03-04-14 Sleeping On the Job →

I'm not sleeping now and I'm not really sleeping in the photo, either. I was at Lake Area Technical Institute working on a project for Office Peeps, a local office solutions retailer, and decided it might be a good time to get a self portrait. Also, I was using Camranger to remotely control my camera so it was convenient to get myself in a photo. (If you look closely at the iPad on the floor, you will see the same photo you see here because I can get a live view on my IOS device with Camranger.)

For those who are regular readers of my blog, you might see the humor in the title, given that my last post for "A Photo A Day" was on the 17th of February. Have I been sleeping too much? No. Have I been traveling? No. Did my wireless connection quit? No. Do I have a good excuse. Maybe.

I have been working on projects and, significantly, I have been working on a new web site, which you are apparently looking at right now. Thanks for visiting. (How about subscribing to new posts on both my "Learn" and "A Photo A Day" pages here at Scott Shephard Photography? Just fill in the little box on the right.)

Will "A Photo A Day" as you know it disappear? No doubt. When? There is much doubt.

And, yes, four external links is way too much for the average viewer. But you're better than average, aren't you? Check out some of the LATI Office Peeps project photos here.

02-16-14 Early Morning With Wandering Star (Reprise)

You may not know it but this blog is approaching its fifth anniversary. I started it in February, 2009, thinking that it would be good for me to find and post one decent photo a day. Some of you may have noticed that I am celebrating the approaching anniversary by taking several days off this month. It's not willful. I am just fighting my way through the midwinter blues by being neglectful.

Today's post isn't new to this blog but I've decided to post some of my favorites from the past five years this week. This particular photo of our sailboat Wandering Star anchored Mediterranean style in Mission Creek on Lake Oahe may well be one of those photos that has more meaning and value to me than it does to anyone else. But, to paraphrase a hit song from decades ago, "it's my blog and I'll post if I want to." :-)

Ice still covers lake Oahe, but it won't be long now . . . .

02-06-14 Justin

Deb came into my office as I was working on this photo and wanted to know who the subject was and why I was working on the photo. I said, "It's for my blog today. Every once and a while I like to demonstrate that I can do portraiture."

So here's Justin, who traveled from Minneapolis to Watertown to have his senior pictures taken a few years ago. Justin was a great subject and the setting was the Old Farm North Of Town (as I called it). So a great subject + a great location + good light = pretty good portrait. The Old Farm, sadly, has been razed and corn now grows where this old farm house once stood.

Canon 5D 1/50s f/4.0 ISO800 75mm

02-05-14 Our Italian Villa

I set the Way-Back Machine to 2008 in my quest for something refreshing (at least to me) to post. 2008 doesn't seem like that long ago but for a photographer, who might measure time based on know-how and equipment, it was 2 cameras ago: then - the Canon 5D; now - the 5DIII.

The joke in this photo is that my good friend Scott Peterson and I are sitting down to something that doesn't look particularly Italian and that isn't particularly fancy. But if you note the flowers and candle gracing our pool-side table, you glimpse clues to our dinner theme on this beautiful night in June, 2008: "Presentation Is Everything."

I refer to "Our Italian Villa" in the title, though in truth we were only renting it - for a little over $100 per night. The villa consisted of a restored farmhouse and cottages and was only two miles from Sienna. There were 6 guest rooms, including our little three room pool-side cottage. But for two days, we had the whole villa to ourselves. And, as you can see, it had a swimming pool! Perfetto, as the Italians say.

Canon 5D 1/80s f/5.6 ISO250 24mm

A "Donate" button??? Really? Well, yes. This blog, along with my photography, are labors of love. But if anyone feels compelled to offer a little support to help pay for the web hosting, I wouldn't want to stand in your way. :-) [maxbutton id="21"]

Our Italian Villa by Scot Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

02-04-14 Dreaming of Fall Colors

This photo was taken a few years ago on a visit to the Yashiro Japanese Garden in Olympia, Washington. Our timing was perfect (and lucky) and the garden was, as any hunter might say, "a target rich environment."

Canon 5D 1/60s f/4.0 ISO400 105mm

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Dreaming of Fall Colors by Scott Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

02-03-14 Under the Sea

14 This is a GoPro frame capture of my brother-in-law luring a tropical fish closer to him using a banana as bait. I'm guessing that naturalist wouldn't like the fact that the fish have become somewhat domesticated. But it's good for the snorkelers.

02-02-14 Dreaming of the Virgin Islands

The next best thing to shoveling snow in a -20 F wind chill is to be swimming in the warm waters that wash the shores of the Virgin Islands. Our chartered sailboat last June was named Dakota Lullaby though we had no control over the specific boat we received. She was a dream and I long to return . . .

01-28-14 Dreaming of Mexico (HDR)

I wish I were in this picture, lounging on the pool-side chair. But it occurs to me that I am in every photo I take. You just have to look hard to see me sometimes. . . .

Dreaming of Mexico by Scott Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

01-27-14 His Biggest Fan

Glenyce Jane Shephard sits enthralled by her father, Brian, as he serenades her. It was a perfect photographic moment!

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/4.0 ISO2500 18mm

His Biggest Fan by Scott Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

01-26-14 Vigilance

After four deer swam a quarter mile from one shore to another in a bay on Lake Oahe, three kept on moving. But this one struck a pose for me.

01-25-14 Dreaming of Spring

As I browsed looking for a photo to post, this bright, pink rose called out to me. And those are real rain drops.