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South Dakota Windmill

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Rockham SD
16 July 2001
Pentax 67 w 55mm lens at f/4
30 minute exposure on Fuji Provia 100 pushed 2 stops


South Dakota Windmill

I had a picture in my mind's eye of a windmill in front of night sky startrails. But windmills, once a common but neglected artifact of an earlier technology, had become historical oddities. I realized this after looking for an intact specimen, not near any security or residence lights, and a reasonable distance from any road traffic. I wondered if any windmill that I could see from the road would ever meet these requirements. After hours and miles I realized I wasn't seeing any windmills. Where were they? How could the very icon of rural farm life have disappeared?

Eventually I did come to find this windmill in the heart of South Dakota. I marked its location and returned to it later in the evening to record the stars making their passage behind it. In this picture the stars are transient, leaving their trails behing them. In a larger time scale, the windmill is transient, eventually turning to rust and dust while the stars continue on.

 

This picture was taken during my Nightscape Odyssey.

 


Copyright 2001-Oct-22

Thor Olson


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