03-11-13 Footprints In the Snow

Big Foot? Sasquatch? The UPS Man? No. Just me.

03-09-13 Winter Weather

We console ourselves during snow storms like the one that hit today with the thought that "it will soon melt." The problem with that idea is that all of the other accumulation of snow hasn't yet melted. So when will all the snow be gone? Check back sometime in early April.Should I admit, by the way, that I took this photo with my iPhone as I drove south on Broadway? Probably not. So I won't.

02-23-13 Minnesota

I call this Minnesota, as if Minnesota is some how unique when it comes to winter weather. But, of course, it isn't. I just happened to be wandering around our son and daughter-in-law's neighborhood when I found these icicles hanging for a low roof of a garage.

02-22-13 Brachiation (Reprise)

TS Eliot was wrong. Februrary, not April, is "the cruelest month." At least for me. Yes, the days are getting longer. Yes, the temperature ocassionally soars into the high 20s. But it is often in the heart of February that what I think is SAAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits me. And I lose my will to post new photos to this blog.So I'm posting old stuff. . . But, in the event that you haven't meticulously looked at all four years of my posts, you've probably never seen some of these. So maybe they're not old.

02-11-13 Classes Cancelled

A major winter storm moved through our part of the state, bringing about a foot of snow and high winds. Sadly, classes at Lake Area Technical Institute were cancelled.

01-17-13 Fall Color

I am balancing the rather lonely looking black and white farm photos with something that affects the eye and intellect differently. And no, these leaves aren't what I see out my window. In South Dakota leaves like this are long gone.

01-05-12 Nuts!

One of my new year's resolutions is to go through old photos that I have on DVDs and see if there is anything worth salvaging. I have found a few, including this one. Though I am also amazed by the number of really bad photos I took with my first high end digital camera (a Canon 1D). It is proof that it isn't the camera that takes the photo. The photographer makes the photo.

01-04-12 Rural Scene

So here's a token winter shot, offered primarily to balance all the tropical photos I've been posting lately. On the day I took this photo it was, as my mother used to say, "Damp cold!" That was as close to swearing as my mom ever got.So you have an idea of what Cheri is referring to. . .

12-17-12 Winterscape

I went wading through snow that was calf deep to get this shot. Twice. Was it worth it? I'd say so, but only because the drive north of town in mysterious winter fog, the trek through snow and the framing of the frost lined trees was a small adventure and it got me out of the house on a gray winter day.Whether I was successful in my adventure or not wasn't the most important thing. Sometimes it's the concept and the process that matter most; it's the journey, not the destination. Or, in the words of Harry Chapin in his song Greyhound, "It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good."

12-10-12 The Little Angel

I wandered into one of our community's cemeteries today in search of photo opportunities and I ended up visiting the little angel that graces a 1911 grave site. I have photographed her before but I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures.She seems obvlious to the cold and snow that embrace her. . .

12-08-12 A Taste of Winter

"So what does winter taste like?" you ask. It's cold and bland, I suppose, though South Dakotans are a bit perverse when it comes to winter weather: as much as we might complain about snow and cold, we appreciate, and perhaps even savor, a snow storm such as the one that moved into our state today.What I have a hard time savoring is the fact that the snow that falls this weekend will probably be here for weeks to come. I like this shade of white a lot more. . .

12-03-12 Still Life With Shepherd, Lamb and Bokeh

I like the fact that lowly shepherds play a role in the Christmas story. So when Deb was shopping for Christmas decorations, I couldn't resist buying two figures from a Nativity collection. I would have bought more sheep but they were $1.98 apiece and I didn't want to invest too much into what I knew would result in one photo.Incidentally, I have assigned a bokeh photo to my students and so I offer one here. And since I've done a holiday bokeh thing two years in a row (2010) (2011), I guess I've established an annual tradition by offering one now. . . .