Tip of the Day - When you Can’t Stop the Car [or the Airplane]

Glowing Farm (Illinois, 16 June 2009)

Shot from the car on I-55 as storm clouds gathered, 
the image was cropped and enhanced with an 
artistic effect called ‘Glow Edge’ in Paint Shop Pro

So you’re tooling along on the Interstate and you see something interesting...clouds, land formations, scenic views or damage from a storm or fire.  It would be nice to snap a shot or two.  You might even be able to make something more of it with editing. 

I may be somewhat amateurish in my photographic pursuits.  I don’t always pack the tripod and have been guilty of other lapses and lazy habits.  So let me restore some semblance of photographic propriety and say this first – of course, it would be better if you could pull over, get out of the car and properly shoot the scene.

However, what if there is no shoulder on the road and no exit in sight?  You could extend the camera through the sunroof or out the window and pop off a few shots...which you will almost certainly regret and delete.  Not to mention the distracted, unsafe driving that would entail (I would never do something like that).  No, this little bit of advice is best applied when you are the passenger in the car and can devote all of your faculties to taking the picture. 

The scene is Interstate 25, north of Denver.  Beck is driving to Cheyenne and I’m enjoying the great western landscape.  Storm clouds were forming over the high plains country and I wanted to capture it.  It was not possible to stop the car so I was going to shoot out the window. 

Sometimes that works just fine.  

Storm Approaching (Illinois, 16 June 2009)

(The image was taken at highway speed through an open window)

If you have a camera with more controls, you can increase the potential for a better shot.  If your camera is a basic point-and-shoot, set the mode on ‘sports’ or whatever setting increases the shutter speed and captures motion.  If you have more control options, increase the ISO (film speed).  Usually, the lower numbers are preferred because (like with film) the image quality is better.  However, if you just want to get a shot worth keeping from a vehicle going 65 mph, the higher ISO will allow a faster shutter speed.  On top of that, since you’re shooting off to the horizon, the focus is infinity and depth of field is not an issue.  That means you can use the lowest f-stop you have.  The important thing is the faster shutter speed can be enough to freeze the scene, even as you whiz by.

Also, if you fly and like to look out the window because our magnificent American landscape is even more remarkable from above, this same technique helps get images worth saving.  High ISO + low f-stop = fast shutter speed...provided you have a window that’s not too foggy or scratched.  Another tip would be to NOT steady the lens by leaning the camera against the window.  The plane’s (or car’s) vibrations can blur the shot.  I try to gently cushion the lens with a few fingers against the plastic.  It steadies the camera while absorbing the vibration.

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead (7 May 2009)

Even if the scene is nothing you want to enlarge and frame for your Greatest Hits Wall, you can still play with it and create something interesting using editing software, as was done with the first image above...or here.

T-lines and Storm Clouds in Chrome (Illinois, 16 June 2009)

Zooming down the highway, you often don’t have much 
time to think about framing a shot. While scatter-shooting what flies 
by and cropping some decent composition from that 
THEN adding some novel editing is no way to produce the kind 
of image that can be enlarged or worth much, one can still 
make something interesting to share or use in a cheesy blog.

By now, you’re probably thinking, “OK...this story began in Colorado. I don’t see any shots of the high plains, Big Sky Country with storm clouds”.  Turns out it wasn’t until we got to Cheyenne that I realized there was no memory card in the camera.  Bleep that bleeping bleep!  No pictures...only memories. 

So, you get TWO gems of advice this time, the second is to make sure you have a memory card (or film) in the camera. 

State Capitols – Cheyenne, Wyoming - Part 2

Rotunda, Wyoming Capitol, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

On Monday morning, we returned to cruise the grounds and go inside.  Just like smaller airports are easier to manage, there is something to be said for capitols like Cheyenne.  There’s nothing wrong with being small, old and quaint... I am content being two-thirds of that description.  Here, a security screening is not required to get inside.  All the executive offices and legislative chambers are in one building and all are open to visitors.  Unlike other capitols, you get the sense that the public is welcome.  Radical thought in this post-9/11, hyper-security age.

Wyoming Senate, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

Another thing to like about Wyoming’s government is the basic, straight-forward approach they take, as opposed to the bloated bureaucracies you find in some of the bigger states.  With the exception of certain leadership positions, the 30 senators and 60 representatives do not have offices.  The desks in their chambers, with a couple of drawers are their work stations.

Interior, Wyoming Capitol, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

One fortunate aspect of being a capitol collector at this time is that many of them have been recently restored.  I found a number of them have a shine and color that has not been seen in decades.  In the Cheyenne capitol, the legislators’ desks were replaced in 2001 and the Senate’s stained glass ceiling was restored in 2004.

