I wrote this during the lead-up to the actually trip, and like most things I've left it unfinished. I've thought about expanding it with more geographical and climatological information, but honestly that stuff is kind of dry and beside the point. This document, incomplete though it may be, is an accurate picture of what I knew going in, of my prejudices, of my (maybe lofty) ambitions.

 
 
 

Photo Credit: By Ratsbew (en wiki) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 
 
 

THE PLACE

 

 

The place is a tower much like the ones in Cambridge I’ve been so fascinated by, the ones I’m drawn to when I need a break. 

What makes this tower of interest is that it just so happens to be the tallest thing in the western hemisphere. Better yet, it’s also located in perhaps the flattest state in the US: North Dakota - second only to Florida. This place, where the tallest structure meets the flattest land, is where I want to go. By chance, North Dakota also happens to be the place where you can find the longest stretch of laser-straight road — 120 miles running between I-29 south of Fargo and HWY-30, into the city of Streeter, population 170 as of the 2010 census. 

I seem to be drawn to these extremes of mundanity - maybe because nothing is really ever mundane if you capture it just right. And so I’m off on a boring trip to take plain photos of mundane objects in bland landscapes. One is a tower, the other is a road.  

 

 

NORTH DAKOTA

 

 
 

I thought it useful to write down a little bit about what I know of North Dakota - which, honestly, is not much beyond what I gathered from the Coen Brother’s Fargo1.

ND is cold. North Dakotans2 speak with what I assume is a stereotypical “Minnesota” accent, or some variant. ND is very flat.

Further inquiry revealed that the population estimate as of 2016 is 757,952, which, spread over an area of 183,108 km2, makes it one of the least densely populated states in the country. Here’s an interesting list of names: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, Trump3. This should give you an idea of the territory I’m off to. Or better yet: according to a religious identification survey conducted in 2006, not only does North Dakota have the highest amount of churches per-capita, those churches are used by the population more than any other state. Only 3% of people I’ll meet out there identify themselves as having no religion. 6% declined to answer (but are probably agnostic). I’m in steadfast red territory. I’ll have to try to tone down my liberal veneer of tolerance and open-mindedness. Okay, I’m being facetious, but only because the alternative is fear. Just a few weeks ago, a woman was caught on film yelling at three Somalians wearing Hijabs in a Fargo Walmart. “We’re going to kill all of you!”, she insisted. And though I have the distinct advantage of being a straight-enough looking white man, I don’t exactly scream conservative. This is an issue, I think, especially if I want to talk to people and be able to warm up to them (and they to me). White Americans comprise 90% of the population, with Black or African Americans at a paltry 1.2%. Being the son of Italian immigrants, that puts me in the 0.5% of North Dakotans who stem from “other nationalities”. I’m going to stick out, is what I’m getting at.

Thankfully, despite some terrifying gun legislation4, North Dakota isn’t a particularly gun-crazed state, coming in pretty much right in the middle in terms of gun-per-capita numbers. So while I shouldn’t be particularly afraid of getting mindlessly mowed down, I probably shouldn’t wander where I’m not wanted. With the exception of Fargo, I’ll mainly find myself among empty fields and abandoned barns. Who knows if I’ll stumble onto some territorial survivalist’s hideout.

1. I have yet to watch the television show based on the movie, but I’ve heard good things.

2. Official term as recommended by the United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO).

3. Presidential election results (exclusively republican), if you didn’t catch on.

4. Earlier this year, “constitutional carry” came into effect. This bill argues that having to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon is a violation of second amendment rights - so long as you have ID on you, are a resident of North Dakota, and are otherwise legally permitted to own a firearm, you can carry a concealed weapon. This is on top of needing no such thing as a permit of any kind to own guns, let alone purchase one. Background checks? Gun registry? Nope.

 
 
 
 

KVLY-TV MAST

 

 
 

The tower, the focus of this trip, is located at geographical coordinates 47°20′32″ N, 97°17′21″ W . It is a guyed mast, a type of tower that isn’t self-supporting, instead relying on tension cables to keep itself upright. This structure has the distinct advantage of being incredibly easy and cheap to build. So easy, in fact, that this particular tower in the middle of nowhere, serving one of the least densely populated regions in America, was the tallest structure in the world for a long time, and since it’s completion in 1963, has only recently been surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in 20101. It remains to this day the tallest structure in the western hemisphere, peaking at 2063 feet. It needed to be the tallest precisely because it is serving such a low density area - to make it economically feasible to even consider building the thing, it needs to reach as many people as possible, thus the height. This particular tower has a broadcasting radius of 89.5km, serving mostly the population of Fargo. It is owned by Grey Television, a media conglomerate based in Atlanta, Georgia, and broadcasts the KVLY-TV station on channel 44, an NBC affiliate in Fargo. Don't worry, I'm boring myself too. 

