08-14-12 Hand County, South Dakota

This is another HDR (high dynamic range) photo that is actually a combination of two photos. I'm not sure I like the dramatic "rays" that seem to be streaming to the ground from the clouds because I didn't see them when I took the photo. And they look a little unreal.But they are real. The HDR process only enhances and demonstrates what the camera "sees." As I was looking at this photo, wondering whether I should post it, it occurred to me that light is to a good camera what the high pitched dog whistle is to a dog: the camera and the dog perceive things much differently than humans do. And though cameras are tuned by humans to show us what humans normally see in terms of color, brightness and contrast, software processes allow us to see an alternate reality. In this case it is an HDR photo that shows us what shadows under clouds look like.On a side note, I took this photo where I did to pay homage to my mother- and father-in-law. Years ago they had a painting hanging over their couch that was a winter scene showing a prairie that was table flat and that stretched out to infinity. My mother-in-law said the picture reminded her of home, which was Hand County, South Dakota.Though it isn't winter yet in this scene, the landscape is certainly table flat.

04-14-09 Child Labor?

So far I am responsible for taking the pictures posted on my "Photo A Day" blog. But this photo isn't my doing - it was taken by a woman named Leah DeGeest. The subject is my wife, Debra and Leah was Deb's grandmother. The setting for the photo is the DeGeest farm south of Miller, SD, and it was taken in the late 1950's.

What is little Debbie up to? Some kind of chores, I'd guess. What a great moment and great photo! I think it has a kind of Dorothea Lange look, though during the late '50s, spending time on her grandparent's farm was a near-perfect existence for a city child like Deb.

Camera and settings unknown. This is a scan from our family photo archive.