10-23-13 Flow

Anyone who knows this blog knows that I often repeat myself. I have not yet tried to re-invent myself as a photographer and, at my age and inclination, I'm not sure that it is possible. Or worthy.

So here I am again at Iron Creek. But today, when I made the trek from our family's cabin to this spot a few miles away, I found a flow of water unlike anything I have seen in the many years I have been photographing the stream. I am at our cabin right now to clean up several fallen trees on our property. There was a major winter storm three weeks ago that dumped 4' of wet snow on the Black Hills and that caused significant tree damage.

The Hills are a mess - it looks like a bomb went off. But the up side is that the snow melt has caused significant run-off. And thus, my trek to Iron Creek.

Astute observers will not doubt see that this photo is not quite, "real." And they would be right. This is actually 4 separate exposures combined in HDR Efex Pro 2.

I hope you like it.

Canon 5DIII 0.8s f/20.0 ISO100 40mm

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10-10-13 Change of Seasons

The Lake Area Technical Institute Photo/Media class took its annual field trip to Sica Hollow, near Sisseton, South Dakota yesterday. Finding a perfect day near mid October in South Dakota is difficult but we got lucky. With little wind, blue skies and temperatures in the low 70s, it's hard not to think that life is good.

We don't get a riot of color in the fall as some states that I've been to do, but if you look, you can find good examples of the flamboyance of fall. I guess these leaves are in the throes of death. But they are going out in style.

Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/2.8 ISO400 100mm

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10-04-13 Variation On A Harvest Moon

In case you are counting, this is the third Harvest Moon photo I've posted in the last couple weeks. Why do I repeat myself? In part because I like full moons. And thieves, sailors, lovers and vampires love them. But the best reason is to illustrate the fact that the same subject (the moon) can have very different looks given the variables of time, place and composition.

This shot is very similar to this one. But I thought I would show you how I experimented with the leading lines that were present - in particular, the road, the fence and the horizon. Incidentally, this is an HDR photo in which I combined two exposures. Which do I like better? I can't say. . . .

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/13.0 ISO200 200mm

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10-03-13 Fall Fire II

Since I posted a "dusting of snow" photo a couple days ago, and since we are really beginning to see fall colors, I figured it was appropriate to post a "colorful maple tree" photo. Though I'll have to admit that this is from the 2012 archives.

I took this one in late September last year on a class field trip to Sica Hollow, a state park about 90 miles north of Watertown, South Dakota, where I live. Enjoy!

Canon 5DIII 1/320s f/2.8 ISO100 200mm

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10-01-13 West of the River

Yes, it is October 1st but no, the snow hasn't started falling yet. But it could do so soon. Such is the nature of living in the upper Great Plains. I'm guessing that some of my readers are more enthralled with snow than I am. I would also guess that many of those same people live in places where snow is a bit of a novelty. But it isn't a novelty to me: I don't like winter all that much, in spite of the fact that it provides attractive photo opportunities from time to time.

Incidentally, this isn't the first time I've photographed this scene.

Click here to see green grass.

Click here to see even this same scene on the same day in different light.

Canon 5DII 1/200s f/7.1 ISO400 58mm

09-24-13 Harvest Moon II

Yes, I'm a lunatic, though I don't howl at the full moon. I just try to take photos of it. This photo is chronologically misplaced in this blog in that it was taken about 12 hours earlier than the other full moon posted a few days ago. As you can see, the moon plays a much less prominent role in this photo. And I guess that was my intent. Here the landscape dominates and the moon just peeks in at the scene.

09-22-13 Harvest Moon

I had said in a previous post that the reason I stopped along Highway 14 in the early hours of September 19 was to photograph a beautiful full moon as it set over Western South Dakota. I worked this scene for twenty minutes and took several HDR sequences, trying to get the right composition. It turns out that I should have been working harder on getting the right exposure since I'm not happy with most of what I got. It turns out that when you use a slow shutter speed on a setting moon, you just get blur. Who would think that the moon sinks so fast?

The secret with a good full moon photo, incidentally, is to try to get it in relation to something that has a known scale because it makes the moon look bigger. I don't know that this photo does a perfect job of that but I was intending to show the moon in the context of the landscape I was in. I also liked the dirt road that leads the eye to the moon and if I zoomed in too much on the moon, I lost most of the road.

I would like to have a second chance on this moonset but, like many transient things that I photograph, I think what you are looking at is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Yes, there will be many more full moons. But to photograph the the so-called Harvest Moon over these hills will probably not be an opportunity I will have again.