Wyoming House of Representatives, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

In the ‘Timing-is-Everything’ Department, I lost the opportunity to get good shots of the House chambers.  In the front of the room, workers had erected scaffolding to the ceiling.  Clearly, this was not going to be the look I wanted for the space.  The guys laughed when I announced from the gallery that I came a long way to see this place and could they kindly remove it briefly so I could take some pictures.

Some might note with irony that this deep red state and home of Darth Vader himself (Dick Cheney) is also a monument to women’s suffrage.  In 1869, Wyoming was the first state (some say the first government in the world) to grant women the right to vote.  This was over 50 years before the rest of the nation caught on and ratified the 19^th Amendment.

Statue of Esther Hobart Morris, Wyoming Capitol, Cheyenne (21 August 2011)

The statue of Esther Hobart Morris notes that when she became Justice of the Peace in 1870, it was the first time a woman in the U.S. held a public or judicial office.  Not too shabby.

This was a nice, easy visit.  We were free to roam around almost any area of the capitol.  The people were friendly and appreciated visitors.  What’s not to like about Cheyenne?

State Capitols - Cheyenne, Wyoming - Part !

Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne (21 August 2011)

Constructed: 1886-1917

Architects: David W. Gibbs

State Admitted to Union: July 10, 1890 (44^th)

State Population [2010]: 563,626 (50^th)

Back in the saddle again.  This seems an appropriate cliché, since I’m blogging about a cowboy state.  The visit to Wyoming was last August but something always seems to get in the way of my writing.   There was the blackout due to tax season distractions.  Then there was the major hassle after I learned that my e-mail notices of blog postings were not going through.  Other things were going on but they are just excuses.  Truth is I’m undisciplined and easily distracted.  I believe everything is fixed now [except for the undisciplined, distracted parts] and we’re back on line again.  Maybe.  I hope.  We’ll see. 

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Time to return to a favorite subject…and already, I’m changing the format.  I began this series with Montpelier, VT and Concord, NH intending to present the State Houses in the order that I visited them.  That doesn’t matter.  The next two will be the last two I saw.  Blogs are supposed to be topical and current after all…and this story is only nine months after the fact.  I’m not getting any younger so figure I need to offer up the fresher memories before they fade like the rest.

Last August, Becky had a job in Denver.  Tagging along on this trip presented a good opportunity to bag two capitols since Cheyenne is only a hundred miles from Denver…a definite bargain in these big, western states.  If the capitols were in Cody and Alamosa for instance, the 700+ mile trek would have made it a less appealing ‘two-fer’.

We got to town on a Sunday afternoon.  Surprisingly, this state with the smallest population (~564,000) has a capital city with a population (59,466) greater than fourteen others. 

Bison Statue, Wyoming Capitol, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

A fine, preserved bison also stands inside the capitol. 

They really love the old buffalo here. 

Good thing they stopped exterminating them in time to save the now

Official Wyoming State Mammal from extinction.

This was going to be one of the ideal capitol visits for me.  We wandered the grounds in the late afternoon light and then returned the next morning.  It’s better to see light on all sides of the area.  A great building in shadows does not make a good picture. 

Since it was Sunday, the entire capitol complex was closed and you could count the people you saw on one hand.  There was this father with two young children.  He directed them to pose in front of every sign and statue as he documented their adventure...his adventure, I suspect.   Overheard – “This is Number 11 of 13 on this trip!  We see Denver next, then Lincoln”.  This was a serious, capitol-collecting trip.  I hope he included some more exciting things for the little nippers to experience...something with rides or animals or clowns.  ‘Bring the Kids to Capitol World!!’   Zzzz...though some might suggest there would be plenty of clowns there.

The picture at the top of the story is actually the rear of the building.  I have a better shot of the front in the morning light but already posted it here on 9/2/11, when the State Capitol Odyssey was introduced. 

Chief Washakie, Wyoming Capitol, Cheyenne (22 August 2011)

A terrific statue of Chief Washakie stands to the left of the main entrance.  The grateful state has acknowledged the Shoshone leader who granted the railroad right-of-way through his territory.  Apparently, no good deed goes unpunished since we took the rest of his land after that. 

Cheyenne began as a Union Pacific depot with a machine shop and other facilities that supported the first transcontinental railroad.  It seems that when the territories in this vast nation were settled, the population centers were often in places that supported transportation.  The colonial seaports came before the river towns and the railroads moved people into the drier lands of the west.  Because of the Union Pacific, Cheyenne quickly grew to become the territorial seat and the state capital. 

There are more things to see here but, rather than put you to sleep with something that’s too long, we’ll save the rest for a second installment.