Final Round in Photography Contest

Today I received word from Photographer's Forum magazine's photography contest, I entered this past spring, that I have made it into the final round! 

Over 10,000 photographs were submitted from all over the world and the top 16% of the best photographs were selected. Photographer's Forum chooses first through fourth place and 100 honorable mentions. I should know by mid-August. All finalists are printed in their Best of Photography 2015 coffee table book. 

I'd entered a few years ago and had made it into the finalist round, so I'll be a published photographer twice now! 

Finalist Photograph - Sylvan Lake, Custer, SD

Wheat Fields

The wheat harvest is well under way by now. 

Before this field was combined I spent about an hour with it at sunset. 

It was a perfect evening as the clouds rolled through capturing the sun's last color.

 

Flax Fields

I had to get out and shoot some more fields of flax before the flowers all fall off. The field by my house is just about done blooming so I went to a few others in the area.

It's windy today and I tried to use that to my advantage. In the following two shots I used my Neutral Density filter (really dark filter) so that I could keep the shutter open longer and create some blur amongst the flax to show the motion of the wind. I like the abstract appeal that the finished image gives.

The haze coming from the fires in Alberta give the South Dakota landscape a soft texture.

I love seeing these rolling hills of blue.

The Flax

First off, Happy Independence Day America!  

Secondly, the flax are in full bloom again.

This time there's a field within walking distance from my house. This dam is on my property and the neighboring flax field is beyond it. 

Last year I shot some closer images of the field.(You can see last years flax here and here.)
I wanted to try something different this year since I had the dam to work with, instead of what I did last year.

The previous year, I also had some incredible blue skies to work with. This year it's a bit hazy, possibly due to the fires in Canada.

Since the flowers only bloom late morning during the harsh sun, I used my neutral density filter and several stops down to get some longer exposures. It's a little breezy today and I love the softness the clover creates due to the longer exposure.