Waiting for the light....

Last weekend we were in Yankton and I decided to head out to Lewis and Clark Marina to shoot the sunrise. I set the tripod up and waited for the sun to shine through the masts of the sailboats.  I took a few pictures and then decided to move.  I headed down to the east end of the marina and took a few shots.  They looked ok.  I headed west and took more pictures. As I reached the west end of the marine, I looked back and the sun was peeking through the clouds, giving a nice amber glow to the boats. I had to turn around and head back and reshoot the images.  The light sure made the images come to life.  Check out the before and after images below......

Fireworks..........................

A few firework images from the July 4th display in Yankton, SD

 

Number 109

The tale of one image.  I am not sure what moves a person to change an image. I guess you might have a feeling of, this might look a little better if I tweak this or that.  Some images seem to be totally revamped from the original image to other versions of the image.  I guess it is all in the eye of the photographer as to what they feel looks best and the outcome of the image they were looking for when they clicked the shutter button. 

Sometimes I have the image in my head as to what I want it to look like.  Other times when I see the image for the first time in the digital darkroom, I think, what if I changed it to this or how about this.  There isn't any real answer to the question. Each of us possess different feelings about an image so an image might look good to you, but not to others. 

Here are three images. They are of Number 109, a very handsome looking bull just outside of Obert, NE.   Let me know what you like best!

The original image taken right out of the camera.

 

The image cropped in and converted to black and white and a little structure added.

 

 

The cropped black and white image changed to a preset Nik Software filter.

On eagles wings..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

These images were all taken along the Missouri River around Gavins Point Dam.  The shots were all taken from my car except for the ones of the eagles soaring.  Please make sure you follow the guidelines from the Game Fish and Parks Department when viewing these magnificent birds.

Bad River Road...again

I am a little behind on blogging. The truth is, it seems I have been posting my photos on my Facebook page mostly and just haven't posted on my blog.  I need to post my work here also as I know everyone is not a Facebook fan.  If you are on Facebook, you can find my page here. 

A lot of new things going on with my photography! I officially started a photography business called Prairie View Imagery.  We are very small, me, my assistant Kris and our security advisor, Abraham, the dog.  We have been lucky enough to have a few images used in the Living Here Magazine, South Dakota Conservation Digest-Kids Edition, which should be out shortly, and of recent, South Dakota Magazine's online slide show of Winter Wonderland at Falls Park.  Thank you to all the publications...I am truly honored and have met some awesome and amazing people in this journey and can't wait for what the future holds.....well, that is if the Mayan's are wrong!

So, I am at home from work on day four of missed work days. I have a viral bug that won't give up. There is only so much TV I can watch so decided to add a few photos here.

These photos were all taken on Thanksgiving Day along the Bad River Road just south and west of Fort Pierre, SD. You never know what you will find along this road. Usually, plenty of deer, wild turkeys, prairie dogs, burrowing owls, an assortment of hawks and if you are lucky some buffalo!
We are also reminded of how vast the prairie really is and what a beautiful part of our country we live in.

One of the photos captured Kris's nephew in the image. He was along with me on this excursion. He was born on the prairie, but really has become quite the mountain man. He has some amazing photography you can see here.

Freedom......

You never know where you might find your inspiration. 

On a recent trip to the Mitchell area, for some reason, I decided to drive through the cemetery.  No real reason why,  I had been there before, in fact a couple of times. Friends parents are buried there and another friends brother and mother are there. I wasn't there to seek out their place of internment, but just to drive around in a peaceful place to clear my head. I ended up in the military section.  Let me just say that this area in the Mitchell, SD cemetery is amazing.  Numerous bronze statues look over the loved ones that have been lost.  I was drawn to the eagle right away.   I love our symbol of freedom!

The image on the left is what I started with. I took a few shots and then noticed how dramatic the sky was behind me. I headed around to look at the eagle from the other side.  I was able to maneuver to a spot that placed the sun just behind the wing of the eagle. The final image on the right is much more dramatic and powerful.

My index finger is tired!

This past week, we headed out on vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota. What a great place and so vastly different then our side of the state (east river).

I took off on Thursday and made it to Wall. You know the home of Wall Drug with free ice water!  I never made it to Wall Drug, but that was not my intent.  My goal was to shoot sunrise, sunset and see some wildlife along the way.  All goals were met, but the sunset photos were not great. Oh, well, I guess it will need to wait for another time.

I also hit up the Custer Wildlife loop and then on to Spearfish for the Black Hills Photo Shootout.
The shootout is two and half days of hands on photography sessions. It was awesome as always!  We toured around the hills after the shootout and had a great time!  So much to see and of course when it snows the scenery changes so much!  Yes, we had a dusting of snow the day before we left for home.

Met some nice folks from Minnesota at my sunrise shoot!

 

 

Now, here is where the sore index finger comes into play.....I took 3,708 images!  Yup, I will be sorting through them for awhile! In the mean time you can view a few here or on my Facebook page at Prairie View Imagery.