02-26-10 Main Street - Corfu Village

This is a shot that I took through our rental car window as Deb and I drove through a small village on the island of Corfu. Europeans drive much smaller cars than many Americans, in part because fuel is more expensive but also in part because less space is devoted to autos - such as this road which, to me, looks more like a alley.

02-18-10 A Single Tree

This is a quintessential South Dakota sunrise: a single tree and an expanse of prairie pasture. The tree and the sunrise are commonplace; but the clouds aren't. On this particular morning, I was struck by texture of the clouds and how there was a single band of sunlight along the horizon. Light like this is short lived. Usually, you can't say, "That's pretty - I'll go get my camera." By the time you have your camera, even if it is only minutes later, the moment has passed.

Canon 1D 1/60s f/2.8 ISO400 200mm

02-04-10 He Has Horns!

This is Michelangelo's "Moses," and it is housed in one of the most unassuming places any great work art resides - the Church of St. Peter in Chains in Rome. Michelangelo was commissioned to do Pope Julius II's tomb and Moses was to be one of 50 sculptures to decorate the tomb. Humility? I don't think so.

The Pope ran out of money and the tomb was scaled back. But we got "Moses" out of the deal. Why the horns? Well, one account I've read says that the horns come from a mistranslation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew should have read "rays of light," not "horns."

Whenever I see a Michelangelo sculpture, I am struck first by how amazingly life-like the cold stone is. But I am also in awe of the physical feat it must have been for Michelangelo to wrest the figures from the stubborn Carerra marble.

12-28-09 Charles Bridge - A View From the Castle

By Scott Shephard

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This is a long shot of the famous Prague bridge.

11-08-09 The Redlin Center - Watertown, SD

Almost anything looks better in morning light, including the Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown. This photo was taken a few minutes after I took "Flocking Behavior 01." (Click)

11-03-09 The First Snow

This is from my recent stay in Denver. I didn't have much time to wander around taking photos and the weather wasn't real conducive, anyway, with wet snow falling nearly continuously for two days.

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10-29-09 The Big, Blue Bear

I am in Denver this week and we are being treated to the first major snow storm of the season - 8" so far. But it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, when I fly out.

This is the big bear sculpture that stares into the lobby of the Denver Convention Center. I'll have to admit that it wasn't the best day for street photography, with snow coming down in big chunks. But sometimes the worse weather conditions make for unique photos.

Click here to get a view from the inside.

10-25-09 Remembering Bernice

Of course, to my brother Mike, my sister Barb and me, she was "Mom." I'm sad to say that Mom passed away in the early hours of the morning today (October 25, 2009). Mom was 91 and we had spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday visiting her at the nursing home she lived in. Her passing was quiet, peaceful and appropriate. But I feel pain nonetheless, for I had not expected death to come so quickly.

There's more that I could say but I don't have many words right now. I'll let this photo of a my beautiful mother speak for itself.

08-26-09 School Is In Session

Yesterday was the first day of school and in about two weeks it will be time to celebrate our annual Homecoming week. Students - especially seniors - look forward to the week and many teachers and administrators dread it, largely because events occasionally take precedence over the important task of teaching and learning.

Our town's homecoming is rich in history, with a Legend enacted by students, a powderpuff football game for the junior and senior girls and a "Burning of the W" that would make ancient pagan harvest celebrants proud. I've always seen our homecoming week as one of the first steps in the graduating classes' rite of passage.

This photo, incidentally, is one of my trademark KiYi photos and it is always arranged well before it is taken. I tell the students what to do and, as much as possible, where to stand. When the photo is actually taken, we have about 30 seconds to get the right shot before the crush of people fill the space we are in.

Canon 5D 1/160s f/5.6 ISO1000 23mm Some rights reserved under Creative Commons Copyright

08-09-01 Harley Art

I took this photo during the famous Sturgis Rally Week in Keystone, SD, in 2002. The photo isn't the art, of course. The beautifully chromed and crafted engine of the Harley Davidson is.

Incidentally, this photo shows up as part of a tutorial on a web site called Tutzor. This tutorial turns various parts of photos into a chrome horse.

Canon 1D 1/250s f/8.0 ISO400 70mm

07-29-09 Rain Drops On Rose Petals

Here's another macro photo that renders the subject a little abstractly. Donna, my neighbor, urged me to check out her roses and this is what I saw. Thanks, Donna, for growing them!

Canon 5DII 1/80s f/6.3 ISO200 100mm

07-14-09 Yellow Fields

Here's another photo of sun-ripened crops - this time a seemingly endless field of sunflowers. Sunflowers are a bit of a paradox in that I don't know if there is a crop in South Dakota that is more beautiful when it is in its prime or more ugly when it is ready to be harvested.

Here's a close-up of one of the flowers. (Click here)

1/320s f/6.3 ISO400 300mm Canon 1DII