For science minded, you might be interested in knowing that the Harvest Moon occurs in September and because it is close to the autumnal equinox, the moon rises and sets close to the same time for several nights in a row and stays looking fuller for a longer period of time. Thus it provides more light. In the days of manual harvest, farmers, who would often work through the night, appreciated the additional light at harvest season. Another feature of a setting moon is its color, which takes on the red hue from the atmosphere near the horizon. Some say the moon takes on a pumpkin color, which certainly is appropriate for the start of fall.

Have I left you wanting more? Check out this NASA ScienceCast:

09-21-13 Here Comes the Sun

I have come to realize that the most interesting thing about a sunrise isn't the sun. Instead, what makes some sunrises special is what the low, angular light is doing to the landscape everywhere except where the sun in visible.

This scene is one of several that I captured along Highway 14 in western South Dakota. Even if I didn't get anything camera worthy, it was a beautiful September morning to be in a part of our state that some would say is flat and bland.

Incidentally, if you look at the last three posts in this blog, you will note that I have moved the horizon to the bottom of the frame. I guess I am featuring the sky in my "Western South Dakota" series because I think that our amazing skies have much to offer. Montana's got nothing on us!

I should mention, incidentally, that the red band in this photo is ripe sorghum, which seemed to be planted in abundance in this part of our state. And did anyone noticed that the three primary colors are all dominantly present in this photo?

Canon 5DIII f/9.0 ISO320 35mm (shutter speed unknown - because this is an HDR composite?)

09-20-13 Fortress

I would say that today's photo stands in sharp contrast to yesterday's and in even starker contrast to the Alaska photos I have posted lately. But I don't mind juxtaposing from time to time.

I was driving on Highway 14 when I noticed these 4 grain storage units standing starkly on a distant hill. I was struck by how much they looked like parts of a castle from a distance. Of course, I was also struck by the stark setting of these structures, which is accentuated by the pure, blue South Dakota sky. Finally, the gentle serpentine horizon line, just barely colored in yellow, contrasts with the otherwise square and linear geometry of this capture.

Canon 5DIII 1/500s f/11.0 ISO250 75mm

09-19-13 Cloudscape

This photo is only a few minutes old and I am publishing this sitting by the side of the road just outside of Philip, SD. This morning's full moon and glorious sunrise have given me several photo opportunities as I've driven east along highway 14 towards Pierre, SD. And I couldn't resist sharing this particular photo with you.

My real reason for stopping along the highway was to capture the September full moon, which has been following me all the way from Rapid City when I pulled out of town at 5 am. And I did get the moon going down, though I'm not real happy with what I got on camera.

But shortly after the moon when down, the sun came up and I was able to get a pretty good sky shot. As with so many of my images, there is plenty of texture here. And a few lines and a little geometry. And, like so many of my photography experiences, I wish you had been here to share the time and place with me.

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/11.0 ISO200 24mm

09-14-13 Morning Procession

I was anchored near the mouth of Mission Creek at Lake Oahe (Missouri River) a couple weeks ago when I noticed movement on the point of the far shore. Using my binoculars, I noticed that it was a group of deer walking slowly along the beach. A few minutes later, I saw them walk into the water and then start to swim to the south point of the bay I was in. I estimated that the swim was about 1/4 mile and was more than a little surprised since I didn't know deer could swim.

Eventually, they arrived on the near shore and, having checked me out, hurried up the hill and out of sight. Below you will find two other photos I took in the sequence, including one where the buck (who was last in the line) has stopped and is checking me out. Given that he didn't have his Speedos on, do I dare say that he was "buck naked?" (Sorry.)

Canon 5DIII 1/1600s f/8.0 ISO400 200mm

08-22-13 The Darkest Hour?

The saying is that "the darkest hour is just before dawn" and I was aware of that when I went quickly to my camera bag so I could get the moment pictured in this post. I'm not sure how one defines "dawn" but I concluded that the saying was a bit inaccurate even if it is more metaphorical than literal.

I'll have to admit that I've shot the sunrise from this same spot before. And as Monet no doubt felt good about painting the same haystacks over and over again, I can live with my redundancy: even though it's the same spot and the same old sun, this sunrise is unique in all of the 4.6 billion years of the Earth's existence. And I was there to capture it.

On a technical note, those who are inclined to study my photos closely might be inclined to say that part of my style is, as one student said recently, "crispness." Generally, because I shoot with a high resolution camera, use good lenses, generally use a a tripod and use fairly elaborate sharpening processes, they are clean and crisp. But this one is a little blurry. Was it premeditated? Not really. I was standing in a boat that was moving ever so slightly and I was hand-holding my camera with an impossible-to-hand-hold shutter speed of 1/3 of a second. I know that's a sin. But the blur actually adds to the impressionistic nature of this photo. I suspect that Monet might approve.

Canon 5DIII 0.3s f/4.0 ISO800 32mm