White Over the Badlands

White Over the Badlands

SDAK09D-28

July 3, 2009


Still with the Badlands, seeing the little bit of road at the bottom center before this massive cloud structure.  I was amazed at how photogenic the Badlands were.  If you look back at this latest series, you'll see a lot of them were taken on July 3rd.  That is the day I arrived there, after driving for ~13 hours from Illinois (a very early wake up).  The landscape immediately seemed to open up for me, and I barely had to leave the road to find these high-contrast, jaw-dropping landscapes.  This one featured a great wall of striated rock, above which the summer thunderstorm which had drenched me on the drive to the park was lifting and clearing, leaving these fluffy white clouds the towered over the ground.  I felt that the scene worked better in black and white, given the high contrast of the area.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  38 mm

Exposure: 1/50 @ f/16  ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

A Painted Landscape

A Painted Landscape

SDAK09D-8

July 3, 2009

It was amazing, when first encountering the Badlands of South Dakota, how similar they were in some respects to the other canyons in the southwest, especially Bryce Canyon.  The striations, the unevenness and seeming random arrangement of the formations, all seem familiar.  Of course, they are totally different landscapes, when you get down to it, but still it is interesting to consider, on this Friday morning, when I'd rather be out hiking either one with the incredible Sarah.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  85 mm

Exposure: 1/10 @ f/16  ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

The Dreary Badlands

The Dreary Badlands

SDAK09D-55_pan

July 4, 2009

A stark contrast from yesterday's cheerful, sunny panorama, today we see the storm-clouded side of the Badlands, which I think really highlights their name.  This storm rolled through, as this panorama was taken just a day after my arrival in the Badlands (when yesterday's image was composed).  But this expanse, with the scraggly green dotted here and there, but dominated by the unending brown, desolate-looking landscape.  In a way it reminds me of my shot at the travertine terraces of Yellowstone, which also exudes this lonely aura.  All the same, I like the moodiness, so enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  18 mm

Exposure: 1/60 @ f/16  ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Badlands Panoramic

Badlands Panoramic

SDAK09D-9_pan

July 3, 2009

Sticking with the Dakota images still, since this one provides such a beautiful landscape and a very sharp depiction of what the Badlands look like.  The colored rock, worn away from eons of action by rivers and inland seas, now lays bare to the view of all, the strata of ages open to the sky.  The whole area is incredible, because it doesn't strike you as canyon country, this small area is surrounded by vast prairie that run right up to the park before falling away.  Driving up to it, you wouldn't know that there were these formations, the land seems so flat (and the Badlands are not mountains, despite what it looks like here... instead you drive/hike down into the canyon, then look back up to where the average height of the land is).  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  24 mm

Exposure: 1/160 @ f/4  ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Spring Frolic

Spring Frolic

SDAK09D-22

July 6, 2009

Ah spring, such a fun jovial time.  While this image was taken in the middle of summer, it still has a spring feeling to it.  While heading through the Black Hills of South Dakota, these young pronghorn were playing with one another, jumping, frolicking together, hiding behind trees and jumping out at their buddies.  It was such a peaceful scene (unfortunately ruined by a loud motorcycle that revved up the highway not too far away), the kind you always want to stumble upon while heading through the mountains.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 80-200 mm f/2.8

Focal length:  200 mm

Exposure: 1/160 @ f/4  ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Badlands Cactus

Badlands Cactus

BADL09D-64

July 4, 2009

It is fitting that there should be prickly pear growing in the Badlands of South Dakota, that place has such a barren feel to it at times it would be forgiven if you thought you were transported hundreds of miles south to the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, or southern Utah.  But this spiny inhabitant makes its home in the intricate erosion landscape of the Badlands, and on that gray July 4th day, hiking out in the wilderness it seemed a fitting portrait of the day.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  32 mm

Exposure: 1/160 @ f/16  ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Sinuous Silver Serpent

Sinuous Silver Serpent

SDAK08D-73

July 7, 2009

Today we are in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in Custer State Park.  This small cascade was running down a steep part of the trail, slicing between rocks like a kayaker, twisting and turning all the time.  This part of the cascade is not very large, maybe a couple feet high at most, but it formed a portion of a multi-step waterfall that ran about a hundred feet down the hill.  I love the s-curve the water makes between the boulders, and the patch of green at the top left from the moss.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 mm f/4-5.6

Focal length:  17 mm

Exposure: 1.6 sec @ f/16  ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Storm Over the Black Hills

Storm Over the Black Hills

SDAK09D-126

July 8, 2009

Storms hold a particular attraction to most people.  They're one part of Mother Nature that is beyond our control, we are helpless in their grasp.  And, as inconvenient as they make modern life (getting wet while going to work, electric lightning strikes knock out power, general impedance of your day), they are so essential to maintaining life across this planet.  So perhaps we look up to them as well, in a combination of fear and respect. 

Few places I've encountered storms like one sees in the midwest of the United States.  From the Black Hills of South Dakota to the flat plains of Illinois, the summer storms rage across the land, large cumulus clouds that grow and evolve and finally burst over you in a satanic fury, black clouds dumping rain and energy on the ground below.  This storm, seen here in the Black Hills, was just entering the area.  The pleasant, puffy white clouds that had dominated the day were being pushed away by a southerly wind, drawing in the darkness seen on the left.  Within 15 minutes the sky had undergone a Mr. Hyde transformation, and the storm broke soon after.  Luckily, with the rage and energy of midwest storms, they pass quickly; this storm was over and cleared out before nightfall.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6

Focal length:  mm

Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/16, ISO 100

Post-processing: Splicing and panoramic construction, curves adjustment in PS4

Endless Horizons

Endless Horizons

BADL09D-93

July 4, 2009

Before one of the workshops that I teach, this one in North Dakota working with the five tribes and the United Tribal Technical College, I decided to take a little vacation.  Despite some reservations I had about spending time in the Dakotas, I headed out to see some of this least-visited region.  I was astounded.  I spent a little over a week in the Badlands of South and North Dakota and the Black Hills.  It was quite a beautiful area, the Badlands reminding me a lot of the canyons of the Southwest.  It was also a chance for me to be alone on the 4th of July, something I have not experienced very much.  It is such a social holiday, to spend the 3rd of July on the road and the 4th on the trail, was quite a unique treat.  It also started a tradition of hiking on the 4th of July, which has continued up to this day.

The image was taken just north of Badlands National Park.  That park is remarkable as you can't see it until you're right upon it; they don't rise very high, but have been dredged out of the ground.  So the rolling hills of hay suddenly descend into these canyons.  But outside the park, these large open spaces teemed with fields, those waves of grain (that wasn't quite amber yet); in the summer light, the storm was breaking up, and these clouds went dotting across the sky.  It was a perfect summer scape, very apropos for our national holiday. 

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6

Focal length: 20 mm

Exposure: 1/160 sec @ f/16, ISO 100

Post-processing: Toning, curves adjustment in PS4