07-08-12 On Top of the World

My Garmin Nuvi said the elevation at this point on Mauna Kea in Hawaii was 13,910' though officially, I don't think it is quite that high. What's amazing about Mauna Kea is that you can drive all of the way to the top in your car. It was cold and windy up there and there was snow, which we South Dakotans were trying to escape the December we were visiting our son Jon on the Big Island.

07-07-12 Frosty Love

It's been damn hot and dry in South Dakota and so I thought this rather cheesy posed photo an ornamental ball resting on a frost covered pine tree would be just the right medicine. In the winter, South Dakotans complain about the snow and cold. And in the summer we complain about the heat. But we do manage to survive . . .

06-04-12 The California Coast

I'm off on an adventure for a couple weeks and I'll be off the wifi "grid" for much of that time. Thus, I'm auto-posting things that aren't necessarily new or unseen. Most of the photos you'll see are some of my favorite Instagram photos.This photo, incidentally, was taken with my iPhone shortly after the plane I was in took off from John Wayne Airport. I had the perfect seat on a perfect southern California day.

04-13-12 Ready To Ride

It would have been hard NOT to see the bright, purple bicycles lined up at the hotel we stayed in while visiting Friday, Harbor, Washington. I photographed the bikes but didn't ride one.

04-06-12 A Pretty Big Dog

This big dog greets visitors to the Target wing of the Minneapolis Institute of art.

02-14-12 Monument

This is a shot of the front of the Terry Redlin Center in Watertown, South Dakota. And I think it is a good example of the power of the photographer to direct the viewer's attention to details and views that he or she wouldn't or couldn't get independently. Most people see the Redlin center like this.I chose to focus on a very small section of columns just under the triangular pediment. I also chose an oblique angle. Finally, I used a telephoto lens to compress the focal plane, something the human eye can't do.Am I manipulating you? Youbetcha!And, as if you don't already feel used enough, how about my black and white treatment compared to "real" color? I don't know about you, but I like the b&w version better because the photo seems more unified. The colored version tends to allow you look at features in this scene in a way I don't want you to.This is all in a day's work and these are the kind of things true photographers think about. And my goal in life is to keep getting closer to being a "true photographer."

02-01-12 Kristin

Here's another photo from my photographic past, this time of Kristin, one of the many fine gymnasts who represented Watertown Senior High School's gymnastic program. Not only was she a great gymnast but she was a wonderful portrait subject.This photo was taken at her parents' dance and gymnastics center, Dakota Gold. As I recall, I hadn't graduated to strobe lights and so I was using my "hot" lights. The advantage of continuous lighting is that the light you see is the light you get. The disadvantage is that it doesn't produce a lot of light. Thus, I was forced to use a fairly wide aperture. Truth be told, this photo suffers from camera shake, but ten years ago I wasn't smart of enough to see that. Today, this is a photo that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day.But I like the photo and so to try to make it look good, I used selective sharpening on Kristin's eyes. And then I blurred everything in Aperture, which is a great tool to help make art out of something that is less than perfect. Kristin, of course, is the most perfect part of this photo. :-)

01-28-12 Dubrovnik's Stradun

I have several photos I took in and around Durbrovnik, Croatia, and when I post them here, I wonder how many tens of thousands of other tourists have photos from the same location.But anyone who has wondered the same thing knows that there is something special about having your own pictures. It is perhaps some odd way of tourists marking territory.

01-23-12 Squall Line

I was out on the water and hoping the rain wouldn't come my way. It didn't.

11-02-11 Country Metro

A little delivery van with a name like "Metro" seems like a paradox as it sits surrounded by decaying farm buildings 15 miles north of Watertertown. This is one of those photographic subjects that called me over and said, "Photograph me!" And so I did.I told my students yesterday that I am more inclined to take photos of peaceful landscapes, blooming flowers and fall leaves than I am to photograph things with bullet holes in them. Though now that I think of it, as I drive around through our rural landscape, I see many things that have been shot. And, as a photographer, I sometimes "shoot" things that have been shot. Like this Metro.Check tomorrow's post for more about this little van.

Out By Lonesome Lake (LATI Festival of Trees Choice)

One of the good things about my job is that when I give a photo assignment I often go out and do the assignment myself. Such was the case this past weekend. My particular mission was to shoot an HDR photo or two. I have spent about 10 hours on this task and, of the 300 photos I took, I've ended up with one HDR composite that I like. That's not bad for a day's work!I have posted an HDR (High Dynamic Range) to this blog before but I thought I'd do it again. In simple terms, an HDR photo is really one or more photos of the exact same subject with varying exposures layered on top of each other and adjusted so the whole photo is well exposed - from the very bright to the very dark.In the case of today's photo, if I had exposed for the beautiful morning sky, the grass in the foreground would have been barely visible. And if I'd exposed for the foreground, the sky would have been washed out. I must admit that the way I've done HDR so far has an element of the surreal in it. And I like that.Incidentally, this photo has been selected as this year's choice for my LATI Festival of Trees donation. It will be among many things that are donated and offered during the silent auction for the annual LATI scholarship fundraiser on November 18 at the Ramkota.Finally, if you are still reading this, you may be seriously interested in HDR. If that's true, go here to see a YouTube video I made on this subject.

10-11-11 Moonset Over Iowa Corn Field

It was the perfect summer morning to be out north of Lake Okoboji in Iowa hunting for photos. This is one of the three captures I like for the hour I spent looking. I especially like the strong green color of the corn contrasting with the soft, muted color of the pre-sunrise sky.