Month: September 2013

09-20-13 Fortress

2013 09-20 Fortress by Scott Shephard
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

2013 09-19 Cloudscape (1)
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

09-18-13 Scaling Down

2013 09-18 Scaling Down by Scott Shephard
Since I talked about the immense scale of Alaska yesterday, I thought it would be proper to show the smaller side of nature. In the context of looking at mountains, forests and glaciers, it’s easy to miss things that are under foot some times. Of course, this is the power that we have as photographers.

Also, when I post my mushroom photo, I can feel better about myself: there are things in the Alaskan wilderness that are smaller than me. 🙂

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1000 100mm

09-17-13 A Different Scale

2013 09-16 A Different Scale by Scott Shephard
I have read that the great cathedrals and basilicas of Europe were designed, in part, to make humans feel small in the presence of the awesome power of God. And I’ll have to admit that even to a 21st century traveler, these structures still have that impact on me.

But the amazing wilderness of southeast Alaska makes the biggest structure than humans have built seem puny. And, frankly, there is little that a photo or a mere description can do to communicate this. Suffice it to say that for most of the seven days we cruised the waters of Alaska, I felt small – both in terms of my size and in terms of the brief time my life represents compared to the geologic time it took to craft and scour the mountains and fjords of Alaska. But the effect of this on me and other viewers is not to be overwhelmed but instead to be inspired.

09-16-13 Nice Ice

2013 09-15 Nice Ice by Scott Shephard
My wife explicitly warned me not to publish too many photos of glacier ice so I guess I’m defying her with this one, since I published another ice photo a few posts ago. But I can’t help myself. How can you not be fascinated with the colors and textures of this ice. And how can you not think about the Titantic, when you hear the thumping of small chunks of ice against the hull of the Safari Endeavor? But our captain is much smarter about ice than Captain Edward Smith. 🙂

Canon 5DIII 1/800s f/6.3 ISO400 200mm

09-15-13 Captain Jenna

2013 09-14 Captain Jenna HDR by Scott Shephard
There are many good things that I could say about Un Cruise Adventures, the company whose boat we cruised on in Alaska recently. But one of the great features was their “open bridge” policy. Passengers were encouraged to come on to the bridge to see boat operations from the pilot’s point of view. On watch in this photo is the Captain, Jenna, who is expertly guiding us near Ford’s Terror. With a name like “Ford’s Terror,” you’d expect the place to be intriguing. And it was. . . .

Canon 5DIII 1/100s f/4.5 ISO400 29mm

09-14-13 Morning Procession

2013 09-14-13 Morning Procession by Scott Shephard
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.)

Swimming Deer

Buck

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

09-02-13 The Safari Endeavor at the Dawes Glacier

2013 09-02 The Safari Endeavor at Dawes Glacier by Scott Shephard
I’m about to be told to turn off my iPad on the plane that will take us on our first leg home today. But I selected this photo as my first Alaskan Un Cruise Adventures photo because it capture both the awesome landscape of SE Alaska and the nature of our amazing 7-day cruise on the Safari Endeavor. I’ll have more to say about this place when I’m back online.

Later . . .

For the culminating activity on our Un Cruise, we motored up to within a few miles of the Dawes Glacier. Once there, small groups were motored out to within 1/4 mile of the glacier, which meant that we had to go through the ice field you see here. “Wow!” was generally the only word spoken (repeatedly) as Captain Jon S. took us through the chunks of ice. Jon spoke little during the two hours we were out. But he was constantly grinning. And so were we.

The culmination of the day was being served one of my favorite 12-year-old Scotches cooled by 500-year-old crystal clear glacier ice. Wow!