Reflecting on Deadwood

Some of these I've published before, but I felt they fit together nicely in a little theme of reflections in Deadwood. The old west gold mining/gambling town lends itself to photography in a lot of ways, one of which is seeing it reversed in the windows of the many historic buildings.

A polarizing filter can come in handy to enhance reflections or eliminate some of them, depending on the angle between your lens and the glass you are shooting.

Juxtaposing what you see through the glass and what is reflected can be really fun. In this first one, my favorite part of the photo is in the bottom right corner where you can see the faces of Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant from the HBO TV Series "Deadwood" staring through the reflection of the Adams Museum.

Eagles are there

Basically just a snapshot today to show that the eagles are congregated in the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area north of Pierre. Seeing them is easy, getting a good photograph is another, at least for me this weekend.

There are eight in this photo, bald and goldens together and I could count 16 total from this vantage point. Spending more time and being patient to let the photo reveal itself I'm sure could yield some great shots.

Re-discovery

You know what's fun about days when the weather or climate isn't doing anything interesting? Digging through old folders of photos and finding fun stuff you might have missed from the past.

This is from a shoot on the Circle View Guest Ranch near Interior, South Dakota in 2009. I remember a great evening with good models and awesome scenery and light.


Full information on Circle View Guest Ranch can be found at their website.

Variations on a frosty theme

I doubt there were too many people in Pierre last night that were as disappointed as I was when the large snowflakes falling at 5 pm dwindled away before they amounted to much. I was hoping to get some pretty winter pictures just as twilight fell and streetlights came on.

Instead I found wet, dripping tree branches everywhere. So I did the best I could in capturing something. This isn't exactly the beautiful shot I was looking for, but it's interesting to see wet pine needles with the South Dakota capitol building in the background.

As temperatures dropped overnight I was hoping for a frosty morning. There was frost, but not as thick as some days. I found a version of the previous night's drops frozen to a branch near the railroad bridge over the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre.

The railroad bridge tends to be one of those iconic items like the capitol that draws photographers in the area. Instead of concentrating on the bridge itself I used it as a backdrop for the frost, much like I used the capitol for the water drops.


So even though the weather conditions didn't fully cooperate with my vision, Mother Nature did provide something to shoot. I'm still hoping for more fog and frost this week.

Join the "Battle At F-Stop Ridge"

I realize this camera store is in Calgary, Alberta, but I'm loving their video promos. Check out the "Battle At F-Stop Ridge 2."



The original "Battle At F-Stop Ridge" is here and the landscape in "The Desert: A Cautionary Tale" looks very much like South Dakota's Badlands.

Reflections

Last night while helping clean up after the Governor's Conference on Tourism I noticed these fun reflections and sparkles in shiny decorations. Had to stop and shoot.

Governor Janklow's memorial service

William J. Janklow 1939-2012