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!