Category: South Dakota

11-13-16 Sunday Morning, St. Louis

What does the Gateway Arch represent to you?

By Scott Shephard

Because Deb and I are frugal travelers, we rarely get a room with a view. Typically, if we stay in a high rise hotel, we are looking out over air conditioning units or the place where delivery and garbage trucks congregate.

But for the next few days, we are staying on the 12th floor at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. As you can see, we have a river view. And, to my delight, we also have a great view of the Gateway Arch. 

Are we splurging? Not really. Deb is one of four representatives for South Dakota at a midwest college conference, which is headquartered in this hotel. I’m a tag-along.

The Gateway Arch is a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. It is also very close to where Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery set off on their amazing journey up the Missouri River to the west coast.

As a person who spends considerable time on the Missouri River in a part of South Dakota that Lewis and Clark explored, it’s hard not to be intrigued by the opportunity to look out over this symbol. But it also occurs to me that if I were a Native American, I might see this huge stainless steel arch the way many see Mt. Rushmore: as symbols of of conquest.

So how does one balance these two views? It’s difficult, frankly. I guess awareness is a start, however meager that may seem. . . . 

10-04-16 Another Day

The sun has risen 22,936 times during my life. I’ve missed seeing most of those sunrises. How about you? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

It just occurred to me that while the sun rose only once in this place on this day it is otherwise always rising and always setting all day long every day. Of course, it’s more accurate to suggest that the earth revolves all day long as the sun stays fixed relative to our point of view on earth.

As a child I remember wondering how fast you’d have to move so that the sun would appear to stand still. Answer: 1,037.5 miles per hour.

But I wasn’t moving when I took this photo. In fact, I was transfixed. You would have been, too, if you had be up on The Rock with me a few mornings ago. The light you see in this photo lasted about 4 minutes. But it was worth the trip. . . .

Canon 5DIII 1/15s f/16.0 ISO200 47mm (5 frame HDR)

10-02-16 Change Is in the Air

It’s good and bad . . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I appreciate fall, of course, mainly because of all of the changing colors. But at the same time, the changing colors also signal the end of summer. Frankly, I like summer best, mainly because of the warm weather and the good sailing I enjoy on Lake Oahe.

But I’m not complaining. And to have been out on a perfect morning like yesterday trying to capture the idea of fall in the Black Hills is hard to beat, especially given that my good friend Bill Z. was there to enjoy it with me. 

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/2.8 ISO200 100mm

09-22-16 Sparkling Harvest Moon

What do you see that I don’t? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I think a photo is a combination of what the photographer sees and composes and how the camera records it. And while the digital camera is designed to to capture the world the way most humans see it, that isn’t always the case. This photo is a good example.

Van Gogh might have seen funky things radiating from celestial objects (see “Starry Night”)* but I certainly didn’t see rays coming from the moon on the morning I took this photo of the Harvest Moon setting over the Black Hills. I also didn’t see the colors quite as vividly as you see them here. Finally, the clouds had a different look to me.

But my camera “saw” all of this. That’s part of what motivates me when I go out hunting for photos, especially in predawn light such as this. I often can’t wait to open the photo up in my “digital darkroom” when I get back home. I like to see what develops.

On this morning, I took several series of photos for well over an hour. The light and clouds were changing quickly and when I got done, I had the feeling that while I felt blessed just be witness to such a beautiful morning, I felt that my photography was a big FAIL. And while it may seem odd, it has occurred to me lately that my photography is less about results than it is about process. It’s also largely about being in amazing places like this in the dawn’s early light and completely losing track of time and self.

Is this a good photo? You’ll have to decide that. I’m just happy I was there when it happened.

*One theory suggests that Van Gogh’s exposure to lead based paint caused him to see halos around bright objects. My camera has had no such exposure.

Canon 5DIII 6s f/11.0 ISO320 16mm (five frame HDR)

09-01-16 Out in the Middle of Somewhere

Two numbers: 1100 or 11? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

When I finally get my drone-mounted camera (Deb, are you reading this?), I might finally be able to give you an idea of the immense scale of Lake Oahe. I might also be able to give you a better impression of the Mission Creek/Little Bend area of the Missouri River. It’s a place I have often referred to as “one of my favorite places on earth.”

I just returned from spending the better part of three days here and during those days, I saw two other boats – one fishing boat and one pontoon boat. That’s it. At the end of August, vacations end, school starts and the fish stop biting. That’s when this stretch of the Missouri River becomes an especially perfect place to get away from it all.

