receives very little rainfall over the course of the year. In many ways it is a stark, desolate landscape but if you look a little closer you find many interesting things. Prairie Dog towns dot the landscape, and Bison, Sheep and Mule Deer can often be seen. Sunrises and sunsets can be incredible here!



(Below: Medicine wheel made out of stones outside of the Badlands National Park visitor center)



(Below: My friend Roger photographing the Badlands landscape at sunrise)



(Below: A couple of young sheep pose on the side of a hill)



(Below: Roger and his dog Thule taking in the awesome views of the Badlands)



(Below: There's a reason they want you to stay on the boardwalk here!)



(Below: Roger takes a break from shooting to enjoy the sunset)



(Below: Moon at sunset)





(Above and below: Some night scenes from the Badlands. The above left image is a 25 minute exposure taken near the Sage Creek campground. The above right image is a 30 second exposure, during which I used my headlamp to shine some light onto the tree. In the image below, the moon was behind the tree providing some nice backlight, and the lights in the lower right are from the town of Rapid City)

Remembering the Fitzgerald

Every year on November 10 at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park the light is lit as a memorial to the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald was an ore freighter that sank in Lake Superior near Whitefish Bay during an intense storm on November 10, 1975. All 29 hands on board were lost. While a part of me has always wanted to visit Split Rock during the memorial lighting, I never saw it until this year. While I got there a little late due to a dentist appointment in Duluth (the lighthouse is lit at dusk, and I arrived about an hour and a half later), I did still get a chance to see the light sweeping across the lake, as they leave it on for a couple of hours after it is lit.

After watching the light for a while I met up with Jon Wood, a friend of mine (http://www.jonwoodphoto.com/) and together we decided to head up to Tettegouche State Park and try shooting some star trails over the rock arch that is on the Tettegouche shoreline of Lake Superior. Jon and I spent a couple of hours shooting a fantastic night sky over the arch. It was an incredible night to be out, there was no wind and the lake was as flat as a pancake. The image below is a 52 minute exposure of the stars over the arch.

3 nights, 3 challenges

Or, as I prefer to think of it, 3 opportunities! This tree is a maple tree that I like to call "The Ghost Maple", since (to me at least) the silhouette of the tree resembles a rather "ghostly" looking figure. Each year after the leaves fall I like to make images of the "Ghost Maple". When the leaves are on the trees the profile of the tree just doesn't stick out the way it does after the leaves have fallen. This year, I wanted to get some shots of the stars behind the tree. These three images represent 3 separate nights of shooting the tree. My original desire was to get a star trail image of the tree. On the first night, when I got to the tree the clear skies that were prevalent over Lake Superior were nowhere to be seen deep in the woods, and I had to deal with a very overcast sky. So, I took the opportunity to try and get a little creative with the lighting. I waited until the moon was up (of course, I couldn't SEE the moon because of the clouds, but there were some thinner areas of cloud where on occasion the moonlight would sort of come through) and I made some exposures with the tree illuminated from the brake lights on my car.



On the second night, the sky looked a little more promising for some stars. However, again when I got up to the tree the clouds had moved in a bit, although they were much thinner than the previous night. Star trails weren't going to work on this night, either... too many thin clouds... so instead I shot a high ISO "short exposure" image of the stars and the hazy clouds as the moon was rising in the distance.



Third night... I got what I wanted. Crystal-clear skies, not a cloud in sight. So, I lined up my composition, dialed in my focus, and locked the shutter down for a one-hour exposure. I had great fun each night I was up there, and I guess the whole point of this is that even though you may not get what you are hoping for, don't get too discouraged because you may end up with some neat images that you weren't expecting!

First image: 30 second exposure, aperture f4, ISO 1600.
Second image: 30 second exposure, aperture f4, ISO 6400
Third image: 1 hour exposure, aperture f4, ISO 100.

All three images were made with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 17-40mm lens.

November Moon

Tonight we had quite a treat... beautiful moonlight combined with fast-moving clouds, which makes for great photography! I couldn't think of a better place than the Spirit Tree to shoot the beautiful clouds and moonlight. Each of these exposures were a few minutes in length to accentuate the movement of the clouds. I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed capturing them!

Cloud Flames

Just a couple of quick images that I snapped on the way home from work today. As I drove over Mt. Josephine I spotted these clouds and couldn't resist pulling over to shoot them. Its not very often that you see clouds sweeping vertically through the sky! The color difference between the two images is simply representative of how much the light changed over a 10-minute time period.