South Dakota
This one turned up after heavy duty "dumpster diving." I think I had abandoned it because I thought it was boring. Thus, I didn't practice what I preach in class: don't try to save bad photos with cool (but over the top) filters. I tried to save this one with an HDR filter. :-(
It looks like I'm going to be a "fall color" theme for a few days. I've been to Sica Hollow State Park near Sisseton, SD, two days in a row and there is plenty of color there.Want to see more? Click here.
I have been to Buckingham Palace but I've never taken a photo of the Queen. But I have photographed KiYi Royalty many times. In this case, I am showing you a picture of all of the 2006 Watertown High School KiYi royalty. The Princess and Chieftain (following a Native American theme) were Ben Dylla and Carissa Hauck.I am publishing this photo because Watertown High School's homecoming week starts today and, like small town homecomings all over the US, it is marked with pageantry, celebration and a general disregard for the primary purpose of high schools everywhere - educating the young. I wonder if they let school out early for such things in China?
I know enough about sports photography to know that this is no "money shot" because there is way too much blur. I'll leave sports photography to the sports pros.But I also know that if it's done right, blur can add a sense of motion and action to a photo and I think this photo is a good illustration of that. So, while this photo would never make the sports pages, it does make my blog. :-)For those who care, Watertown won the game. (1996 KiYi Days)Canon 5D 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1000 200mm
I'm no expert on sunflowers but it seems to me that they go from coming out of the ground to full flower in a fairly short time. And, sadly, they go from full flower to drooping to done in a short time, too.This field is east of Pierre, which doesn't narrow things down much since there are several sunflower fields east of Pierre. We were heading to Lake Oahe, Deb was driving and, after watching several fields go by my window, I said, "Stop. I've got to take some photos."The challenge with photographing sunflowers is something like the challenge of photographing a public building such as the Berlin Hauptbahnhof mentioned yesterday: how do you get a unique picture of something that so many others have photographed? (I just did a Google search for "sunflower pictures" and got 19,000,000 hits!).For better or for worse, this photo is my attempt at something a little different.Canon 5DIII 1/2000s f/2.8 ISO100 35mm[maxbutton id="8"]
There isn't much that's real green along Lake Oahe in central South Dakota in late August. But the yucca plant seems to be well adapted to drought conditions and so in some places, that's all that is green.Sometimes, due to erosion along the shores of Oahe, you will see yucca clinging to soil cliffs and if you study them, you will see that they have roots that go down more than 10 feet. That's how they survive.Many South Dakotans have deep roots and that's how we hang on, as well.
I have been sailing Lake Oahe on the Missouri River in South Dakota for over 20 years. I have seen all kinds of weather and wind. And so you might think I would be jaded, wouldn't you? But I will tell you that I doubt that I will ever got bored by the amazing scenery and experience this place affords.Recently, Deb and I were enjoying our last full day of the season on Lake Oahe. We set sail shortly after sunrise and made it upriver to my favorite place, Mission Creek. By afternoon the wind had slackened and though we enjoy the serentity that this place offers when there is little wind, we decided to go motoring.At one point the wind died completely and I stopped the boat in the middle of the reservoir to enjoy the beautiful clouds, sky and water. The silence was absolute and I was reminded of the simple magic of that keeps drawing me back to Oahe: on this day we weren't looking at a mirror; we were in the mirror.Wandering Star is back in our driveway and will be put into storage soon. I put over 800 miles under her keel this summer, which is equivalent to going east to west across South Dakota and then back again. At about 5 miles an hour. A waste of time? An expensive hobby?"Yes" is a simple answer to those questions. But for me sailing Oahe is an important part of who I am and how I live. For me (and many others I know) it is a truly uncommon place.
This is another HDR (high dynamic range) photo that is actually a combination of two photos. I'm not sure I like the dramatic "rays" that seem to be streaming to the ground from the clouds because I didn't see them when I took the photo. And they look a little unreal.But they are real. The HDR process only enhances and demonstrates what the camera "sees." As I was looking at this photo, wondering whether I should post it, it occurred to me that light is to a good camera what the high pitched dog whistle is to a dog: the camera and the dog perceive things much differently than humans do. And though cameras are tuned by humans to show us what humans normally see in terms of color, brightness and contrast, software processes allow us to see an alternate reality. In this case it is an HDR photo that shows us what shadows under clouds look like.On a side note, I took this photo where I did to pay homage to my mother- and father-in-law. Years ago they had a painting hanging over their couch that was a winter scene showing a prairie that was table flat and that stretched out to infinity. My mother-in-law said the picture reminded her of home, which was Hand County, South Dakota.Though it isn't winter yet in this scene, the landscape is certainly table flat.
Here's another HDR photo taken from the bluffs overlooking the northern leg of the Little Bend on Lake Oahe. In the shot I posted a while back I was looking east into the rising sun. In this shot, I've moved my tripod, the sun is behind me and I am looking off to the northwest towards the Cheyenne River.I don't know about you, but when I look at this photo I see the pure white of the popcorn clouds. Then I see the sea green sage and, finally, the distant, dark water and long line of the cloud covered horizon. (And if you are paying attention to words here, I hope you appreciate my alliterative attempts. Opps, I did it again. :-) Or did I? Actually, "alliterative attempts" is an example of assonance. Sorry, but I was an English teacher long before I started to call myself a photographer.)