Month: August 2016

08-26-16 Off the Beaten Path

A turn here and a turn there and you are a world away from the throngs. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

On a typical summer day in Venice, Italy, it is likely you’d find throngs of tourists. Some complain that the city has become a sort of Disney Land in that it is a place that people visit for all of it’s attractions and leave at the end of the day.

I don’t like crowds but being a tourist myself, I am often part of the crowd. I discovered, however, that in places like Venice it isn’t hard to “get away from it all.” This 2005 photo is evidence. Not too far from this place you’d be hard pressed to avoid bumping into someone. But here you’g be hard pressed to find another person. It’s my kind of place. I love the textures in this old place. And I love the silence, which I hope you, too, can appreciate when you look at this photo.

Canon 20D 1/15s f/4.5 ISO400 30mm

08-25-16 Old Friends (Happily Getting Older)

62 is the new 47 . . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

Selfies of sixty-something men may seem insipid. (Today’s word is “sibilance”). But I couldn’t resist getting a photo of the two of us at a place we have been visiting for over three decades.

I have discovered that things haven’t changed much up on “The Rock,” as I call it. If the stones could speak, they probably wouldn’t say the same about us. Human time is just a little different than geologic time, after all. But that’s OK with us.

We are still fairly mobile and generally lucid. And while I can’t speak for my friend Scott P., I would dare suggest that whatever limits age has forced on us are more than compensated for by a greater appreciation of life and friendship and the blessings they both continue to offer.

Canon 5DIII 1/1000s f/4.0 ISO400 28mm

08-20-16 WHS Video Club (2006)

So many friendly faces and fond memories. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

Once again, in the process of organizing my photo collection, I have come across a photo that hasn’t seen the light of day in a decade. I believe I took this one for the 2006 WHS yearbook and it shows several of my favorite people from that year – all members of the WHS Video Club.

I don’t look back much on my career as a teacher but when I see a photo like this, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have been involved in all of the many facets of being a high school teacher. I don’t miss the grading and the other administrative aspects, but I do miss getting to work with people like the great folks you see in this photo.

Canoon 5D 1/60s f/2.8 ISO400 24mm

08-19-16 The Earth Is Flat

Have you travelled the Polo Road? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I am not a member of “The Flat Earth Society” whose credo suggests that the idea that the earth is spherical “is the biggest lie ever told.” I guess I believe that “lie,” though when you drive in parts of my state, it is easy to think that the world is very flat indeed.

This is the Polo road somewhere west of the little town of Polo and there is very little undulation in the landscape. I have driven this road many times but on this day, I was impressed by the clouds and the sun rays that I could see off to the east. 

And so I stopped my truck, kneeled down on the middle of the road to lower my point of view and took several photos. It was dead calm and very quiet. I spent several minutes in the middle of the Polo road and felt like if a car had been approaching, I would have heard it long before I saw it.

But no cars came. The empty Polo road is one of the things I like about South Dakota.

Canon 5DIII 1/1000s f/5.6 ISO400 24mm (3 sequence HDR)

08-18-16 What I Like About Summer

It was a picture-perfect morning. (read more)

By Scott Shephard

Frankly, there are many things I like about summer. But high on the list is being in Mission Creek on a perfect summer morning like yesterday. For those unfamiliar with Lake Oahe, Mission Creek is a tiny little part of a huge reservoir that goes from just north of Pierre, SD, to Bismarck, ND.

A breeze blew all night long while I was at anchor but just after sunrise, the wind stopped leaving the lake mirror-like. Later, when I was heading “home” the wind picked up and since it was coming out of the direction I had to go, I sailed 30 miles to go 12. Such is the nature of sailing. And I enjoyed every bit of it.

Canon 5DIII f/5.6 ISO200 16mm (3 frame HDR)