South Dakota
I must really be running out of photos if I am posting pictures I've taken that I really don't like looking at! The good news is that it doesn't look like this in South Dakota. Yet.
I took this photo several years ago after a major winter storm closed schools and shut down businesses. But life goes on after such a storm and this person was out in the first rays of sunlight to remove the snow from his driveway.
This is the same grove as the previous photo of aspens but a different view and treatment.
By Scott Shephard
For the last several years, Deb and I have taken a trip to the Black Hills in mid October. This photo was taken several years ago on an outing to Deerfield, which is 30 miles or so west of our cabin.
This photo is a little jumbled - what do you look at? Interestly, my eye is drawn to the one, dominant focal point, which is the triangle of grass that leads to the center of the photo. But then, when my eye follows the triangle to the center, there's nothing special to look at. I'm reading Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" right now and I'm thinking that there may be a hidden Masonic code in this picture. In fact, there may be hidden codes in all of my photos in "A Photo A Day."
By Scott Shephard
So what are the four presidents staring at? I was looking at some photos I took a few years ago and it occurred to me that they are all staring off in different directions. It's like they don't even know that the others are even there. It's kind of a strange portrait, if you ask me. (Full view: Click here. Or here.)
This is being posted on Patriot Day, incidentally, and in the days, weeks and months following 9-11 there was a significant concern that even national icons like Mt. Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty would be subject to attack.
I just checked and our threat level today is Yellow, which means "significant risk of terrorists attacks." Does anyone else crave the good old days of the Cold War when all we feared was communism and nuclear annihilation?
Footnote for art lovers: Do you think Borglum was aware of this colossal statue (click) of the Roman emperor Constantine when he was trying to figure out how to make the pupil and iris in the presidents' eyes look real from a distance?
By Scott Shephard
We are less than a week away from homecoming and one of the photographic highlights of the week is the Powderpuff Football Game. It's a good chance to get candid shots of seniors enjoying one of their rights of passage.
The technique you see in this photo has been featured before. I "dragged the flash" and zoomed as I pushed the shutter button. You get ghosting and a radial effect when you do this.
By Scott Shephard
You may have noticed a few photos of "Wandering Star" in this blog. Well, here's another one. There is nothing particularly photogenic about the boat on the trailer, though my wife, Deb, does add significantly. We took the boat off the water this past weekend and it now sits in my driveway waiting for the final clean-up before we store it for the winter. It was a good summer but as people around here are inclined to say in early September: "Where did the time go?"
These two were part of a crew of "panhandling jackasses" working the crowd in Custer State Park. Donkeys are not regal animals but how can you not think that this couple isn't photogenic? I like the white hooves of the little one. In a few short years he'll be sticking his hairy muzzle through open car windows and eating Fritos out of tourists' hands. What a life!
Canon 5D 1/200s f/6.3 ISO320 130mm
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
It must be the English teacher in me that makes me use words like this. Sorry. "Ephemeral" means "lasting for a short time." To humans, flowers are ephemeral, to South Dakotans summer is ephemeral and to my cat, Mac, his morning meal is ephemeral. But the Spring Creek Marina???!!!
In this photo, the subjects are here to stay for a while. But the light wasn't. I had arrived just after rain had passed through and as I was getting ready to unload my sailing gear, the sun poked out from behind a heavy cloud and lit up the marina. I reached for my camera, got out of the car and literally had 20 seconds before the sun went back under a cloud. I should have taken a photo when the area was bathed in shadow because then you could see what a difference a few seconds make.
By Scott Shephard
Deb and I were at the Rushmore Mall in Rapid City, SD several years ago, when we saw this motorcyclist begin to practice his stunt routine. He had two ramps, the first of which propelled him (at a fairly high speed) about 30 feet into the air. Sailing (at 6 mph) is sport enough for me.
Canon 1D 1/250s f/8.0 ISO400 70mm
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
This photo may be a little too abstract to have meaning but I'll post it anyway. Hundreds of seagulls have moved on to the tires that form one of the breakwaters at the Spring Creek Marina on Lake Oahe in South Dakota. And on the two previous mornings as I slowly motored by to go out sailing, they took flight as I passed. On this day I was ready with my camera: I had about 30 seconds to get photos before the birds were gone and circling overhead. I took about 15 photos as I passed but this is the only one I liked.
Here's a less abstract version (click). While you're here, check out the Spring Creek deep water marina on the amazing Lake Oahe. (click)
Canon 5DII 1/800s f/16.0 ISO400 58mm
