New Web Site

 

Hi Everyone!

I’ve been working on a new web site for a while – been a slow process, but I think it is 99% ready to go.  And I may make it “Live” anyway, as I am the kind that will tweak it and tweak it until it is perfect in my mind… meaning, it would never get done.

I’m inviting you to take a look if you would like.  You can find it here:  www.pjandersonphotography.com

There are actually two web sites under the splash screen.  One for “people” and another for everything else (nature, places and things).  Also there is a link back here to the blog.  Hope you take a look at both sites and let me know what you think!  I know I won’t please everyone 100%, but I hope it shows off a bit of my work.

PJ

Sica Hollow

 

I wanted to do a post on the trip my parents and I took to Sica Hollow State Park near Sisseton, SD.  BUT, first a big “thank you!” to Tatyana T and J for their assistance on the identification of the plant I posted yesterday.  So far, everyone seems to be in consensus that it is indeed a Trillian.  How great is it that we can develop these networks of people from all around the world to be able to converse and ask questions like this!

Check yesterday’s post for photos.

Ok, on to Sica Hollow (pronounced she-cha meaning evil or bad.)  First some background, hope it isn’t too boring!  The part of South Dakota that I live in and where Sica Hollow is located is called the Coteau des Prairies.  This is French for the “Hills of the Prairie”.  If we could travel with Peabody and Sherman in the Wayback Machine (click here for you to young to have watched Rocky and Bullwinkle aka Moose and Squirrel) back to the the last Ice Age in the Pleistocene era, we would see two glaciers part on the east and west side of the Coteau.  You can read more and see a satellite photo of the Coteau here.

I don’t think most people driving down Interstate 29 give it a much thought, but I’ve been fascinated with that hill for nearly twenty years.  Something about that makes me wonder and contemplate.

Sica Hollow is on the northeast side of the Coteau where the hill is maybe most dramatic.  It is amazing to me as you cannot see the hollow until you are in it.  It is a quiet place.  Where noises like traffic, lawnmowers or people in general don’t really exist.  I can see why the place holds meaning for the Sioux.  Sica Hollow has a very interesting Sioux legend that you can read here.

Sica Hollow is pretty much off the beaten path.  Which gives it some pros and cons.  The pros are that it REALLY is quiet.  You get to hear nature around you.  If you do hear someone else’s voice, it seems out of place.  One of the cons is that the park is mostly unsupervised.  It is common for me to see beer cans tossed off the side of the trail.  This trip I was treated to a dirty diaper in a tree.  People are funny/strange animals.  I didn’t bring a bag with me this time to pick up all the trash, but I did take out an old Budweiser case, a foam paper plate and a couple of plastic water bottles.

There were a number of beautiful flowers to photograph – although for this trip, I mostly looked and just took it all in.  One flower that I do want to share today is this one.  I believe this to be a Cup Rosinweed (Silphium perfoliatum).  Again, if anyone has a better identification, I’d love to hear it.

ISO 250, f/5.6, 1/200 second, 35mm – Nikon D300

This flower was at least as tall as I am – right around six feet.  It was a very vibrant yellow and it sucked me in from at least 50 yards!

It had been a year or so since I’ve been to Sica Hollow and the first time my parents had been there.  I’m so glad the magic is still there and that my parents enjoyed it as much as I do.

I’d like to make it a goal for next year to try to get into the park every month to photograph the changes.  In winter, the road is not plowed – so no guarantees that I can make it in every month if the snow gets too deep.  So, wish me luck and if anyone wants to push me into sticking to my goal, I’d sure be open to that.  Especially on those COLD days in January and February!

I hope this post didn’t drag on too much!  Always like to hear your thoughts!

Patrick

Flower Identification

 

I visited Sica Hollow State Park, north of Sisseton, SD yesterday.  I’ll give more information and details on the park in the next post.  I’m shooting for tomorrow on that one.

However, I could use some help tracking down the identification of one of the plants I photographed.  As I was walking the trails, I saw a red seed pod hanging under a plant.  It took me a while before I could find a plant that was accessible enough that I could photograph.

I believe this to be a Trillium, but if anyone can confirm this or give me more specifics about this particular plant, I’d sure appreciate it.

The first photo is a detailed look at the seed pod (also the “keeper” of my photos of the plant).  The second photo shows more of the leaf structure.  The plant stood about 12-18 inches tall.  The seed pod is about the size of a grocery store strawberry and had a smooth texture.  This location is a very damp, shady hardwood forest where it was growing.

ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/80 second, 60mm – Nikon D300

Thanks for your help!

Surreal Grungy Look

 

Been a while since I updated last.  Been working behind the scenes on my business, wedding photos, websites, etc.  I apologize for the quiet period.

Right now I am actually exporting some photos out of Lightroom tonight, in prep for burning photos to a CD so that I can get them shipped out tomorrow.  The export can take a while, so while I was waiting I decided to try a tutorial on the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) website www.photoshopuser.com. 

Being those tutorials are provided to the members as a benefit of membership, I don’t feel it is exactly ethical to lay it out step by step.  But, I’ll give you the lowdown on what settings I manipulated.  If you enjoy Photoshop, I’d recommend checking out NAPP – it is SO worth the price.

This process is all done in Adobe Camera Raw, which makes it kind of neat going forward as I can save these settings as a preset and apply it to any other RAW image in the future.

Essentially, opening the photo in ACR, I set Recovery, Fill Light, Contrast, Clarity, Vibrance all to +100.  Then to tone it down, I slide the Saturation down until it looks good.  Finally, I tweak the “Lens Correction” to add quite a bit of vignetting to darken the sides of the image.

The photo I played with was of an old truck I photographed at Itasca State Park in Minnesota (at the old Itasca Sawmill).  First up is the original with no tweaking.

ISO 1000, 1/500 second, f/4.5, 28mm – Nikon D300

Next is the “After”

You can really see the changes in the windshield and the tires.  It is a fun effect that I’ll probably play with more in the future. 

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Beautiful Day

 

I’m splitting my time on this perfect Sunday between stripping paint on kitchen cabinets and working on my new website.

Summer days like these are why I put up with winter.  The sun is shining, blue sky, tiny trace of a breeze occasionally and about 75 degrees (23 Celsius for my more metrically enlightened friends!).  By the way, click here for a pretty good site for conversion: Edheads

Anyway, as I was going through photos for the website, I ran across this one that I took at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.  Nice reminder for me to take advantage of days like today.  Hope it gives you a smile!

By the way, for those of you on Facebook – I’m trying to get my “fan” numbers up.  Please swing by and become a fan.

PJ Anderson Photography on FB

Have a great remainder of your weekend!   PJ

Hen and Chicks

 

After I built the waterfall for our backyard pond, I planted a few succulents amongst the rocks.  All of them have really thrived out there the last year or so.  In the last few weeks, one of the Hen and Chicks shot up a stalk about 12 inches tall with terrific little flowers

Apparently, this happens when the plant reaches maturity after three or four years.  You can read about it here at Wikipedia.

I’ve been meaning to go out and photograph the flowers for several days.  Fortunately, it has stayed blooming until I finally made the trip.  Crawling on the rocks in a very uncomfortable position, I was able to get a nice macro photo of one of the flowers.  Thanks again to my friends on the network for motivating me to get out with the macro lens again!

ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/50 sec, macro – Nikon D300

Below is a photo of the full plant

Hoping to have my new business web site up and running in the next few days.  I’ll post a link here when it is ready.

Patrick

Trying times

 

First off, apologies for not keeping up with the blog and posting photos. 

The economic situation continues to hit closer to home for me.  Been several months of worry and frustration.  Today, my primary job put me on an  “hourly” status.  I continue the mantra “at least I have a job” but it gets hard to even stay positive.

I’m in the process of waiting for an email that describes the change in my employment status.  Hard to do any productive work while I am waiting.  I took a cup of coffee out to the deck look at the weather as we have thunderstorms in the area.  I was out looking at the sky before I noticed  at my feet that there was a Mourning Dove sitting.

I’m not sure if he flew into the sliding glass door or what the situation was – but he didn’t fly away.  I figured I might as well grab the camera and see what kind of close up work I could get.

ISO 200, F/3.2, 1/1250 sec, 75mm – Nikon D300

I should have probably gone out with a longer lens and I probably should have shot more depth of field.  Instead I focused on the eyes… like I always do with models.  The flowers in the background are a tad distracting as well.  Guess that just sort of sums up my emotions right now.

I’m challenged as I’d like to stay where I am to allow the kids to graduate from high school here.  But, to take photography to the next step, I probably need a bigger market.  Same for my current “real job” as an HR consultant.

Sorry for the venting I’ve done in this post – but if anyone has any positive vibes to shoot this direction, I’d appreciate it.

Patrick