Winter - 2012

Sunset at Lake Thompson, SD - February 18th, 2012

January and February are a tough time of year to go photo hunting here in the upper regions of the Great Plains. The days are short and the weather is usually miserable. This winter actually has been mild so looking for photos has been a little easier. Finding time has been harder than ever though. The times I have been able to get out have been rewarding though... so I figured I'd post a few of my favorites from January and February. Click on a photo for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

I was in Brown County in late January and it was foggy all day. In between shoots, the fog starting burning off and I had a little time to kill so I went exploring and found this abandoned farmstead north of Richmond Lake.

The last few days of January and into early February I traveled to Guatemala, Central America for my church. It was a quick trip with only two full days on the ground. Despite my brief time there I was able to witness some pretty cool sites. Below are a couple of my favorite photos from the trip. My latest e-column at southdakotamagazine.com will also feature photos from this trip and a little more detail if you are interested. The column is due to be up tomorrow (February, 20th). Try this link for all my columns at the site:
http://southdakotamagazine.com/article?articleAuthor=christian+begeman

A Mayan girl waits for class to start at VisionTrust Guatemala's Learning Center in Cruz Blanca. I love the colors and the innocent, shy smile.

We visited with the village's traditional healer for a short time and she was gracious enough to let me snap a few photos. She told us that she learned to weave at the age of 11. Her house has hardened dirt floors and she used the only cushion I saw in the house to kneel on while she weaved and visited with us. Her daughter, running in the background, also attends The Learning Center.

Back to South Dakota... This lone horse at sunset was taken a few miles west of Sioux Falls in mid-February.

A couple miles west of the small town of Nunda, SD in Lake County is this abandoned grain elevator. I have no idea why it is there or what the history of it is, but I think it is interesting to photograph. Anybody know what the story of this is? I'd love to hear it.

Here are three more shots of the sunset at Lake Thompson from the other night. The lake has been high lately... In fact, there were a lot serious flooding problems this spring, so this giant cottonwood is still under water and now encased in ice. I thought it made an interesting bit of foreground for the sunset.