Longhorns {The Romantics of Cattle}

I spent an evening with my friend's longhorns. They didn't seem to mind me wandering about watching them.

It was a perfect late summer evening and a harsh contrast to today's frigid temperatures.

Over the past year it has been my desire to capture the cattle that graze the South Dakota prairies. I find Longhorns to be beautiful with so much character in their varied colors and tones, but what captivates me most is, of course, their horns.

This one is my favorite.

I chose high key black and white in my final process of several of these photographs. I shot many of them low to the ground in order to isolate the horns against the sky.

There's a sort of romanticism associated with the longhorn. A timeless classic of majestic beauty.

Thank you, Chris and Katie, for letting me spend time with your cattle! 

Perspectives of the Sky

It's no secret that I love the sky, and especially out here on the western South Dakota plains, unhindered.

I've been slowly working on a fine art series of photographs. All Black and White with a variety of high key and low key elements. This one has both. I allowed for a bit of grain to saturate the image, enhancing the raw texture of a dramatic sky.

'Texture'   ISO 100, f/22, 8 sec.

I photographed both images last night. My daughter and I went on a walk down one of our trails as the  light faded. I've been playing around with extended exposures after sunset to create long smooth wisps as the clouds move east. The darkened light allows for a longer exposure. You can also see headlight trails for cars on the interstate and my husband and son coming home down the old highway. The tiny town of Okaton starts to light up for the  night as well. 

 'Song in the Wind'     ISO 100, f/18, 119 sec., ND8 filter

Both images are photographed of the same clouds from slightly different locations. Each with completely different goals in mind for their final story.