Black Hills Shoot Out

This past weekend I spent time as an ambassador to the Black Hills Shoot Out sponsored jointly by the South Dakota Department of Tourism and Black Hills State University.  A shout out to the organizers including Chad Coppes for putting together a great first time event.  I had fun directing our out of state visitors to the beauty of the Black Hills including Devils Tower, Spearfish Canyon and Badlands National Park.  The weather made for some interesting shooting including a dreary non-sunrise at Badlands on Sunday.  But the drama of fog gave me some interesting images of Devils Tower! A scare Saturday night when I thought I had lost nearly 400 images as I accidentally formatted my card, and then a save thanks to Steve Babbit who directed me to Photo Rescue. Now begins the process of downloading and processing nearly 900 images shot over the last two weeks.

Here in the meantime is some of my favorites from Saturday at the Shoot Out.

From a couple of miles out Devils Tower looms in the fog

Spirit cloth hangs from a tree limb at the base of Devils Tower

The brink of Roughlock Falls

Sunrise and sunset

Back at home and catching up!  I spent all of last week on a road trip to my home state of North Dakota.  I covered a large section of the state and of course caught a couple of sunrise and sunset shots.  I ended my journey by returning through Pierre, SD.  I will be sharing some of that journey over the next few days and weeks. I have a lot of editing to do and with the weather still nice here in Spearfish, have plans to get a few more days of the Fall colors before resting for a while. 

A foggy Red River near Grand Forks, ND just at sunrise

A North Dakota sunset at a wind farm near Cando

Sully County, South Dakota near Pierre

Fall is in the air

My last post for a week as I prepare to head out to North Dakota.  A beautiful morning beckoned me to check out the color change in Spearfish Canyon today.  Already a touch of golds is starting.  From my perspective this morning we may be in for an earlier peak of color this year.  Some of the leaves are already falling with little change.  I hope that by the time I return it won't be too late for the colors this year.  These couple of shots are along the banks of the creek near kissing rock where I found these well colored leaves hugging the shoreline.

Along the creek side a batch of color.

A closer look with the creek in the background

The final image is using the Orton effect to blur the leaves and create more color. 

Leaves and water in Orton

Beautiful Lawrence County

Sitting on the edge of the Black Hills I think Lawrence County is one of the prettiest areas in South Dakota.  A combination of prairie meeting the hills makes a nice mix of countryside to photograph.  Here are a couple of shots from last week as I followed the Miles City-Deadwood wagon train into Spearfish.  The green summer grass is taking on a warm yellow tone as Fall closes in.  And of course the beautiful blue skies of a South Dakota late summer day make the colors pop. This first shot is enhanced with a technique to soften and slightly blur the scene, called the Orton effect, I love what it does to the colors.

Sunflowers and hayfield (orton)

 

 

 

Fence line and hills

Wagon Train

I spent a couple of days this week following the Miles City to Deadwood trail ride and wagon train as it go closer to Spearfish.  Wednesday afternoon I caught up with the group as they made their way to evening camp south of the Belle Fourche River in Wyoming.  Friday they pushed into Spearfish along the Red Water road to the High Plains Western Heritage Center.  Here are a couple of those shots, I will have more posted later this weekend at my flickr account. 

Gene Johnson of Spearfish and his mules

End of a long day!

 

 

Wagons west of Spearfish Friday

End of the day in Spearfish at HPWHC