The Amazing Adventures of a Zoobroker and a Sentiographer
South of Pocatello, ID is a darker area away from city lights. We drove around looking for a safe, secluded spot to pull off and make some long exposures. Mission accomplished.
Can you See Zoo Broker's profile in this one?
And drove down the mountain to find that industry never stops.
Covered a lot of ground, caught a lot of pixels (and some film, too!) Here is a small gallery of today's photos:
Montana
Yosemite (west side)
Sign right as you enter Idaho from Montana on Route 20.
A 23-photo pano I stitched looking to the right of the sign above:
Idaho, lonely and open.
... but folks, have you checked out the pictures that Spamzalot has taken? Every day this man produces something astounding. "Produced Something Astounding".
Not bad words for my tombstone, now if I could only get someone to say it about me! For sure, this is a wake-up call. This morning I contrasted Spammer's ACTUAL art production to my own. I said: "People are my canvas" .. which conjures up a better catch phrase: "The Audience Is the Canvas". Good catch phrase, even though it's MEANINGLESS.
For fuck's sake, what I do, although not lacking in skill or imagination, is NOT art. I gotta get on it.
I remember this feeling. Last time we covered a lot of ground, I felt like, "Why the hell didn't I know there was so much OF America and it's variety was so great?" It's a wonderful feeling, especially when you have no plan as to destination, except for where you might want to be when you go to sleep.
Today we rolled out of Montana into Wyoming, back into Montana and down most of Idaho. On our left were mountains of many varieties - including razortooth, barren to tall, gravelly evergreen covered and massive, piled groupings off in the distance. The landscape went from cool and green to yellowing to farmland. All of it was beautiful in it's own way.
One thing that amazes me is that when ask people if they like where they are living, it's mostly "no" and a rolling of the eyes. Omaha was the exception. Why? Wishing for escape? I see a lot of people loading themselves with wishes to not be someplace and not doing anything about it. Or, perhaps, not trusting themselves to make good decisions and act on them. Another possibility is that they are so focused on what they don't like that they are not thinking about what they do like. An absence of being grateful, if you will.
I've learned that knowledge and experience is best reinforced by comparison. Zoo and I have talked about this at length as the miles rolled by... An ideal example is me writing about being grateful to know so much more of America. Out of all the states we have visited, I have only been to Colorado. Now I have firsthand experience in so much more of America, and having a social lubricant in the form of Zoo Broker along only makes the experience richer.
America is large and diverse in many respects. If you live here, do yourself a favor and take the time to explore it.
Wow... The Milky Way was in full effect tonight on the New Moon. We stopped off on our way to Bozeman in Big Timber, Montana to get some sky without light pollution. There was a lots of particulate in the air, though. This first shot is 6 minutes @ 400 ISO, f/4. Milky Way behind star arcs:
Next off we have Zoo Broker and the horizon:
And then me with the horizon:
And then we pulled out some Kung Fu to finish off the cold (and warm up):
(I won...)
Last three shots were 10 min @ ISO 400, f/4. Can't wait for tomorrow night!
You may not know, But I am a descendant of Custer. Yes, that Custer. So, knowing I’d be near the National Park by his name, we thought we’d drop by so I could pay my respects. The town of Custer, SD is tiny, with about 3,000 residents. “Imagine being a student at school there,” remarked Zoo. “We’re going to massacre you!”
Mauvais goux, but true, I assume. Have to say the National Park was breathtaking. Windy roads and (a few) buffalo. The Black Hills are truly wonderful. Visit if you can.
We also visited Crazy Horse - amazing to see something that will rival Mt. Rushmore in progress. Ten more years and the horse's head will be done. 100 years and the whole thing will be done.
Omaha to Rapid City from Sir Arthur SpamZalot on Vimeo.
Rapid City, SD was a sleepy, almost lonely little town. Zoo and I met an interesting cross-section of people.
First off, we ate at the Firehouse Brewing Company and Michelle served up delicious Chicked Fried Steak for Zoo and a beef chimichanga for me. Spicy, good. I had the Beaver Brown Ale, which was soooooo good after a day on the road.
So, after some serious processing of the GPS data and time-lapse movie stuff, we split up.
Zoo went to the bar for “just one drink” and I headed out for some night photography around Rapid City.
Right off the bat, I met a friendly group of guys who wondered aloud why I was taking a photograph of an alley. Nice guys, except for the one who constantly was trying to get me to take pictures of his ass. Anyhoo, I got this awesome shot with Cowboy Jesus Christ in Art Alley.
So, I took a stroll around the block. Really, this was only one loop around the block. I totally enjoyed myself shooting at night in Rapid City. Interesting people, and a great variety of business, art and small-town emptiness. It was Sunday night, after all.
I believe there were three bridal shops in one block. Hmmm. That matches that we met two engaged gals in less than 24 hours, and were not in large crowds. But 3 bridal shops in one square block? Wow. The mannequins were awesome, though. Thanks for not moving.
There was an alley running behind the hotel, cutting the block in half that had a sign at each end labeled, “Art Alley”. There were so many tags and street art on the walls and dumpsters. Some amazing work, too. You can see the sign atop this image that was on top of our hotel.
And then there was the Brass Rail – open 2nd latest on a Sunday night. A gal came out as I was shooting, curious as to what I was doing. “Just on a road trip, taking pictures.” “OK – was just curious.” Maybe she thought I was a tweaker. In fact, there was one sleeping in the alcove just to the right (or I assume so – it seems like meth would be easy to find in Rapid City).
So, around the corner and back to the hotel for this HDR-combined shot of our hotel. That’s another story... A couple go tout of their car and asked if I was taking pictures of ghosts. LOLz.
Apparently, this hotel is famous for many things, including having presidents stay over. In fact, John McCain just rented out the whole place during Sturgis and pissed off a lot of people. I think we stayed in his room (and it smelled like dead bodies).
There is also the matter of apparently, this hotel is haunted. Alfred HItchcock stayed in one of the haunted rooms, and the Betsy, Sara and Darwin at the hotel were so helpful and fun. Sara let me into the AJ Ballroom on the second floor:
And here is what the main reception area looks like:
I have so many photos to process, plus some seemingly amazing panos to stitch. BUt, nighttime photography here in Rapid Falls is calling to me. I even got a quick tour of AJ's Ballroom right here in our hotel. Here are four photos as a sampler of how incredibly mind-blowingly beautiful the Badlands Park is...
