W A N D E R I N G S: August 2007

Rainbow (ah... how pretty)

Today I went up to Island Park to go birding with my friend Cliff. We took his boat out on Island Park Reservoir and tooled around looking for shorebirds. We found a few neat things, but nothing unusual. Probably the coolest bird was a Peregrine Falcon harassing a bunch of ducks. We got off the reservoir just as a storm was hitting. It rained and blew pretty hard.

On the way home I stopped at Fun Farm on the Henry's Fork to see if any fish were rising. None were, but I did see this sight and had couldn't resist taking some photographs. The most surprising thing was that there was another photographer recording the same scene. I don't think I've ever run into another photographer when I've been out shooting. It's probably because I don't photograph many rainbows.

Rainbow, Fun Farm, Fremont County, ID 2007

Teton Potato Cellar

The other morning Jacob was having a hard time sleeping. Susan got up with him at 5:00 or so. At 6:15 he was crying again. Susan said "it's your turn". I faked like I didn't know what was going on, but eventually got up and changed his diaper and tried to put him back to bed. He wanted no part of it, so I put on his favorite show (Spirit, an animated horse movie). At that point I wasn't tired, so I decided to photograph a cellar that I knew needed morning light. It was nice to be out for sunrise and I actually got a photograph I like.

Potato Cellar, Teton, ID 2007 (view #1)

Potato Cellar, Teton, ID 2007 (view #2)

Monkey Falls with the Boys

This is my last week watching the boys on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before I start teaching again next month. Kevin has gone back to school, so now I spend the days with Jacob and Ethan. I've found that the time passes more quickly if we find things to do. Today Ethan wanted to catch grasshoppers and Jacob likes to throw rocks in the water, so we went on a drive to monkey falls (basically an irrigation canal that dumps into the Teton River. It really is a fun place, but apparently can be a little dangerous. A BYU-Idaho student died there a few weeks back (there's a story here).

Anyway, we had a great time. I caught a few frogs, we caught some grasshoppers, and everybody got to throw rocks in the water.

Monkey Falls, Wilford, ID 2003

Ethan and Jacob at Monkey Falls, Wilford, ID 2007

Leopard Frog in my Hand, Monkey Falls, ID 2007

Ethan Holding the Frog, Monkey Falls, ID 2007

Grasshopper on Milkweed Leaf, Monkey Falls, ID 2007

Ethan Holding a Grasshopper, Monkey Falls, ID 2007

4th View

So, here's another view taken significantly after sunset.

Broken Tree and Homestead (horizontal), Madison County, ID 2006

Trees

I've been scanning old negatives over the last few days. I'm pretty happy with some photographs that I didn't feel that great about at the time. This is a sequence of photographs I made of a clump of trees and an old homestead SE of Rexburg before and after sunset.

Broken Tree and Homestead, Madison County, ID 2006

Catching Bugs with the Boys

So, the boys and I went out to the Snake River west of Rexburg yesterday to catch bugs. It was just about like I expected, Kevin was slightly bored, Ethan threw a few fits, and Jacob was mostly happy to be there, but he didn't like sharing the butterfly net. We did manage to have a little fun, in spite of only catching a few white butterflies and a couple of grasshoppers. Ethan soon grew tired of catching bugs and talked me out of the digital camera for a bit. He managed to get a few decent photographs and I remembered to set the camera to auto-focus.

Ethan, Kevin, & Jacob, Beaver Dick Park, ID 2007

The next three photographs were taken by Ethan

I noticed a few mosquitoes around, but didn't think much of it. Ethan and Jacob must have gotten a couple of good bites. This morning both of their left ears were swollen and pretty funny looking.

Ethan's swollen ear

Jacob's swollen ear

If any of you long time readers are having deja vu, it's because a similar thing happened to Jacob when I was watching the boys about a year ago. I posted it to my blog last August. Go here and scroll down to find the post. If you don't feel like doing that, then here's the picture I posted last year.

Photographing with Ethan

In spite of our lesson in priesthood meeting today about keeping the sabbath day holy (some people had some bizarre opinions), I took Ethan photographing on this sabbath evening.

I saw a couple of potato cellars the other day that I wanted to photograph in evening light. Kevin used to beg me to take him places, now he's content to stay at home with computer games, pokemon, and his gameboy. Ethan now wants to go everywhere with me, which is nice sometimes. Anyway, we had a good time. He wanted to photograph, so I let him snap away with the digital camera. Even though they're not in focus, he made some cool images. I like the ones he made of me photographing. I put a couple of them together in photoshop.

