Category: Uncategorized

04-06-16 Rite of Spring

These small flowers are dangerous non-conformists.

By Scott Shephard

As I look out of my office window, I am more conscious than ever of the fact that the building covenants in our neighborhood are what I am calling “anti-color.” That translates as “earth tones” which translates as “dull.”

Add heavy clouds, light haze and mostly brown grass to the nearly colorless painting schemes and you have a prescription for the early spring South Dakota blues.

A pill might help. But how about taking in bright, purple crocus flowers, which seem to flaunt the color covenants in our part of town instead? You have to get down on your hands and knees to see them as they are pictured here. But why not bow down to this wonderful little iconoclast?

Canon 5DII 1/250s f/3.2 ISO400 100mm 

04-04-16 Mike & Scott

Simon, set the Wayback Machine to 1955″ . . . (read more)

By Scott Shephard

In 1955 I was 2 years old and my brother, Mike, was about 5. My mom was a stay-at-home mom (as most were back then) and my dad, who was 37, was working at L.A. McKean Auto Company in Sioux Falls. Money was tight for the Shephard family back then. And yet, here my brother and I are in the brand new clothes our mom got us. We are getting our portraits taken at a high-end portrait studio – Harold’s Photography of Sioux Falls.

Our family wasn’t unique. Getting good portraits at good studios was very much part of the American culture back then. And, for the most part, it still is – many parents get professional portraits made of their young children. After a few years, though, for most it becomes a “do-it-yourself” enterprise. It certainly did for the Shephards in the 1950s and beyond.

In fact, as far as I know, this was the last professional portrait done of my brother and me together. I don’t feel sad but I can’t help but imagining a series of high quality portraits of me, my brother and my sister, Barb, as we got older. Instead we have a scattering of average quality pictures taken by the amateur photographer we loved the most – my mother.

Photos are very much a part of our personal and shared history. I have no recollection of the moment this photo was taken. In fact I have have no recollection of most of the moments of my life. So a photo like this brings at least 1/60th of second of my life into sharp focus: on this day we got dressed up, my brother put his arm around me and we smiled. I’d like to think we are looking at our mother, who is very much part of this photo, even if you can’t see her.

(Add 51 years to our lives, dress us much more casually, put us in a beer garden in Berlin and here’s what you get:)

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. . .