Badlands in September

Three Bighorn rams graze near a prairie dog town in Badlands National Park.

It has become a common practice for me to detour through Badlands National Park on my way to and from the Black Hills.  Last week Sunday and the following Saturday was no exception.  I was lucky enough to get close to wildlife on both occasions as well as capture a little fall color this time around.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

Badlands Boys Club (a bachelor herd of Mule Deer near the Quinn road)

A coyote loped by me as he hunted in one of the many prairie dog towns on the way to the Sage Creek Wilderness Area.

Bison just before sunset at the Sage Creek Wilderness Area.

On my return trip yesterday morning, I was able to capture some of the fall color in the draws of Sage Creek Wilderness Area.

Bison dot the flat lands beyond Sage Creek proper.

Another coyote came out of the badlands and into a prairie dog town as I was driving by.

Fall color with the Badlands formations on the horizon.

Late Summer Thunder (and Lightning)

Ominous clouds and rain ahead  of the setting sun over an abandoned farmstead between Spencer and Salem, SD.

The evening of September 4th saw a swift moving thunderstorm system move through the southeastern part of South Dakota.  The 2012 storm season didn't amount to much this year so I decided to drive west to meet the front and see if I could get any interesting photos.  This post consists of my best shots of the night. Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

Sunset colors paint the backside of a thunderhead south of Spencer, SD.

An old barn with with a lightning strike in the background.

A couple shots of lightning an another abandoned house north and a little west of Salem, SD.

The Cutting Room Floor

Water skiing at sunset at Little Moreau Recreation Area in July.

My summer photography has been focused on South Dakota State Parks for my online column over at www.southdakotamagazine.com: (http://southdakotamagazine.com/stateparks).  Typically an average of 20 or so photos are posted with each column. That means interesting shots are sometimes left on the cutting room floor.  This happens mostly because I have similar shots already picked out and I'd rather show a variety rather than four different angles of the same flower. That said, I decided to post some of my favorite shots that were edited out of the columns on this post as I still like them.  Click on a image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

Fawn at sunset at Little Moreau Recreation Area in early August.

A crab spider perched on a sunflower.

A couple shots of a wildflower I couldn't ID for sure.  A friend of mine thinks it could be a dotted gayfeather but I'm leaning towards western ironweed... which appears to be a showier version than just regular ironweed.  Either way, it is a cool looking flower.

Rain drops on leaves at Lake Alvin Recreation Area after a light shower went through in the morning.

Sunset at Lake Alvin's fishing dock.

A couple versions of me experimenting with long exposures at the boat dock at Lake Alvin.  I had the shutter open for 25 to 30 seconds and walked into the shot with a Colman lantern (on dim) and then painted my silhouette at the end of the dock with a flashlight once I got there. Being able to see the Milky Way in the southern sky this close to Sioux Falls was an added bonus.

Summer Scenes

A fawn at Little Moreau Recreation Area in early August.

It is the middle of August and I'm realizing that once again, the summer has flown by.  Although it has been a long and hot summer this time around, I was still able to shoot a lot of photos all over the state.  Many of my photos have been posted in my e-column over at southdakotamagazine.com.  Here is a link if you are interested: http://southdakotamagazine.com/article?articleAuthor=christian+begeman

This post has photos that I captured along my travels this summer that did not make the column as well as a few from my upcoming story on Little Moreau Recreation Area near Timber Lake, SD.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for checking in.

An Egret near Lake Thompson, SD

A battered old Monarch Butterfly at Little Moreau Recreation Area in early July.

Mammatus clouds before a major storm system moved through in early August. Near Henry, SD.

After the storm west of Doland, SD.

An abandoned home near Milbank, SD in late July.

Near the Wilmot, SD exit off I-29 in late July.

Sunset and Black Samson at Little Moreau Recreation Area.  The first photo is looking northwest and the photo below is a three image panoramic of the moonrise looking eastward from the same spot.  Twilight on the prairie is one of my favorite times and places to be in the summer.

Summer Sunsets

Sunset rays behind Benton Lutheran Church just a few miles west of Crooks, SD.

July has been hot and dry.  Because of the weather, the land is not as green and lush as usual but the sunsets have been quite incredible.  This post is dedicated to the sunsets I was able to photograph this month.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

I climbed Bear Butte near Sturgis for the first time in my life in early July.  A brief thunderstorm went through in the early evening and was colored by the setting sun as it moved East the last evening I was there.  If you'd like to see more photos and read about my time there, check out my e-column over at www.southdakotamagazine.com:  http://southdakotamagazine.com/bear-butte-begeman

After my Bear Butte adventure, I traveled home to Isabel to visit my parents and also visit Little Moreau Recreation Area for an upcoming column.  Below is a sunset shot from one of my evenings there.

I also spent a weekend on the Missouri River dividing my time between Snake Creek Recreation Area and Buryaneck.  This will be the subject of my next column which is due to appear tomorrow (July 22nd).

Some shots of Canova SD's amateur baseball park at sunset.

This is West Nidaros Church east of Crooks, SD just after sunset one evening. 

Just a few days ago, I was able to capture this brilliant sunset over Benton Lutheran Church west of Crooks.  I particularly like these shots as the sunset produced what photographers call "God rays."

The clouds and contrast also made for interesting black and white images I thought:

That same evening, the setting sun painted the outriders of a thunderstorm that was in the southern sky with lovely pinks and purples so I shot them best I could above a corn field.  These final images are made from three bracketed images and tonemapped with ,y photomatix HDR plug-in in Apple's Aperture.

A final shot of of the church above the corn field.