Me Photographing a Cellar (photographs by Ethan), Newdale, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Newdale, ID 2007

Madison County Fair - 2007

So, the Madison County Fair was held this weekend. I was asked to help judge the photography, but when I arrived somebody else had already done so. They always seem a bit disorganized. I was asked to serve on the committee next year, which I'm happy to do.

I took the kids Saturday morning and we sort of had fun. There isn't a whole lot to do at the fair. Jacob liked looking at the animals (from a distance). He wouldn't pet or get close to any of them. Ethan and Kevin had fun going down the big inflatable slide thing. After an hour or so, we couldn't find anything else to do. Afterwards we went to Horkley's for beverages. I may have to blog about Horkley's some time. It is truly one of the crown jewels of Rexburg.

I realized that I made a very similar post about the fair last year. The main difference I see is that the boys are much more grown up, especially Jacob. You can view the old post here. Here are this year's images:

Eight Grain Silos

Eight Grain Silos, Moody, ID 2007

Twenty-Five Bank Swallows

Twenty-Five Bank Swallows, Moody, ID 2007

Potato Cellar Interior - Arco, ID

Anybody that knows me, knows that I despise tricky/poetic/flowery titles. For example, I would never title a picture of a waterfall "glorious mist of failed expectations" or anything lame like that. However, when I stepped into this dilapidated potato cellar, I had what was very much like a spiritual experience. The interior space reminded me of a cathedral, or some other holy place. The light was intriguing, and the space seemed much larger than it was. I barely remembered that this was just a facility that some farmer built to store a bunch of spuds for the winter. So, I was almost tempted to title this image "accidental cathedral" or something lame like that. Fortunately though, I didn't.

Dilapidated Potato Cellar Interior, Arco, ID 2007

Five Days of Potato Cellars - The Other Things

So, here are a few other observations made on my whirlwind trip of south-central/eastern Idaho.

Somewhere in Southern Idaho (I caught quite a few by the way)

Gas Receipt, Carey, ID 2007
This gas pump in Carey wouldn't print me a receipt at 6:30 am. Since this trip was partially funded by professional development money. I needed a receipt. I hope this will suffice.

Caveman on Dinosaur at the Shoshone Ice Cave Entrance, Shoshone, ID 2007

Lava Tube near the Shoshone Ice Cave, Shoshone, ID 2007

Magpie Nest (currently being used by Loggerhead Shrikes), in Russian Olive, Paul, ID 2007

Five Days of Potato Cellars - Some Cellars

So, I spent five days over this past weekend photographing (surprise surprise) potato cellars. I traveled to Arco, Mackay, Burley, Paul, Twin Falls, Aberdeen, Blackfoot, and Shelley, Idaho. I know, it sounds more like a dream vacation than a research/photography trip.

Besides Cellars I also got in a few hours of fly-fishing, managed to do a little bit of birding at American Falls Reservoir and Mindidoka Wildlife Refuge (even found an adult Sabine's Gull), visited a cave/lava tube, enjoyed the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, and visited a nice little art gallery in Mackay.

Anyway, I shot 100 sheets of film and had a successful trip, I hope. I'm including some digital snapshots of a few cellars on this post. I'll put photographs of "the other things" on a different post.

Potato Cellar, Moore, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Arco, ID 2007

Newer Potato Cellar, Burley, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Paul, ID 2007

Potato Cellar (with potato plants in foreground), Aberdeen, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Blackfoot, ID 2007 (I need to go back in better light)

Potato Cellars, Atomic City, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Twin Falls, ID 2007

Potato Cellar, Shelley, ID 2007

Palisades Creek and Reservoir

I went fishing at Palisades Creek yesterday. It was a great relaxing afternoon with quite a few fish. After six hours of fishing I was in the parking lot changing out of my wet boots when Jon drove up. I guess he spoke with Susan and decided to leave Jackson to come meet me. We headed over to Palisades Reservoir and tried to make a few photographs. I took a couple photographs in 2002 of the reservoir that I liked and thought it would be a good idea to revisit the place. I don't know how productive it was, but I managed to make one photograph that I felt o.k. about. Jon made a nice image that can be viewed here.

Hybrid Trout, Palisades Creek, ID 2007

Buoy and Weight, Palisades Reservoir, ID (older image from 2002)

Little Elk Creek Outlet at Palisades Reservoir, ID 2007

Hamer Potato Cellars (part 2)

I saw a cellar that I wanted to photograph last week, but I ran out of light. I ventured out to Hamer again this evening, but the light wasn't right for that particular cellar. I think I need an overcast sky. However, I found a few other cellars that I liked and had a pleasant evening photographing them. Enjoy (or at least put up with) these images.