Imminence - Sunrise, August 21, 2010

I had spent Friday, August 20, 2010, making small repairs to Wandering Star and then sailing, motoring and swimming on a hot, August day on Lake Oahe. Deb drove out from Watertown after work and arrived around 8 PM. I said, "We're going to Hurricane Bay." Because the wind had died to whisper, we motored west a few miles and dropped our anchor in a narrow, protected channel of the bay. We were alone. On this clear, warm evening it seemed like we had the bay, the lake and a billion stars all to ourselves.The next morning, we woke up well before sunrise and around 6:30 we pulled up anchor and motored out into the main channel to watch the sunrise. The weather forecast said it was going to get to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on this day. But in the pre-dawn moments, it was beautiful. And just as the sun started to light up a band of clouds close to the horizon, I took this photo.Yes, it's "just another sunrise shot" but like my "just another sunset shot" from several weeks ago, there is much more here than meets the eye: I was with my favorite person on my favorite boat in one of my favorite places. Some would call central South Dakota on a 100+ degree day "god-forsaken." I would say that you must have your senses shut down if you aren't seeing god here - especially in a beautiful, quiet sunrise like this.(See this on Panoramio.)

An Evil Flower?

Not only is this a "weed," but it is a "noxious weed" - aka a "thistle." But it is also a flower and when I was taking pictures of this intriguing plant, I was wondering what makes some flowers (roses and lillies, for example) "flowers" and what makes others (Canadian thistle and dandelions) "weeds?" I have my theories, but I'm playing coy today. I'll let you ponder this deep and profound mystery.

Bambi Twins

It's easy to shoot wildlife photos when the wildlife wanders into your front yard. In this case the front yard is at our cabin in the Black HIlls. They were lured there by the cracked corn that had been thrown on the grass.If you study the spots on the fawns, incidentally, you will discover that the deer are not identical twins, though I'm guessing that human twins wouldn't necessarily have the exact same skin blemishes, would they? Maybe it's the same for deer.

Variations On A Theme

Once, a while back when I thought that I should try to make some money from my photography, I started to make a set of photo greeting cards. This was one of them. I may have posted this aspen grove before but not with the Photoshop filters. Frankly, I use very little "effects" in my photography. I suppose I still think like I'm shooting film and I try to create the effects with the camera.My "card project" is dormant. The aspen grove is flourishing.

A Hint of Things To Come

Summer comes, and, some time in late July or early August, so does exceptionally warm weather. And we complain. But soon fall and winter come. And we complain. Thus, I have concluded, the weather we experience in South Dakota gives us something to talk about all year.Imagine living in Kona, Hawaii, where it gets into the 80s every day and slips into the high sixties almost every night. What do they talk about? Vog? Tsunamis? Coffee?

The Underside of Life

Who looks at the back sides of lilly leaves? I do. Once again, I am photographing Stargazer lilies - but this time I was trying to see what I hadn't seen before.Incidentally, here's a photo I posted almost a year ago that also gives a slightly different view of this flower.

Not THE Teton

I'm not sure what you know about the Grand Teton in Wyoming but I will tell you that it is 13,775 feet tall and is the second highest peak in Wyoming. I will also tell you that one version of the origin of its name is that a French-Canadian explorer looked at it and said, "That looks like a 'grand teton,'" which is French for "big breast." Leave it to a man wandering for months in the wildnerness with a bunch of other men to look at a mountain peak and see female body parts.So what does this photo have to do with the Tetons? Well, I certainly don't look at these landforms and see tetons. I'm not that kind of person! But I must admit that this vista, which I have seen dozens of times, is sensuous - in part because it is pleasant scene. More than that, though, it is on the last leg towards the place where I kept my boat on Lake Oahe for 15 years. It therefore meant that I was minutes away from seeing the beautiful expanse of the Little Bend area of Lake Oahe. By this point of my 4 hour journey from Watertown, I was very focused on what it would feel and sound like to be under sail again.So I suppose if I were naming this landform, it wouldn't be "Petite Sein" (you'll have to look that up). Instead, it would be "Étant Sur le Point Arrive," which means "Almost There."

Macroscope

I don't know if "macroscope" is a word. But I've decided that my macro lens turns my camera into one. It is when I am looking though the viewfinder that I start to see things that I (and most normal people) would never take the time to see. An example are the lines that decorate this lilly petal.

Deep Purple

We have an amazing array of lilies right now so you'll have to be patient with me. I can't resist.

Completing the Trilogy

It may seem that I am posting too many photos of the same flower, but the first two (here and here) were details. In today's photo, I move further back so you can get the "sum of the parts." More or less. . .

Sky Blue

I posted clouds yesterday so I thought I'd do the same today. These clouds are much less threatening. In fact some have looked at this photo and said they don't look real. But they really are clouds - over Tavira, a small town in southern Portugal.

Bedewed