Wednesday, December 19, 2012

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.





Thursday, November 29, 2012

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.






Sunday, October 7, 2012

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.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Brooky Bottom, a squirrel of a tale!

A few weeks ago, we headed down to Obert, NE, where my parents are buried. It was that time of year to change out the flowers in the vases on their grave to fall colors.  On the way home, we decided, or maybe it was just me that decided and Kris was along for the ride, to take the gravel roads back to Yankton.  It was all good since Kris had her Nook with the charger along!  So, we head down the gravel road.  I had my camera sitting on my lap and Kris had her Nook (nicknamed Booker) on her lap.

The first landmark we come to was the Wiseman Monument. I won't get into detail about what happened on this site. You can read about it here.  I do remember, when I was little going to this place, it kind of scared me.  I also remember what was written about what happened there, the first few times we visited the monument, has been written differently and is now, in more politically correct words. 

We headed north to the Brooky Bottom Recreation Area.  This is a development that is right along the Missouri River, and is located north of Obert. There are campgrounds, river access areas, restaurant, cabins and guessing some permanent housing in the area.  If you keep following the road you will soon come to an area with a sign that says, Kris's favorite three words, Minimum Maintenance Road, not really her favorite three words!  Not sure if some of you have ever been on one of these roads before.  If you are a little adventurous and there hasn't been any recent rain, which we all know the later to be true, a minimum maintenance road can be fun....oh and maybe a four wheel drive, although you can easily drive a car on this at times. If you are looking for a road with a canopy of trees, this is your road!  The road maybe gets plowed a couple times a year and when they plow it they leave about a 2-4 foot dirt berm along the side of the road.  It is really a pretty drive when the colors are turning!

 
As we traveled, the Brooky Bottom Road, I always marvel at the trees and what it must have been like to travel in this area via horse and buggy or just living in this area, back in the day.   It is an amazing place touched only by a few people that toss a beer can here and there. If you do take the time to stop, take a few pictures and have the nerve to walk over to one of the berms and look over the edge, you will see some discarded house hold items and just your general run of the mill trash. I have still never figured out why people do this.

Cruising along the road, we rounded a corner and sitting in the road was a squirrel.  I quickly grabbed my camera and every so quietly opened the door to the SUV and start sneaking up on this little guy.  I walked a few feet and snapped a couple shots, a few more feet and more shots. I finally get right up by the squirrel and noticed it is just a baby and he is REALLY scared.  It was a hot day and in my mind I am thinking that this little guy is just thirsty and overcome by the heat. I headed back to the truck and grabbed a Styrofoam cup. I peeled the sides of the cup down so it is maybe a 1/2" tall.  I then filled it with water and carried it back to where the baby squirrel was. I took a stick and gently moved the squirrel over to the cup of water. Each time I tried to do this, the little guy walked right back to me and sat by my shoe.  Poor fella.  At that point all I could think about was one of my friends from the Outdoor Campus saying, "If You Care, Leave It There!"  I tried, but he would have been hit by a vehicle, became a pet by another passer by or worse, maybe a meal, so I had to move him.  I went back to the truck and grabbed my leather gloves. As I was getting the gloves on, Kris said, "You better hurry up, because here he comes!" The little guy had followed me back to the truck.  So, I knelt down and picked him up. He fit right in my cupped hand. I then sat him up by some trees along the road. Meanwhile, Kris had set her Nook down and was watching all this. She went through the whole list of what could happen, are going to be making a trip to the hospital for an animal bite, scratches, shots, when was her last tetnus shot, and where is the closest hospital? The little guy didn't try to bite at all, but he would have scratched me with those sharp claws, if I hadn't had gloves on.

We think he either fell down the bank along the road, fell out of the tree or out of the nest and was maybe just stunned.  I sure hope he was able to find some sort of shelter or even his way back to the nest and lived to see another day.   

The funny thing about this is, that a week before, myself and a co-worker, saved a turtle on one of our walks at break time. The turtle had wondered into the street where there are a lot of semi trucks. We relocated it to a retention pond just around the block.  That following Monday, I got to work and one of the bosses had left an empty turtle shell on my desk that he had found along the Jim River.  Needless to say, I was not to anxious to tell him the story about the little squirrel!


 
Sneaking up on the little guy.

 
Getting closer.

 
He was so cute!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Bubbles..........

To borrow a phrase from Monty Python.......
"And now for something completely different"




This was my first attempt at this type of macro photography. Wow, talk about tons of fun and unlimited possibilities!  I was sure glad Kris had all sorts of different fabric to aide in the process!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

A Little Storm Action....

Last night after attending the exhibit opening in Yankton, see previous post, I ended up traveling home in some interesting weather. Here are a few pics from along a prairie road.


St Columba Catholic Church, Mayfield, SD


POET Biorefining, Chanceller, SD


Corn field west of Lennox, SD

Art Gallery Event....

What a great event I attended last evening in Yankton. It was the First Friday reception at the G.A.R. Hall to honor the artist that are featured in the new exhibit called "Mighty Mo' Photo Show". The theme for the exhibit are photographs of "Flora and Fauna" along the Missouri River.

Let me say there are a lot of amazing photos in the exhibit. This was a first for me to actually have photos hanging in a gallery. It is an amazing feeling. I was lucky enough to have three photos in the exhibit. Not only that, but there is another exhibit that runs concurrently with the photography exhibit called Arts in Bloom.
Arts in Bloom allows area artist to bring selected photographs to life by making a living sculpture that is inspired by some of the photographs. I was blessed to have one of my photos come to life by another artist.

It was fun to feel the energy in the gallery! Yankton Area Arts is doing great things in the Yankton area. Make sure you head over to their Facebook page and "like" them!

Things to know if you visit the exhibit, and you should visit!
G.A.R. Hall is located at 508 Douglas in Yankton, SD. The gallery is open from 1-5 PM weekdays and 1-3 PM on Saturdays, and the exhibits are always free to the public. The "Mighty Mo' Photo Show" runs through August 28th.The Art in Bloom exhibit runs concurrently from August 1-4.


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sioux Falls Airshow Part 2

I know, I know, more airshow photos, but I just can't help it!
The first two photos were taken on my Friday afternoon practice shoot. The sky was so much better on Friday. As you can see the sky was not very kind while shooting on Saturday, but you get what you get unless you are personal friends with Mother Nature!  The sky was much better on Sunday, but I chose to stay home which was a good call. The temps were over 100 on Sunday.





 The Raptor made a pass with it's cargo doors open.



Heritage flight, blending the old with the new.


This looks really wild. Bodies falling from the sky with red smoke.
They all made it down safe and sound! 






Do you think there were a lot of sore necks the next day?
I wonder if the chiropractors were busy this week?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sioux Falls Airshow Part 1

What a great two days of shooting.  I am still editing my 1965 photos from the last two days. Saturday morning was dedicated to shooting the ground show or static planes. What amazing machines they are.  A couple of the older planes did offer rides for a fee. I caught them as they were heading out for a once in a life time ride along. Pretty amazing. I am so glad there are groups dedicated to keeping the flying spirit alive for these older planes!