Three images shot at the end of the day: reflection of man walking with whales in the background; train moving at blur speed; motorcycle gang terrorizes Wasilla
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 4:00AM 
Margie dropped me off early in the morning in downtown Anchorage, then headed over to Jacob and Lavina's to babysit Jobe. It was a busy and interesting day for me and I took many pictures and perhaps one day I will tell you about it and show you some of the images, but not now.
I called her about 5:00 to see if she could come and pick me up, but she couldn't, because neither Jacob or Lavina had come home yet. So I wandered around downtown Anchorage for a bit, doing nothing but walking. I didn't take pictures, I didn't buy anything. All I did was walk.
She called me about 5:45 to tell me Jacob had arrived and she was coming to get me. So I told her I would walk over to the Egan Center to make it easy for her to pull in and she could pick me up there.
Just before she arrived, I looked at the window of the Egan Center and saw the reflection of a man walking with whales swimming through a huge building wall mural above him. I thought I might as well photograph it and so I did.
I felt pretty lazy after that. We got a bite to eat and I took no pictures. I probably would have taken no more pictures at all, but, just before we reached the Knik River bridge, I saw the train coming. I can never resist the train. Caught a car in the rearview mirror, too.
For any newcomers to this blog, don't get all excited. It's not how you think. When I take such a picture, I do not bring the camera to my eye. I do not take my eyes off the road ahead for even as long as you would to turn your head and look behind you if were making a lane change. I just lift the camera, point it in the direction of the scene I hope to catch, push the shutter and then put the camera back down.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
When I pick the camera up, I don't check my settings, I just assume they are where I last had them. Sometimes, though, settings change themselves. In this case, my shutter speed had dropped down to 1/25 of a second.
I don't care. I don't mind the blur. The train was moving. We were moving. So why should I care about a little motion blur?
It was hot. It is as if this entire summer, absent most of the time, has tried to pack itself into the past four days. When it is hot and you drive home to Wasilla and see a Dairy Queen sitting there, you must ask your wife this question:
"Want an ice cream?"
"Yes," she must answer.
So we pulled into Dairy Queen and got two small vanilla cones, dipped in chocolate. Then, as we waited to pull back out onto the Parks Highway and continue our journey home, these motorcyclists came along.
They didn't really terrorize Wasilla. I just sensationalized the title a bit to draw in any unsuspecting readers foolish enough to believe a blog headline, anyway.
Pictures appear larger and look better
Reader Comments (4)
my husband loves his Dairy Queen cones too...not dipped in anything though
I like trains, too.
I like Dairy Queens too.
Chocolate swirl. No dip.
love all the vehicle shots including the train. what is it anyway about trains? and mirrors. i too am fascinated by relfections. just got home from a dinner date w/a girlfriend and the moon was coming up over the trees. i pulled over wanting to shoot it w/my everpresent canon, but stopped myself. the last time i shot the moon it was big as the eye of a needle. i guess you've got a big moon there in wasilla right now.
I did not get sucked into this blog by the sensationalist titles. I got sucked in by the pictures. And if I were in Wasilla, I'd drive past the Dairy Queen just as I drive past the Dairy Queens here. And I would say to myself, firmly, "Self, you do not NEED a peanut buster parfait. You are doing well on your diet." Self would whine a bit, but she would settle down when the car kept on going. At least that's the way it mostly works out. Sometimes self wins, though, and man, does that peanut buster parfait taste gooooooooooooooood....
*Sounds of tussling*
"Self! No!You do not need a peanut buster parfait."
And I'm not even in the car.
Thanks for that, Bill.