Storm as Art

On Friday evening, July 23rd a pretty good sized thunderstorm came through town. I was out getting some time lapse work done for another project up above Cliff Avenue by the Amidon Affair Historical Monument when the first low clouds starting rolling in. The above photo are the lights of the city reflected against these clouds with a hint of the lightning purpling the sky beyond. I thought the obelisk of the monument gave these clouds and the light a very ancient feel.

Below is a shot after the main storm passed taken on north Westport Avenue, east of the airport looking northeast:

As the clouds moved east I panned my camera over just a bit to try to catch more of the lighting when an 18 wheeler came by. I locked down the shot and kept the shutter open as it passed to get the light streaks below:

About 3 minutes later I got this lightning burst over the same exact scene as above:

So being the Photoshop nerd that I am, I wondered if I could composite the two photos above to show both the great lightning as well as the truck's light streaks. I tried with color and it just didn't look right so I went with black and white and loved the result. Then I played around with adding some color casts for effect. Take your pick below. I think my favorite is red (for now anyway). Enjoy and click on each image for a large file to view and thanks for looking.

Scenes from the Badlands

Badlands National Park has more than it's fair share of scenic and awe inspiring viewpoints. What a lot of tourists don't realize is that there is a plenty of beauty to be found in the small and subtle things in the park as well. Here is a collection of scenes both large and small that I found interesting during my weekend there on July 16-18. Click on the image for a larger file to view and enjoy!

I resisted the urge to shoot any scenics until the sun was low in the early evening... I think the shadow play across the landscape makes for much more interesting photos:

A 32 second exposure at dusk resulted in the photo below in the Bigfoot Pass area of the park.

Below are a small collection of some of the more interesting "small" things of beauty to find in the park. From a lone black samson flower silhouetted against the setting sun to prairie clover still in bloom and even a single blade of grass, the Badlands is a magical place.

The pattern of this dandelion looking plant (except bigger) about ready to send it's seedlings into the wind looked better in black and white (I thought anyway).

Life in the Badlands

Last weekend I spent re-exploring, hiking and simply enjoying SD's own Badlands National Park. The variety of life on the rugged landscape is celebrated in this post. From Bighorn Sheep to one of the weirder looking spiders I've seen to Bison dotting the Sage Creek Wilderness to a young rabbit trying to stay still as a Golden Eagle glided overhead and I walked by on the castle trail... it was fun to see all the wildlife surviving on the plains. So here are my most interesting shots for you. Click on the photo for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by.

This is a burrowing owl adult. I couldn't figure out why it was letting me get so close until I noticed a juvenile popping out of a nearby prairie dog hole (2nd photo down). These birds nest in abandoned prairie dog holes and hunt by day.

Midsummer Thunder

A fast moving system come through last evening at about sunset. I set up camp on Highway 38 just above the Skunk Creek valley with my camera, tripod and remote cord. I shot about 60 to 70 shots and here are the best five. Click on each file for a larger file to view and enjoy the power and beauty of South Dakota's summer thunderstorms!

The wall cloud was one of the better ones I've seen in this area in a long time.

When you are shooting at night, it's hard to know what white balance to set up on your camera... for whatever reason, the lighting in this storm was strikingly pink and purple when I processed the raw photos in Apple's Aperture. I kinda liked the look so I kept it. The streaked head lights and red tail lights of the cars (due to long shutter openings) and the grass alongside the road look about right (first photos)... so I'm not that far off with the colors. Pretty amazing how the flashes of lightning define and backlight the low hanging bottoms of the wall cloud.

Return to Wrigley

Over the 4th of July weekend, I was lucky enough to attend 2 games at Wrigley Field on the North side of Chicago and a 3rd from a rooftop on Sheffield avenue. It was the 2nd time in two years that my brother, his wife and I have attended a series there. What a great place to experience a little bit of Americana! All three were day games this time around and full of sun. I didn't take any photos on the first day when we sat in the left field bleachers but I did take a few from the Skybox on Sheffield rooftop on Saturday. The photo above and the next two below are from that day. All the rest are from Sunday, the 4th when we had front row seats on the 3rd base line. Click on the photo for a larger file to view and enjoy!

Derrek Lee got a double from this swing.

A panoramic stitch and tilt shift effect adds some interest to this wide shot of Wrigley from across the street.

Joey Votto was called out on strikes in his first at bat on Sunday and promptly got thrown out... I believe this was the pitch he thought was outside, but the ump saw it differently.

Rookie phenom, Mike Leake got the win.

Drew Stubbs hits his first of 3 homers of the game... if you look in the lower left of the photo you can see the ball approaching the plate just to the left of the guy above the red, white and blue decorations.

Johnny Gomes makes the catch at the warning track in left field.

Brandon Phillips averts an extra base hit for the Cubs by diving for this hard hit grounder.

Brandon Phillips strokes good contact on this pitch... the ball is covering the face of the fan in the hat in the lower left.

A cub slides in for a double against Orlando Cabrera.

Paul Janish tries to track down a pop fly, foul ball behind 3rd base while looking directly into the sun... the second shot below shows he couldn't quite reach it.

Ramon Hernandez slides head first into 3rd base with a 2 rbi triple... notice the ball coming in over his right leg. It was a close play, but he was safe.

Johnny Gomes sends this one out of the park and onto Waveland Avenue.

The home-run trot with annoyed Cubs fans in the background and a few Reds fans loving every minute of it!