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.