03-29-16 Cousins

Here’s a flashback to several years ago. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I have posted plants and birds for the last few days. So today I went looking for people and this one jumped out at me. It was taken in Mexico.

From left to right are Matt D, Jon S, Brian S and Derek D. At the time, I don’t think any one of them was married but today three are and one will be soon. And the four cousins now have a total of 7 children. Will I be around the get the next generation strolling down the beach? I hope so.

Canon 5D 1/320s f/10.0 ISO400 50mm

03-28-16 “Leave Some for Me!”

The old bird bath has a new function. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I don’t think that the bird that is about to land is worried that there won’t be enough bird seed for him/her – Deb seems to provide a never-ending supply in the bird bath that is located on our lower patio. The bird bath rarely has water in it anymore. And though I really don’t know much about sparrows, I think they’d prefer food over a bath any day.

Canon 5DIII 1/350s f/4.0 ISO400 200mm

03-26-16 A Different Point of View

There are, of course, many ways to see the same thing. (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I showed you three views of the same plant yesterday and today I am showing a a much more literal way to see it. This plant (name???) is the same variety as the one pictured yesterday, though in a different state of bloom.

Except for my photography, I am not a control freak. But I do enjoy exercising the ability to get my viewers to see what I want them to see it as I want them to see it. Sorry if you feel manipulated. 🙁

Canon 5DIII 1/1000s f/2.8 ISO400 100mm

03-25-16 Real Abstract

Can an object be real and abstract at the same time?

By Scott Shephard

To be “real” and “abstract” at the same time seems like a contradiction. But I think you are looking at an example. This flowering plant, which I photographed at Indian Canyons in southern California, is certainly real. What creates the abstraction has something to do with my use of focus and point of view and much to do with the fact that I’ve turned the photo into black and white.

I guess I like the ambiguity of the image. If I’m lucky, the ambiguity requires the viewer to impose meaning based on his or her own perceptions and experience. It’s like life itself.

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/4.0 ISO250 102mm

(For those who need something less ambiguous, I offer two other views of this plant.)

03-24-16 Beach Babe

How do you tell a girl date palm from a boy date palm? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

Forgive me for both anthropomorphizing and feminizing this single date palm sitting contentedly on one of the beaches of the Great Salton Sea in southern California. Also, forgive the use of 6 syllable and a four syllable words in one sentence. I can’t help it.

There is something happy and proper about this tree posing for me, though the Great Salton Sea is not a particularly happy story. It was once the playground of the rich and famous but is now dying and largely abandoned. Some sources refer to it as “post-apocalyptic.” The water looks blue here but on closer look it is brown, brackish, polluted and malodorous (4 syllables!) If I’ve piqued your curiosity check out Wikipedia and/or watch the hour-long documentary made a few years ago (see below).

Oh, and how do you determine the gender of a date palm? Scientists are working on a simpler way but for now you 1)plant the tree, 2)wait 6 to 8 years and 3)see if it produces dates. If it does, its a girl.

As for this tree, I didn’t take the time to take a peak underneath her, oops, its palm fronds.

03-23-16 Our Morning Visitor

A wild animal? He thinks so.

By Scott Shephard

He comes for the cracked corn, not because my camera beckons. In fact, once he was aware my presence a few feet on the other side of the patio door that separated us, he flew off. He did return but was much more furtive and therefore much less photogenic.

The ring necked pheasant is South Dakota’s state bird, incidentally. But it’s also the bird that people from all over the world come to shoot. That seems paradoxical to me. But I only hunt with my camera . . . . 

Canon 5DIII 1/90s f/2.8 ISO400 200mm

03-22-16 A Walk Through Indian Canyons

Can you find Deb in this photo?

By Scott Shephard

On the last full day Deb and I were in the Palm Springs area in California, we went to Indian Canyons. There are several hiking trails of varying difficulty but we took the easy one. Deb understands my methods well enough to know that when I am taking photos, a 30 minute hike can stretch into something much longer.

