This is a popular hiking / biking trail right in Spearfish, SD city limits (or close to it). I’m glad I don’t have to go too far to enjoy some good outdoor recreation and photography!
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Dry Lake
A big story in Sturgis, South Dakota is the very low water levels in Bear Butte Lake. This image captures the extent of the problem. What was once many feet under water is not muddy or dry land.
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Transitions
The ice on Spearfish creek has begun to recede in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota as we slowly transition between winter and spring. However, there’s not much color to speak of other than varying shades of gray, black and white.
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Frozen Waves
I like to visit area lakes this time of year because oftentimes there are interesting shapes and patterns created as the lake ice melts and shifts around. Here it appears that, as the ice toward the shoreline became thinner, the thicker ice in the deeper parts of the lake started pushing outward against these thin ice sheets causing them to break and ripple. Kind of reminds me of frozen waves.
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Winter Tranquility
This location on Iron Creek in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota is very messy in any other season due to dense brush and vegetation. The snow however tames the chaos while adding a sense of quiet tranquility.
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Encased in Ice
I’ve photographed Spearfish Falls in the winter before, but this year was special. As I approached the falls, I couldn’t hear the sound of the water crashing over the canyon wall, and as I got closer I could clearly see why; the rushing water was almost completely encased in a frozen cascade of beautiful ice crystals formed by several days of zub-zero temperatures. What a treat to witness and capture the image!
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Creek Crystals at -13F
Iron creek in Spearfish Canyon isn’t large by any means, but it is fast flowing in spots. I suppose that’s why it hasn’t frozen completely in this particular section, but the bitter cold temperatures have fashioned a nice composition of ice and snow crystals.
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Snow and Black Water
It probably comes as no surprise that I like a black and white rendering of these snowy mountain scenes, especially when there is water involved, as in this image of Little Spearfish Creek just downstream from Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon.
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Creek Frame
It’s not easy finding an opening to photograph little spearfish creek along the trail to roughlock falls, but this small window between the pine branches and shrubs worked out nicely, creating a natural frame.
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Snow Rocks
I always think its a neat effect when fresh snow accumulates on uneven surfaces, like it does on these rocks in in Little Spearfish Creek, Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota.
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Darkness Descending
Snow and fog in the hills beyond with clearer conditions below provide a dark and dramatic backdrop to the subject farmstead.
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Orion Through the Clouds
The other evening I went out with the idea of capturing the Orion Nebula rising over Spearfish Canyon near Savoy, SD with a snowy forest as a foreground. Things didn’t work out as planned. For one thing, the wind came up during the day and blew most of the snow off the tree branches and for another, clouds came rolling in. Luckily I was able to get a shot before the stars were completely obscured and while the Orion constellation was still visible. I guess I’ll have to wait for another snowy night to capture the magenta cloud I was expecting to see surrounding the constellation.
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Fresh Snow Before Dawn
I tried to get out to this spot on Iron creek in Spearfish Canyon before twilight to capture a fresh snow that was clinging to the tree branches and canyon walls. It’s kind of a messy image because of all the wind damage this area got a couple of years ago, but I like the cold wintry mood it conveys.
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Cottonwood Art Patterns
I came across a huge cottonwood tree in Nebraska that had died and fallen over. The bark had stripped away revealing interesting patterns in the wood so, using my 100mm macro lens, I composed this closeup image. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but art and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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Merry Christmas!
A Christmas Card
Love the Chaos
Most of the time I like to simplify my images, but occasionally I’ll embrace the chaos.
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Dripping Moss
We’re not too far from winter here in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the sun is pretty low in the sky for much of the morning. This makes lighting conditions ideal for capturing back/side lit subjects, such as these mossy pine branches.
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Autumn at Owl Creek
Most of the aspen leaves in the Black Hills of South Dakota have fallen by the time this image was made, but it looks like these trees are just reaching their peek autumn color.
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Sunrise on Owl Creek
I arrived a little too early at this location on Owl Creek at the Belle Fourche Reservoir in South Dakota, and since it was a new location I had trouble finding a decent composition in the near dark. As the morning sun was rising and the dramatic sky quickly washing out, I had to settle on this scene. Not bad, but I would have liked to feature the creek more prominently in the image. That’s why scouting a location before hand is so important.
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Autumn Moods
This image reminds me of the different moods autumn seems to invoke. The vibrant leaves, the brown and rust colored grasses, gray sky and a chill in the air, all signal the end of summer and the approaching cold winter.
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