In the Jungle!

Fireworks during the player intros - taken with my blackberry.

Back in the day, when I used to school my little brother in Super Tecmo football (playing with the Bengals of course), I used to annoy him greatly playing CCR's "Run through the Jungle" or singing the first line of GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle." So it brought a smile to my face when portions of both songs were played to pump up the crowd before kickoff at the Bengals vs Bears game at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati this last Sunday (Riverfront stadium was the original "Jungle" but the name has transferred over to the new stadium as well). What a great afternoon of football! The Bengals dominated and I had a blast... I also got to spend some quality time with an old college friend and his dad and once again saw their Bears fall to my Bengals. Poor guys... I'm glad they are good sports! Below are some photos of the game and stadium. Enjoy and click on a photo for a larger file to view.

Bengal offense at midfield

Palmer throws to OchoCinco

The Ocho getting some YAC (yards after catch)

Cedric Benson looks for the hole

And gets through for a 8 or 9 yard gain

Carson Palmer double pumps and sees Chad breaking free in the endzone.

Chad looks the ball in

Squeezes it and does the toe tap... Bengals up 14-0

This shot shows you our seats and the photos above were taken with my long lens from that seat.

Panoramic of the Paul Brown Stadium from the opposite side of where were sitting. The skyline of Cincy is in the background and Great American Ballpark (where the Reds play) is in the background right.

Panorama of Fall Colors

Here are a couple of panoramic creations from last weekend's photo shoot. I'm still working on finding the best way to process the video clips my 7D takes so I won't be posting anything from that.... besides, I didn't use a tripod so the video is annoyingly shaky. I should know better, oh well... hopefully you will enjoy the photos below. Click on the image for a larger file to view. Thanks for looking!

This is true color of the road through the park.

Same panoramic in black and white (with psuedo infrared settings):

A mixture of the two with color tweaks and just plain fooling around in Photoshop:

Autumn in Sica Hollow

I was able to spend some time in Sica Hollow State Park near Sisseton, SD on Saturday. Pretty amazing place... The weather varied from sunny to light rain and everything was already wet and saturated due to rain the previous day. The fall foilage is not quite at full peak, but very eye catching nonetheless and it made for a good day of photography. I recently purchased a new Canon 7D and also took my Canon 50D along to get the photos below. Hopefully later I'll be able to post some video that the 7D captured as well and a panoramic or two. Hard to believe a reasonably priced still camera allows you to shoot high end 1080p video, but it does and it's amazing! Click on the image for a larger file to view and thanks for looking!

Sumac bushes in the foreground and Sica Hollow in the background.

Sumac leaves up close.

Ladybug hiding in the Sumac bush berries.

Hiking the hollow makes you feel like you are in a true forest.

Leaves on the forest floor.

The mid-afternoon sun highlights the orange and yellows of the turning trees.

A horse trail that I hiked.

A stream along the horse trail.

Fallen leaves on the stream's boulders make for an interesting photo.

Most of the fallen limbs had moss and mushrooms all over them.

Scene from the park road that winds through the hollow.

Various colors of foliage under a rainy sky.

It was raining lightly and getting late in the day as I left... If you get a chance, check out Sica Hollow, especially beautiful in the fall!

A Touch of Autumn

I spent my afternoon exploring Oakwood State Park near Bruce, SD today. While at it, I noticed the first colors of fall starting to color the trees, bushes and landscape in general. Seems like we should have some summer left, but the seasons keep turning. I don't mind though, I like the colors of fall and the sounds of football... I even like winter... up to Christmas, that is... then I'm ready for the warm weather again. Below are a few random shots of the park today. Enjoy and thanks for looking!

Looking south from the swimming area.

There was no wind today and so these thistle seedlings stayed bundled together on the head of the thistle plant. Interesting view as you usually only see these floating through the late summer breeze.

Red leaves mixed with ripe berries in the undergrowth.

The sun back lit this leave to emphasize the vein detail.

A downed tree provides interesting color revealed by a shaft of afternoon sunlight.

Green leaves tipped with yellow against a blue sky. The Fall season has started.

2009-10 Sports Season

For the first time in 5 years, I will not be planning on attending all the MHS home sporting events to take action photos and highlight videos. This has been a tough decision for me, but since I've moved back to Sioux Falls and will be very busy with Midcontinent Communications expanding effort to broadcast local sports live on cable, I simply will not have the time or energy to follow MHS sports like I used to.

If you would like me to come to a game or two and shoot some photos or video of your athlete, please feel free to contact me by email (begs@rocketmail.com) or cell phone (605.351.1382) and I'll see if I can attend a game or two for you. I also will not be helping DWU with their athletic photos this year... and I've been doing that since my brother played for the men's basketball team (98-02), so that is a big change for me as well this year.

That said, The last 5 plus years shooting photos and video in the Mitchell area has been a great experience for me and I've met a lot of really nice folks along the way and often times felt like a big brother to a lot of really talented athletes. Thanks for that!

-Christian

Spearfish Falls Wildflowers

One of the best drives in South Dakota is touring Spearfish Canyon. After my Badlands weekend, I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Sturgis. To get there, I took the scenic route through Deadwood and back up the Canyon to Spearfish and then down to Sturgis. I wanted to check out Spearfish Falls near Savoy, which I had somehow missed when exploring the Canyon in the past. It was a warm sunny day and the wildflowers were out in force along the trail to the Falls. Click on the photo for a larger file to view and thanks for looking!

A small meadow clearing with wildflower color gracing the foreground.

One of the cool things about shooting wildflowers is that it's making me do a lot of research to find out the names of the flowers I shoot. This particular guy was tough for me to find as it had characteristics of Black Eyed Susan, Maximilian Sunflowers and Prairie Cone Flowers. I finally found it that it was called "Cutleaf Cone Flower" or "Goldenglow". Wild Bergamot are in the background.

Wild Bergamot close-up

Harebell

I believe these are a "Fleabane" flower, but I'm not sure of the the exact variation. Could be the "Showy Fleabane" or the "Common Fleabane."

Black Eyed Susan

Wild White Geranium

Red Elderberry

Wild Daisy

The Spearfish Falls. I wish I was there at a different time of day for better lighting, but still a very nice hike and I guess I'll just have to go back again, fine by me.

Badlands Panoramic

Badlands National Park offers so many sweeping vistas that it is impossible for a single frame of a photo to fit it all in, even when using a wide angle lens. With that in mind I shot some series of photos with the plan to stitch them together in Photoshop CS4 later. Here are my best offerings. I made a few black and white as I really think it adds to the feeling of desolate beauty one is confronted with when moving through the badlands. Click on the file for a larger view and enjoy!

A view from Sheep Mountain Table looking East.

Looking South from Cedar Butte on the southern edge of Sheep Mountain Table.

Stark skies above the Stronghold Unit on BIA Highway 2 on the South edge of the Stronghold Unit.

Same shot as above with cobalt blue skies to emphasize the beauty and harshness of the landscape.