November storm

Today marked our first "real" winter storm just in time to usher November out.  Reports of 8-24 inches in the Spearfish area and lots of wind kept me inside today.  But as the wind died and the sun poked out around 3:30 I couldn't resist and bundled up to take a couple of shots from outside my doorway and front garage area.  These shots may seem redundant but the beauty of living on this hillside and the changing seasons is a wonderful draw for me.  Wish I could get rid of a few of the high line wires and buildings that block my view of Lookout Mt. but can't have everything.

As I ventured around the front of the garage, a lone doe was making her way down from the hill into the little opening on the side of the town house.  These first two are of her.

She catch's me taking her photo

The click startled her and she was a little more wary

The remaining two shots are of Lookout and the twilight sun at 4:15. 

Lookout Mt from my driveway

Setting sun from my front walk

Catching up

With our snow coming today, I thought it would be a good day to catch up some editing.  So from a September jaunt to Bear Butte, here are a couple of my favorites from that afternoon.  In each of these I did some fun editing techniques.  The first, an old tractor and hay bales I used the Orton technique to soften the edges and bring out more color.  The shoot of Bear Butte itself was a little dull so I added some canvas texture to give it a painterly look.

November

A bed of leaves in Spearfish Canyon and some final color with a touch of texture.

On black with a bit of a paintbrush technique

Fall is here and the leaves are almost gone in the Spearfish area.  Before the winter comes in full I thought I would play with the leaves that are left.  Here are a couple of interpretations from the last week.  

I would love your feedback as always.

A natural shot of a dry leaf on black

Going Home

Early in September, I took a road trip to North Dakota, my home state.  One of the destinations was my original farm home near Northgate.  This was my first visit to the old farm in nearly 10 years.  Today I wanted to share just a couple of the images I captured in that visit. 

 Above is a look at the house and the old "smokehouse" that was one of the first buildings on the farmstead.  

 From the west side driveway, looking into the yard and north to the Saskatchewan, Canada border. The yard looked quite different as many of the trees have been lost over the years, including a huge evergreen that would have hidden the house in this view.

 The old pump is still there.  My best memory is the taste of the water from this well. It was the best tasting water I have ever had.   I helped carry a lot of pails of water to the house from this pump.

Still standing as sentry's over the prairie and just a mile east of the farm is the two elevators at Northgate.  The village is almost gone and the elevators are slowly crumbling.