Badlands National Park

Badlands #1

This fall, Vickie and I had planned a visit to the North Shore of Lake Superior to attempt to photograph some fall color.  As our departure date got closer, the weather forecasts were becoming increasingly unfavorable, with some forecasts including the possibility of up to a foot of snow.  So, the night before our planned departure, we changed our plans to head to the Black Hills in South Dakota instead.  

On our way back home, we stopped in Badlands N.P. for an afternoon.  I'd always read about how difficult Badlands was to achieve interesting photography in, and so the amount of time that I've spent there in the past has been pretty limited.  But during our brief visit there, we were treated to some nice clouds (fast moving- due to extremely windy and cold conditions!).

Tech info- Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens, 3 image stitch. 

Badlands #2

Some signs posted along the road into the park warned us not to get near any prairie dogs, because they have been found to be carrying fleas with bubonic plague, so I spent perhaps somewhat less time than usual squatting low over my camera and tripod trying to capture compositional elements in the foreground- but here is one exception.  I was lucky to catch this shot before the fast-moving clouds dimmed the light on this group of wildflowers (or weeds?).

Canon 40D, 18-55mm IS, polarizer.

Badlands #3

I'm considering spending some time this winter processing the above image as a black & white.  All of the photos in this post were taken in the more western part of the loop road through the park, because by the time we worked our way to the eastern section, the light was gone.  Which is a good reason for us to make sure that we come back to this park again someday- when we have much more time to spend!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Dunes #1-  Clouds over dunes

After a morning of photographing on the dunes, I was hungry for some lunch.  As I headed out of the park to get some food at a nearby restaurant, I was greeted with this view in my rearview mirror of some nice clouds settling over the dunes, so I stopped to grab a few photos.  (I still have a half a roll of exposed Velvia medium format left in my Hasselblad from this spot, that I still need to get developed soon!)

Tech info- Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens, polarizer (all images in this post)

Dunes #2-  Wildflowers & Dunes

Need your help!  

I've been looking over these images for several weeks trying to decide which, if any, might be suitable for donating to the upcoming Lawson United Methodist Church Auction.  I plan to pick out an image of the mountain wildflowers from my previous blog posts, but I'm not sure how popular any of these images from the Dunes might or might not be.  So, if anyone viewing this post can identify to me an image (identified by the number under the image) that they think might sell well at the Church auction, I'd appreciate the feedback!  You can leave a comment on this blog.

                   

  Dunes #3

Dunes #4

Part of the reason that I'm having more trouble than usual deciding whether I like these images is that several of them are more abstract than most of my usual stuff. 

Dunes #5

               

Dunes #6

Dunes #7

Dunes #8

One comment- you can see from the relative size of the person in the lower left hand corner of this shot how large these dunes are.  As a matter of fact, I believe that the largest dune in the park is claimed to be about 700 feet tall.  I know this, the angle of repose of the sand, plus the elevation, makes for a tough climb!

I hope you enjoyed viewing these images.  Perhaps they will make some of my viewers want to visit this park someday!