Here’s the thing: this engineering marvel, for years the tallest structure built by man, defying gravity and common sense, transmits one station to a figurative handful of people in one of the loneliest parts of the country. If that wasn’t enough, there is another tower not 5 miles away that tops out at a whopping 2060 ft - 3 feet short of the KVLY-TV mast. Were it not for those 3 feet, I would completely disregard KVLY and write instead about that other tower. KVLY is essentially unremarkable in every way, except in that it’s entirely remarkable in one. In fact, the only reason there aren’t taller towers by now is because the FCC banned any tv/radio structures taller than 2000 feet, due to their unfortunate tendency to collapse when exposed to strong winds, ice storms, or helicopter blades (that other tower was taken down once by each those and rebuilt every time).   

I don’t know how accessible the place is. I’ve emailed Doug Jenson, chief engineer at KVLY in Fargo, but have yet to hear back from him2. At most, I can hope to get up close to the tower. In my wildest dreams, I ride the elevator to the top of the lattice, upon which sits the 113m antenna which provides so many Dakotans their free over-the-air programming. At the very worst, I’ll be stuck on the road, with my gear, in my car, waiting and watching for those blinking beacons to light up the evening sky. I’m sure I won’t be prepared for that sinking feeling as the night grows darker and the flashing lights are all that remain in my field of vision.

 
 
 
 

1. There was a period between 1974 and 1991 where it was surpassed by another radio mast, but that tower has since collapsed and was not replaced.

2. Doug has since graciously replied:

Do you know which engineering firm designed or built the structure?
The tower was build by Klein Tower. I believe it was their design as well.

How accessible is the tower? For example, would I be allowed to drive right up to the base, or would I need to stick to the surrounding roads? Are there any limitations on photography of the tower?
The tower is fenced in but you can get within 20’ of the tower. We have no limitations on photography for non commercial purposes.

Who is in charge of tower maintenance and operations? Is that your team’s responsibility, or do you contract it out to a third party?
It is my responsibility. We hire tower repair companies to do the actual work.

How many people does the tower serve within it’s radius? Have these numbers gone down now that cable is much more commonplace? I suspect more rural areas still use over-the-air antennas?
The tower directly serves about 350,000 but cable and satellite expand that coverage somewhat. Cable penetration is somewhere between 85-90% however a lot more people are “cutting the cord” these days so we expect that penetration level to drop.

Does the tower only function as a TV antenna, or are there other signals broadcast from the tower?
We only broadcast TV from that tower.

Is there any chance (and this is a long shot, I know) that I could get a view inside the base of the tower?
Do you mean a picture or if you can access it personally? I can set you up either way.

How long have you been chief engineer at KVLY?
I have worked here for 43 years and been chief for 10.

The neighboring KRDK antenna has collapsed a few times since it’s construction. Were the two towers built by the same firm? Has this tower had any close calls since it’s completion?
All three towers, the two and went down and the current tower were built by Stainless. The only close call we had as during the icing event that took the KRDK tower down the last time in 1997. We have never seen that amount of ice on the tower plus we had some very bad high winds at the same time.


I listened to the NPR segment on which you discussed the tower being surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in 2010. Were you around when the tower was first completed in 1963? Was there any local excitement about having the tallest man-made structure in world?
I was just a kid when the tower was built and I remember it because we went from having 2 TV stations to 3 stations to watch. It was a big deal and was heavily promoted for a long time. Our call sign at that time was KTHI and we had Miss Tall USA promote us. She was Katy – HI.

 

 

ND HWY-46

 

 

On a whim, I typed the following into Google: “longest straight road in America”. It came as almost no surprise that the first link points to a website proclaiming the longest, straightest road is in fact North Dakota Highway 46. Of course, there is fierce debate about which American road is the straightest, some insisting this road is not as straight as others - notably, another very straight road in Utah. 

This particular road stretches almost 200 kilometers from just south of Fargo, until the tiny town of Streeter. The argument against HWY-46 is built upon the four slight bulges in the road - placed strategically (I assume) to break up the monotony of such a long, uneventful drive. The longest uninterrupted segment is still almost 70km, no mean feat of pragmatism. 

 

 
 
 

 

THE MEDIUM

 

 

Words and Images (still and moving - or the illusion of motion, at least).

Maybe it’s my discomfort with drawing, but I’ve always felt more in tune with my camera than my pen. Still, I might sketch a thing or two.

