Category: Nature Photography

As we are surrounded by melting snow and colder weather, I am finally working on some of my images from our trip to Grand Teton National Park this past summer.  It’s sad that it has taken me this long but, like all of us, I tend to  get so caught up in being busy that I neglect other things.  My fellow photographer friend, Amy, came to town this week and we visited the Brandenburg Gallery in Luverne, MN (http://www.luvernechamber.com/index.php?page=brandenburg-gallery).  It was wonderful to view art with another artist and share our insight with each other since everyone views a photograph a little differently.  He is an awesome photographer and they show a film in which he took only ONE image a day for 90 days in Northern Minnesota and documented the journey in ‘Chased by the Light’, in both video and book format.  It was inspirational as well as educational!  If you have a day that you are looking for something to do, take a drive out there; it’s only about 30 minutes from Sioux Falls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been a very busy few months which included a trip to Key West for Thanksgiving, then hosting Christmas twice at my home with family.

After several months of coordination, I now have ‘Majestic Falls’ available for sale at Cliff Hangars Gallery in downtown Sioux Falls.  He is carrying the image printed on metal, ready to hang on the wall.  Additionally, I have folded note cards available at Susanne’s on Phillips, also downtown, with 7 various images available.

 

 

 

I had a fun time last month participating locally in the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk.  As thousands of photographers around the world got together in hundreds of cities on October 13th, about 20 photographers from the local area met in downtown Sioux Falls with our camera gear.  We spent several hours exploring different areas and looking for our own inspiration.  It was difficult to look at things you see every day and try to create interesting photographs but a we had great time, it was a good learning experience and wonderful to share with fellow photographers.  We were all asked to submit one image for a photo contest.  I was very excited to learn that I won the contest on the local level with this image.

 

We spent a wonderful week in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  It is one of my favorite places in the United States.  Here is a family photo with the mountain range in the background.  I’ll be posting more in the near future!

Logan and I picked up a new addition to our household.  This is Maya.  We got her from a wonderful woman who lives near Sioux Falls who rescues cats that people have abandoned.  She takes them to the vet, nurses them back to good health and keeps them until she finds homes for them.  She has some very sweet 1-2 year old cats who need homes.  Please contact me for her information if you would like a cat and can give them a good home!  There was a male cat that stole my heart – I was tempted to take him instead of Maya, but I think Oreo will adapt better to Maya than a grown boy!  So far, he’s keeping his distance and letting us know he is not happy!

Maya is from a litter of a rescued cat, a tortie who also needs a home.  She is very sweet and active.  It has been a long time since I’ve had a little one, and she is so much fun!  We just got her yesterday, and it’s she’s made herself very much at home already!

As spring is approaching and I’m anxious for the flowers to start blooming so I can play with my macro lense, I’ve picked out a few floral images to share.

This is an image I’ve been working on of the Sioux Falls as part of my quest for that ‘perfect image’ of the falls.  It involved combining images of different exposures and processing it via HDR (high dynamic range).  In doing this, it captures the best of the various exposures of light in the photograph.  I like the way this turned out.  Let me know what you think!

 

Traditionally, I usually process my images in color, as I’ve always felt that color gives variety and makes a photograph more interesting.  However, I’ve been playing with black and white effects after taking a few webinars focusing on that subject.  I think that they each have their own personality, but was surprised how much contrast you can add with black and white manipulation.  Which do you like better?  Let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My family traveled to Dallas in November to spend Thanksgiving with Bryan’s sister, along with the rest of their family.  Unfortunately, while we were there, it was warmer in South Dakota than it was down there.  However, on the day we went to their lake cabin, it was warm enough to wear shorts (for a few hours anyway).  As we were enjoying this beautiful sunset, hundreds of birds flew in and landed on the water.  It was a wonderful way to end the day!