western 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

03-16-14 Bucolic

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.

Canon 5DIII 1/60s f/14.0 ISO100 182mm

03-14-14 Beyond Wasta, SD

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.)