Star Trails

It wasn't the best night for star gazing, clouds coming and going, but it gave me some idea what is possible. Setting my camera on a tripod in northeast Nebraska, where the night sky is not contaminated with city lights, I tried several combinations of shutter speed and ISO.  My first attempt at making star …

Loess Hills

The Loess Hills of western Iowa don't look like anything special from the air.  But a light dusting of snow and twilight provides a magical image. I imagine it would seem much darker on the ground because the sun has fallen way below the horizon, but from this elevated vantage point there is plenty of …

Sparklers on Steroids

Whoa, look at the sparks fly!  What is this?  A Fourth of July sparkler, grinding wheel, welder?  No, none of these ... just a ball of steel wool tied to a string that I swung over my head after setting it on fire. I never knew steel wool was flammable, but it ignites fairly easily. …