The impressive soaring dome at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, was no doubt inspired by the Roman Pantheon. . . .
By Scott Shephard
When I’m shooting a photo in a place like the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, I often wonder what I could possibly photograph that someone else hasn’t already done. The answer on my visit yesterday when I took this was, “Not much.”
But I still took this picture, in part because I wanted the place in my photo collection. I was also experimenting. The experiment? Can I do an HDR photo at ISO 1250, without a tripod and have two of the three exposures slower than 1/60 of a second? The answer is yes, I guess, Though a magnifying glass would no doubt show the imperfections.
On a side note, I am struck by the fact that under this spectacular dome, the statue is the Roman god Mercury. I wonder if designers could get away with blatant paganism in a public building these days?
Another weathered and somewhat broken down oak tree waits for the resurrection that comes every spring. . . .
by Scott Shephard
I’m on a “trees in snow” theme. As I’ve said, as tired as I am of cold and snow in my home state, it’s hard not to be enthralled with the beauty of trees in snow. In fact, when I went out driving in the snow storm on this particular morning, I was explicitly looking for bare trees with snow sticking to them. And I found a few . . . .
A March snow storm in the Black Hills provides a picture perfect covering for houses and trees.
This home is called “Standing Rock” by its owners, Lorin and Mary B, though the huge rock that is its namesake isn’t present in this photo. Their home isn’t too far from our cabin and on one of my recent visits to the Black Hills, a March snow storm offered many good photo opportunities, including this one.
This photo, incidentally, is the result of what I call “road hunting.” I get in my truck with my camera ready and drive slowly, looking for interesting subjects and scenes. I usually get out of the truck to get the photo but on this one I just rolled down the window and braced my lens and camera on the window frame to capture the HDR sequence. Lazy? I don’t think so – I was just trying to keep my equipment out of the wet, spring snow.
The stark, white Farmer’s Elevator Company grain elevator in Miranda, SD, can be for miles in every direction.
Sometimes I struggle with the titles of my posts in “A Photo A Day” as I did with this one. “Sky scraper” seems so quaint and archaic, just as the phrase “Super Highway” does. Both come from the 20th century when high buildings and four-lane roads were marvelous things.
Well, the Miranda elevator has always been and still is marvelous to me. Painted in pure white, it stands out against the sky. It can be seen for miles and in a landscape that some might say is flat and plain, it breaks the redundancy.*
I did a quick search for the Farmers Elevator Company of Miranda and found that it was mentioned in a 1915 publication called The American Cooperative Journal – Volume 11. I’d like to know more about Miranda and it’s grain elevator.
Is there any chance that someone reading this might be able to help?
Canon 5DIII f/2.8 ISO160 70mm
*Speaking of redundancy, some may have already noticed the compositional similarities between today’s post and yesterday’s. Intentional? Accidental? Or both? I won’t say.
There is something about blue skies, puffy clouds and a cluster of distant trees that makes me pull over and get my camera and tripod out.
Yesterday’s post set a record for the number of words in one of my 2014 entries. So today I will let the photo speak for itself. This was taken a few miles west of Faulkton, SD.
Tiny cattle inhabit a bucolic western South Dakota river valley.
So 15 minutes after capturing “Knee Deep,” and roughly 30 minutes after “Beyond Wasta,” I came across this vista, which is looking northeast over the Belle Fourche River valley. The size of the cattle gives a bit of scale to this scene. It was windy and a bit cool when I got out of my truck to set up my tripod (this is an HDR sequence). But when I look at this photo, I feel a sense of silence and peacefulness. And if cattle can feel contentedness, I’d guess they’d feel it here
“Why black and white?” you ask. I didn’t like the quality of the color in the scene and I also felt it distracted from seeing all of the shapes, lines and contours. Finally, I like the way black and white makes the cattle and their shadows stand out from the pasture land that they have chosen to picnic on.
What do you find when you turn north off of the interstate at Wasta, SD?
By Scott Shephard
Wasta, SD, is a a very small town along I-90 in the western part of our state. Perhaps it is best known for the rest stops that are near the town. And on a busy summer day, I would guess that the population of the interstate rest stops is greater than that of Wasta.
Besides the rest areas, Wasta has caught my attention for two other reasons. The first is the Cheyenne River, which flows under the interstate, near the rest stops and by the city. The Cheyenne was once a great river that carved a fairly broad valley as it made its way to the Missouri River, which divides our state into what we call “West River” and “East River.” These days, the river is often just a brown stream. And the paradox of a relative trickle flowing through and expansive valley fascinates me.
The other thing about Wasta is that if you look north as you pass by interstate exit, there is a road that rises above the town in an intriguing curve and then disappears. Two days ago, I had driven a few miles east of Wasta when I thought, “Why not?” I found a turn-around, exited at Wasta and headed up the hill and a journey that took me places I had never been before.
Today’s photo is the first one I took on my backroads travels. Some might find this scene a little too colorless, but to me, that’s where the beauty lies. I’ll be posting more of my travels this past week over the next few days.
(In case you’re curious, here’s the route I took home from the cabin. The normal, fastest route to the cabin is about 320 miles. This path home covered 470 miles. So I only went out of my way by 150 miles. It was worth it.)
As with so much I photography, I have been here before. But I’m seeing a slightly different world. . .
By Scott Shephard
Earlier today I was wondering why I return to the same places again and again to take photographs and it occurred to me that it’s not just about a rut I’m in or just about the comfort of being in familiar places. Instead, it hit me that it is about practice. I go back to places I’ve photographed with new ideas and techniques to see if I can photograph something I haven’t seen before.
And so today’s post is about a return to a place that I’ve been before. The place is “The Rock” and my very first post to “A Photo A Day” was a view looking west from the Rock. And this photo shows roughly the same view.
There are many differences. One is the nature of light, of course. But another is the technique. This photo is an HDR composite of 9 exposures. Is is better that the one from 2009? I can’t say. But I like it. And, more than that, I like being in the Black Hills again. On The Rock. With my camera.
I’m not sleeping now and I’m not really sleeping in the photo, either. I was at Lake Area Technical Institute working on a project for Office Peeps, a local office solutions retailer, and decided it might be a good time to get a self portrait. Also, I was using Camranger to remotely control my camera so it was convenient to get myself in a photo. (If you look closely at the iPad on the floor, you will see the same photo you see here because I can get a live view on my IOS device with Camranger.)
For those who are regular readers of my blog, you might see the humor in the title, given that my last post for “A Photo A Day” was on the 17th of February. Have I been sleeping too much? No. Have I been traveling? No. Did my wireless connection quit? No. Do I have a good excuse. Maybe.
I have been working on projects and, significantly, I have been working on a new web site, which you are apparently looking at right now. Thanks for visiting. (How about subscribing to new posts on both my “Learn” and “A Photo A Day” pages here at Scott Shephard Photography? Just fill in the little box on the right.)
Will “A Photo A Day” as you know it disappear? No doubt. When? There is much doubt.
2014 01-28 Dreaming of Mexico by Watertown, South Dakota, photographer Scott Shephard
I wish I were in this picture, lounging on the pool-side chair. But it occurs to me that I am in every photo I take. You just have to look hard to see me sometimes. . . .