I did no such thing. Not one sketch.

 

 

THE SET UP

 

 

There are 4 possible views out of my car that I’m interested in (out of the innumerable). The one that started all this is the side view, through the passenger window. This view must be recorded at a high frame rate, so that it can be slowed down and made sense of - the way your brain sees it. 120 frames per second slowed down to 24 produces an image 5 times slower than real-time, and yet still fast enough when traveling at high-speed on a highway or train track. 

The next view is the front, through the wind shield. This one is tricky. I’ve tried high FPS, standard real-time footage and time-lapse, and I’ve yet to settle on the right speed. Because the rate of motion depends on your focal length, different lenses want to be slowed down or sped up. Some footage can look like living stills, moving almost imperceptibly, while others are hypnotic when sped up using time lapse. Sometimes, when conditions are just right, the real-time footage is all you need. I’ll come back to this one.

The flip side to this view is the rear shot through the back. This remains untested, though I suspect the same conditions found at the front hold true.

The last view is through the sun roof, looking up at the open sky. This footage must either be sped up or in real time. 

These are all shot from a moving vehicle. Of course, once I’m out of the vehicle, all order breaks down and I’m free to shoot however I want, though I may impose restrictions on this. Maybe the whole thing is shot from inside my car.

 
 
 

 

 

THE GEAR

 

 

CAMERAS CURRENTLY IN MY POSSESSION:

- GoPRO HERO 3:
    120 FPS @ 720p
    60 FPS @ 1080p
    7MP Time-Lapse

- Sony A7RII:
    120 FPS @ 720p
    60 FPS @ 1080p
    24 FPS @ 4K
    42 MP Stills

- Canon 7D MKII:
    60 FPS @ 1080p
    24 FPS @ 1080p
    18 MP Stills

- iPhone 6s:
    120 FPS @ 1080p
    24 FPS @ 4K
    12 MP Stills

- iPhone 5s:
    120 FPS @ 720p
    60 FPS @ 1080p
    12 MP Stills


POTENTIAL CAMERAS:

- Sony A9:
    120 FPS @ 1080p
    60 FPS @ 4kp
    24 MP Stills

- Canon 5d MKIII:
    60 FPS @ 720p
    24 FPS @ 1080p
    22 MP Stills

AVAILABLE LENSES:

- Sony:
    Zeiss Contax G2 28mm f2.8
    Zeiss Contax G2 45mm f2
    Zeiss Sony FE 35mm f2.8
    Zeiss Sony FE 55mm f1.8
    Zeiss Sony FE 70-200 f2.8
    Zeiss Sony Fe 100-400 f4

- Canon: 
    Canon EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 (Crop)
    Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6
    Canon EF 24-70mm f2.5
 

 

LOGISTICS

 

 

Where to stay, and how to get there. The obvious answer is drive and airbnb. However, there is one problem. The fasted route is a 16 hour drive. The route I want to take, north, above the lakes, is a 24 hour drive. In either case, I would need to split it over 2 days. 

The next problem is the “when”. I plan to spend a lot of time in the open, and North Dakota is not a warm place in the coming months. Ideally I would leave soon, but there’s the issue of preping the gear. My earliest departure date is mid november. The trip should last 2 weeks, with 10 days spent in and around my target sites, collecting footage and stories. 


Money Issues:

Total number of estimated kilometers driven: 5500 km

Gas: $600
Food: 20/day @ 14 days = $280
Accommodations: 50/day @ 14 days = $700

Total estimated cost = $1580

Can I afford this? Not really. 

 

 

TIMELINE

 

 

Nov. 14th - Leave Toronto, drive 12 hours, sleep somewhere cheap.

Nov. 15th - Leave somewhere cheap, drive 12 hours, arrive in Fargo, sleep.

Nov. 16th - Explore Fargo. Visit KVLY-TV studios if possible. Take it easy. Collect thoughts. Get some sleep.

Nov. 17th - Leave for tower in morning before sun rise, spend day there exploring/taking pictures. Wait for nightfall and face your fears.

Nov. 18th - Nov. 20th - Rinse, repeat until you’re sick of the place.

Nov. 21th - Drive along the 46 during sun rise, stopping only when you reach Streeter. Diner there, don’t cause too much commotion. Stay overnight.

Nov. 22th - Drive back to Fargo, this time mid-day. Drive back to Streeter, this time at dusk. Stay overnight. 

Nov. 23th - Nov. 25th - Flexible. Judge if there is more work to be done. 

Nov. 26th - Drive back over two day.

 

 

REASONS

 

 

Why the hell not?

 
 

Left Unfinished by Marco Chimienti
06.10.17