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. 

October in Spearfish Canyon

Spf Canyon Fall 1 orton-4416, originally uploaded by Sue Gannaway.

A brisk October day adds drama to Spearfish Canyon. The sun managed to break through for a few minutes and lighted the Canyon walls. I processed this with a technique called orton to soften and brighten the colors.

Late Fall

We have been experiencing such a long and warm fall.  That's fun for a photographer and golfer.  Yesterday was spent doing both.  I'ts wonderful when you have the golf course to yourself and can take time to snap some fun photos.  Here are a couple including one of a turkey gobbler overlooking his brood from the tee box.  These are all from Elkhorn Ridge Golf Club east of Spearfish.

Looking toward the #3 hole across the gully

An orton version of the 4th green at Elkhorn Ridge Golf Club

Waiting for his harem

Water

Early morning at the Fish Hook dam

This small dam is located inside Game Lodge campground

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I am still just getting organized from our trip to Custer State Park.  It has become a fall tradition for Scott and I to spend a few days toward the end of September camping in the Park.  It's a great time to visit Custer State Park because of the fall colors as well as being much less crowded.  The weather was beautiful, clear and warm the entire time we visited.  And I was amazed at the water for so late in the year!  So I captured a couple of small water falls (actually small dams) as well as Sylvan Lake. 

Fall colors at Sylvan Lake

Gift products for Christmas

I have been working on some new things for my product lines and would love any feedback.  These are a couple of poster prints I am selling from images here in the Black Hills.  All posters are available in two sizes for now, 8 1/2 x 11 or 12 x 14.  They don't show the white border, but all are centered on a white glossy poster print and come packaged with a backing board ready to frame.  I will have these uploaded later today to my website at dakotaimpressionsphoto.com along with some others I have done.