South Dakota – A Photo A Day (Squarespace)

04-19-14 Out In the Middle of Somewhere

When you stand in the vast, open landscapes of western South Dakota, you are never in the “middle of nowhere. . . . “

By Scott Shephard

I live in South Dakota and now that I am mostly retired and my wife is soon to be mostly retired, people often ask if we plan to move away. To me, the question is really, “Now that you aren’t forced to live in South Dakota, why aren’t you moving somewhere better?”

I’m not puzzled by the question given that many times this winter, facing more cold and snow than I like, I wondered, too, about why we live here.

Today, the answer lies in the landscape you see here, which is somewhere well west of the Missouri River and somewhere slightly west of the Cheyenne River. It was a blustery, gray day when I stopped my truck along the side of the road to take this photo.

I am a long way from a city of any size. I am down a gravel road that curves ocassionally but then goes straight as an arrow for miles. I have not seen another human for close to two hours. There is no sound of traffic, or of farm machinery or even of cattle. I hear only the sound of my breathing, the soft click of my camera shutter and the rush of the wind along the grassy hills.

And I am not in the middle of nowhere.

Canon 5DII 1/800s f/10.0 ISO400 70mm

03-18-14 The Great Wide Open (HDR)

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.

Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/14.0 ISO160 21mm

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12-13-13 I’ve Been Here Before

2013 12-13 I've Been Here Before by Watertown, SD, photographer Scott Shephard — 2013 12-13 I’ve Been Here Before by Watertown, SD, photographer Scott Shephard

This is a place I’ve photographed four or five times, but always in different light. Yesterday morning I had only a few minutes to get this scene before the beautiful pink hues were washed out by the rising sun. One of the features of this scene that I like is that the snow cover is light enough that the brown grass underneath allows for contrast and texture.

I will admit that I was a little lazy in that I shot this through the open passenger window of my vehicle. I am a bit of a perfectionist and yet I use imperfect practices from time to time. Why is that? Well, yesterday morning it was -3 fahrenheit. But that’s a poor excuse. . . .

Here are two previous posts. The framing is a bit different in today’s post and, interestingly, where there used to be two trees in the foreground there is now only one.