I am in flyover country in many places when I travel across South Dakota. Does that mean that I am in the “middle of nowhere?” I don’t think so. And even if it is, it’s where I want to be. Consider this: New Jersey has 1,110 people per square mile; South Dakota has 11. And on the day I took this photo, I’m guessing I had about 30 square miles all to myself.

And in South Dakota, I’m always in the middle of Somewhere.

Olympus TG-4 1/250s f/8.0 ISO100 4.5mm (35mm eq:25mm)

 

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)

07-27-16 The Buck Stops Here

Apologies to Harry S. Truman. . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

I apologize to Harry Truman for turning his famous quote into a cheesy blog title but I couldn’t resist. And, yes, I have posted two other white tailed buck photos recently. So I also apologize for repeating myself.

In this case of this deer, we were taking photos of the grandchildren when our son Brian pointed him out as he was moving through a wooded area behind us. I pointed my camera towards him, Brian whistled and the deer stopped and struck this pose. Frankly, I couldn’t have posed the deer in a better spot – it is well lit by soft morning light and the dark, internal framing helps show him off.

He looked at us for a few seconds and then continued on his way. Right now, life is good for this beautiful animal but I hope he lays low when hunting season rolls around.

Canon 5DIII 1/350s f/2.8 ISO400 200mm

06-18-16 Shouting Out in Whispers

Some houses have more to say to me than others. Do they talk to you? (see the photo essay by following the link to my blog)

By Scott Shephard

When you turn south off of US 212 and head towards Miller, SD, you will pass an old farm house that sits on the crest of a hill in a part of my state that otherwise seems flat and limitless. The two story structure faces east and seems to want to bend down on one knee. But it is still stands and breathes. And it always talks to me.

I figure I’ve been by this place over 200 times. And every time as I pass it, it quietly calls out. “Look at me,” is what I usually hear. But sometimes in the morning or evening darkness, without seeing it, I only hear it say, “I’m here.” For, you see, even in the dark, when I drive on highway 45, I know the country road it lives on.

Yesterday morning, as I approached on my way home, it said in an pleasantly insistent tone, “Let’s talk.” And so I slowed and turned. It was sunny and warm and when I got out of my truck, camera in hand, all I heard was birdsong, distant cattle and the sound of other vehicles speeding towards their destinations. Their drivers hadn’t answered the house’s call.

Photographing a place like this is a reverential act for me. I feel like I have been asked to take a portrait of someone who may not be around much longer. And I have many questions. “What is your name?” “How long have you been here?” “What can you tell me about the craftsmen who build you?” “What’s it like to spend a winter here?” And, ultimately, I ask, “What joys, what sorrows and what triumphs have you witnessed in your long life?”

When I asked these questions yesterday, I was met with a friendly, and perhaps stoic, silence. We might expect that from an aged South Dakota Flatlander. But even in its silence it had much to say to me.

I listened as I walked around and took a few photos. When I left I said, “I’ll be back. Will you wait for me?” All I heard in response was the pleasant birdsong and the silence of the beautiful South Dakota prairie.

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/11.0 ISO250 24mm

04-16-16 Stone And Light

It has been called by some a “palace of justice” (read more)

By Scott Shephard

As some old timers say, “They don’t build ’em like that anymore.” That’s certainly true of the Codington County Court House, which was built in the late 1920s. Though the building is beautiful, there is talk about the need for something more “modern.” Modern isn’t always architecturally interesting, though I understand the need for space, efficiency and security.

The problem with modern is that it often pays little respect to the “vintage.” In fact, the antecedent to our current court house was destroyed to make room for it, even though the old building was itself a beautiful structure. Out with the old and in with the new, I guess.

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/4.5 ISO1250 16mm

04-14-16 Photographer At Work (Andy O)

Have you seen Andy’s brilliant early morning photo in the LATI photo gallery? (read more)

By Scott Shephard

If you live in Watertown, SD, and haven’t had a chance to see the student photo gallery at Lake Area Technical Institute, you should try to do so. There are some great photos there but one of my favorites is a photo of Lakota Lake in the Black HIlls taken by Andy Olson last summer during the Black Hills Photo Adventure I hosted.

I’ve taken many photos of this lake but I’ve never captured it the way Andy did. But I did manage to get a decent photo of Andy taking the photo. That’s got to count for something doesn’t it?

Canon 5DIII 1/350s f/2.8 ISO400 145mm