The web site for Indian Canyons says “it is a place of contrasts.” That’s apt because you have nearly barren mountains, flowering cactus and shaggy palm trees all in one frame. Oh, and a brilliant blue sky. (I thought South Dakota’s skies were blue!)

Thanks, Jim and Char, for recommending this place. We would certainly go back if we get back to this part of the world again.

Canon 5DIII 1/500s f/16.0 ISO400 40mm

03-17-16 A Weekend in Green Bay

It’s a close encounter with a cheesehead and a heart-warming tale of being lost and then found. . . 

By Scott Shephard (Photo Credit: Cheesehead.com)

Flashback

I think it was a sign from God, or Vince Lombardi (if he isn’t God), that I would have a close encounter with Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the beginning of our recent trip to southern California. As I was waiting in line at the TSA checkpoint at the Sioux Falls, SD, airport, I noticed an athletic looking college student heading out on spring break holding a big cheesehead hat (see above) under his arm.

After I had cleared the checkpoint, I noticed that he had forgotten to take his hat from the scanner conveyer. Though I am not a Packers fan, I picked the giant chunk of foam cheese up and called after the student. He turned, smiled, took his hat and headed towards our gate.

Confession

I was being selfish. As a Vikings fan, I have a hard time looking at these strange hats, let alone touching one. But I figured a fit, athletic type might pay back my favor by pulling Deb and me from the burning wreckage of the airplane if it crashed. I would hope that he would wear his cheesehead hat while doing this to add humor to the situation.

6 Days Later

Deb and I had a great trip to California and had returned to our home in Watertown, SD, when it occurred to me that I didn’t have my laptop computer, which I knew was with me when we boarded our plane in San Diego. It turns out that I had left it on the airplane in Minneapolis!

I was pessimistically filling out the ‘Lost and Found’ form on the Delta web site, when I got a call from a number in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“A robocall telling me I had won yet another ‘free’ cruise?” I thought. But I answered.

“Hi,” said a very friendly and real voice. “This is Liz and I’m a Delta ticket agent in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I’ll bet you can’t guess why I’m calling.”

I said, “I’m hoping you found my laptop.”

Liz said, “Bingo!” Or something like that – I don’t remember because I was already lost in delirium. When I came back to earth, Liz said that it had been found in the seat pocket on the the flight that had landed in Minneapolis and then continued on to Green Bay. She also said that I was lucky because when they opened up the computer, my name showed and she was able to call me by looking up my Delta information. Praise God! (Or Vince Lombardi)

A Happy Ending

This was Friday and so my laptop spent a restful weekend in Green Bay before starting its road trip home to Watertown. It visited towns with names like Oak Creek,  Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Brookings, before arriving at my door late yesterday.

It was cold when I found it this morning, sleeping outside our garage door. I brought it in and after I let it warm up a bit, it came to life, ready to do some work

I am an even more satisfied Delta customer after this recent experience. More than that, I am a Delta-Ticket-Agent Liz fan for her friendly and efficient handling of my dumb move. I guess I’d also have to say I am a bit more of a Packers fan, too.

But I’m not buying a cheesehead hat any time soon. . .

 

03-16-16 Spring Has Sprung. . .

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris, I wonder . . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

When Deb takes a photo of mine off the wall and puts it on the floor, it is her way of saying . . . . well, that she doesn’t want the picture on the wall.

She rarely does this and recently what she took down was my “Winter Triptych” which I’m sure she likes but which tends to remind us of something most South Dakotans want to forget: winter.

So I made what I am officially calling my “Spring/Summer Triptych.” It’s a creative title don’t you think? And for those wanting names for the flowers, from top to bottom, they are lily, crocus and flowering crab apple. I offer nothing fancy today; but I hope it is optimistic.

03-15-16 Too Cute!

She has me and several others wrapped around her little finger. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I’ve never met grandparents who thought their grandchildren were anything but cute. And I’m one of them.

Irene Bernice has been plagued with ear problems that have kept her parents up most nights since she was born. And yet, during the day, and perhaps most importantly, when I’m around her, she is always charming. And cute. Of course!

Canon 5DIII 1/125s f/8.0 ISO200 102mm