Every once and a while I go back a year or two in my photo collection to see if there isn't something I've neglected. Given that I take quite a few photos and never throw anything away, "neglect" is a word that is a little too kind for how I treat my old photos.Anyway, here's one that I had considered for submission to a small gallery that decorates the fireplace room in the student center at Lake Area Technical Institute, where I teach photography. I eventually found something I liked better but today I am resurrecting it.As with many of my photos, this one involves strong lines and light, obvious texture and a control of depth of field. A fence post and fencing are mundane subjects in rural South Dakota, but if captured right they can be interesting and evocative.
South Dakota
05-07-12 Thick Frost
in South Dakota
I took this back in February and, no, I am not feeling nostalgic for winter. Incidentally, the tree in this post is the same tree in this one. Thanks to the bees, the flowers become little apples.
Famous People
in South Dakota
It's not everyday you get to photograph the governor of South Dakota - or pose in a photo of the governor, for that matter.Sara F and McKenzie K, students in the Lake Area Technical Institute Photo/Media program, were covering the annual Governor's Scholarship Luncheon. At the end of the event, I asked for a quick photo and they all graciously cooperated. The subjects are good in this photo, though it violates some rules. Don't tell anyone, but I did some digital manipulation and journalistic photos shouldn't do that. The background could have been better. :-( Why do I make rookie mistakes? Because I am a learner, too. . . .Canon 5DII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO800 66mm Scott ShephardFor the next several days, I will be featuring a photo taken by one of my 2nd year Photo/Media students at Lake Area Technical Institute. Today's photo was taken by McKenzie Kamrath, of Canby, MN. McKenzie's web site.
The Fisherman
in South Dakota
This is one from my early days of digital photography. This was a commissioned photo, done for Focus Watertown, an organization promotes Watertown, South Dakota, to outside businesses.
Back At Iron Creek (HDR)
in Black Hills, HDR, South Dakota
I make a photographic pilgrimage to this place in the Black Hills of South Dakota two or three times a year. I have taken countless pictures here but in 2009, when the photos for today's post were taken, I was experimenting with high dynamic range photography. HDR photos are often two or more photos that are exposed for specific parts of a scene and re then combined.In 2009 the only process I knew for combining two photos into one was a labor intensive task and so I never got around to playing with these pictures. Until yesterday.The process now involves using an automated process in Photoshop CS5 and then importing the composite into Aperture and doing the fine tuning there.Beneath today's post I am revealing the original files. I'm not sure that I should show these files because you might think I am doing something unnatural to the scene to make it look better. But I'm letting you in on a bit of the amazing HDR process. And did Iron Creek really look like the final result in this post? More or less. I say this because HDR processing allows for surrealism and I would say that there is a bit of that here. The result, given the two original files, is certainly intriguing.
01-23-12 Squall Line
in Blog, Landscape, South Dakota
I was out on the water and hoping the rain wouldn't come my way. It didn't.
Summer Blue
in Nature, Seasons, South Dakota
For the last two days it has been foggy and because of the snow cover, it has been mostly white.So I went looking for pictures of summer and this is what I found.I suspect that this is one of those photos that has more meaning to me than anyone else. (Translation: it's not a great photo but I like it.) But you do have to appreciate the pure blues of the sky and water in this photo.And you should have been with me the morning I took this. It was one of those quiet mornings on Lake Oahe that I dream about. It was cool but there was promise of warmth. The only sound was that of birds calling and of distant cattle lowing. You would think that a sailor would yearn for wind but as I'm sure I've said before, there is something pure and spiritual in floating quietly on a body of water in a place that is anything but empty.
Congratulations!
in people, South Dakota
Last night the city of Watertown, the Watertown Chamber of Commerce and Focus Watertown hosted a celebration for Lake Area Technical Institute (LATI).As you may know, LATI was recently named one of the top five two-year colleges in the United States by the Aspen Insitute.Pictured here is Gary Williams, mayor of Watertown and former Director of LATI.Click here for more photos.
The Skeleton & the Man In the Moon
in Nature, South Dakota
I was out chasing the moon and the sunrise a while back and I captured this. I'm not sure I like the composition. Or the title for the blog post. But I do like the purple-hued sky. And I like the full moon, of course, which has faired better over time than the windmill.
American Gothic
in Architecture, HDR, South Dakota
I'm on an HDR in the country kick. I have also gotten caught up in Nik Efex and OnOne filters. So you'll have to forgive me for slightly surreal images lately.This image is of a farm house a few miles north of Watertown. It is a fascinating remnant and I'd love to know more about this farm. I'm particularly interested in the evergreen trees that once graced the house. All but one have surrounded to the forces of time. The others, echoing the house, are skeletons.
Moonset Over Hills & Trees
in Nature, Seasons, South Dakota
The moon is real. The hills are real. And so are the trees and the freshly worked field. But the photo is Photoshopped. So is the photo real? While I'm at it, I might as well ask if "moonset" is a real word?(PS: Have you adjusted your camera clock time to correspond to the shift away from DST? "Does time really matter?" you ask. My answer: "Metadata matters!")
Shades of Gray
in HDR, Seasons, South Dakota
I was back at Lonesome Lake this morning looking for photo opportunities. As I have already admitted, I am amazed with the fascinating texture of the prairie grass here. And so I took more photos.This is an HDR picture, first processed in the HDR Pro software in Photoshop and then converted to black and white using a NIK set of filters. This is mostly a "real" photo, though if you look at the trees along the upper right part of the photo, they look a little ghostly. Don't ask me why.