Badlands Mirage

I was watching the sunrise the other morning from our guest bedroom window and just before the sun broke the horizon I could see what looked like the badlands. Impossible, I thought, since the badlands are 90 miles away as the crow flies. It must be some kind of weird cloud or fog formation, so I took this picture and did a little research. Now I’m not so sure.

WARNING NERD ALERT!

There is a phenomenon known as refraction that bends light rays similar to what happens when light passes through a prism, allowing the us to see the other side of the horizon. It depends on getting the right atmospheric conditions and the angle of the sun relative to the observer.

What do you think? anybody else ever have a similar experience?

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Northern Light Show

When the public found out about the near certainty of an Aurora the other night you almost needed a reservation to get a shooting spot at Bear Butte State Park. I fired off about 70 shots trying to get a clean image without all the head and tail lights in the background, but this was the best and cleanest I could manage. I put myself in the photo to add some interest.

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Touching Winter

I’m not sure if this is one tree or several trees sprouting from the same location. Regardless, I love the way the thick trunks gradually split and divide into smaller branches and stems until there is nothing left but the delicate bare twigs that seem to reach out and touch the cold winter sky.

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Snowy Canyon

Another image from a snowy Spearfish Canyon a few weeks ago. I have to give a shout out to the snowplow driver that morning, so if you see this; sorry for being a pain in the asteroids and thanks for slowing down and not blowing me over the edge of the canyon.

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A Long Night

I spent about 10 hours in Badlands National Park recently scouting a location, shooting a blue hour landscape pano then waiting for the milky way core to rise so that I could shoot another pano of the milky way arch. I finished around 3am and got home around 5am, just in time for breakfast!

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Warm Place on a Cold Night

Moonlight brightens the snowy plains and hills as twilight settles in over the landscape on a bitterly cold evening in the South Dakota Black Hills, and at the base of the hills, nestled in the pines is this secluded farmstead. The yard light casts an orange/yellow glow on the structures and surrounding farm yard providing a warm oasis on a frosty night.

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Moonscape

I’m starting to get into the habit of photographing this scene in various weather conditions and times of the day (and night). A 30% waxing gibbous moon almost makes it seem like daytime and only the stars let you know that it’s long past sunset. Besides the moon, the other bright object just above the horizon is Jupiter setting in the west. The reddish color cast in the pine trees is the result of using my hydrogen alpha modified Cannon 5D III. This is a six shot vertical panorama at 24mm focal length.

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Looking for a Perfect Sunset

I’ve been to this spot on Little Spearfish Creek many times looking for a dramatic sunset, but haven’t come away with the photo I’m imagining. On this evening I was ready to pack it in when a flock of geese landed not far away (look closely in the center right of the frame) and I thought it would make a cool shot if they would just swim a little closer. It wasn’t to be as it started getting dark and the geese were staying put, but I did get this image at almost twilight that I’m reasonably happy with.

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Uncooperative Sky

I was at this location on Owl Creek last December and captured a sunrise image I was fairly happy with. I returned a few day ago after our latest snow storm hoping to get another colorful sunrise, but the sky didn’t clear as it was supposed to so all I got was flat gray clouds, ergo the black and white processing.

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It Never Freezes

This image was made at a spot on Little Spearfish Creek about 3/4 of the way down stream from Rough Lock Falls in Spearfish Canyon. The temperature was well below 0 deg/f and had been for several days but, except for some paper thin ice at the edges, the water never freezes. Its always baffled me because further down stream and at lower elevations the creek freezes solid. Comment by clicking on the title above if you know the answer.

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