Tag: Grasslands

Badlands National Park, Day 5 – Sunrise Photography Part B

This is a continuation of my sunrise shoot on day 5 of my time in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, September 2022.

Light Arc, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

As I was about to wrap up my morning shoot, I decided to experiment with compositional variations using the wide area of grass in the area where I had been shooting as a foreground with Badlands features in the background.

Grassland and Badlands 1, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

I changed my distance from the Badlands and modified the zoom to include more or less of the background and more or less of the foreground.

Grasslands and Badlands 2, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Grasslands and Badlands, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

I like all of the images that I shot in this manner,

Badlands Emerge, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

however, I think this final image, shot by going down a slope and shooting up at the background feature is the most dramatic.  This gives the impression of a vast sea of grass with the Badlands emerging from the grassland.

Until next time,

Ken

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota – Day 4 Sunset

As the sun sank lower into the western sky, I walked back into the grassland area to the east of the gravel road connecting Interior, SD to SD 240 in Badlands NP.  I had pulled over maybe a half mile before the intersection with SD 240 and scouted this area a little earlier.

Diversity

I always try to begin shooting a little before golden hour, since one can never predict what will happen with the light and today I have a large area from which to shoot, so I want to have time to get a number of compositions and hopefully have sufficient time to move around and vary my compositions as golden hour advances.

What happened to all those big fluffy clouds that had been so prevalent in the sky as I was scouting here?  They’ve all disappeared, leaving a blank, bland sky.

Red Grass Sunset

For the image above, I stood in the shadow of a ridge to avoid having my shadow in image.

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Grassy Ridge
Grass, Rock, Sky
Grass Division
Grass, Rock, Sky 2
Red Grass Valley

Time to head back to my campsite,

Ken

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota – Day 4 Sunset – Scouting Photos

There is a gravel road from Interior, SD that goes into the Badlands NP, connecting to SD 240.  I took this road, intending to go all the way to SD 240 and shoot sunset images in the same grassland area from which I had shot earlier this morning, when the sky was completely overcast.

Gravel Road into Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

This gravel roadway was very washboarded over long intervals, when I drove it, requiring slow driving.  As I got nearer SD 240, I began to realize that it might be better to shoot from a grassy area to the east of the gravel roadway, rather than going back to my morning location.

I had plenty of time prior to sunset, so I pulled over to scout nearby.

Change of Plans, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Scouting Photo Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Scouting Photo, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

The big clouds are still hanging around, which bodes well for sunset shooting today.

Scouting Photo, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

After walking around this grassy area and shooting a few scouting images, I decided that this would definitely be a better area from which to shoot than where I had planned to go.

Stay tuned for the results of todays sunset shoot,

Ken

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Part 7B – Day 4

This is a continuation of my morning shoot on the fourth full day of this visit to Badlands NP.

Grassland and Badland

I parked at a small pullout along SD240, where I noted a path through the grassland.  I took that path into the grasslands to see what opportunities I might find for photographing a large badlands feature in the distance.

Prickly Edge

The sky was still heavily overcast, which at this time of the morning was better for photography than having a clear sky and overly brightly lit landscape.

Prickly Edge – Wide View

Normally, I would not put the horizon at or near the center of an image, but here the sky was as interesting, perhaps more so, than the foreground.  So I’ve ignored that general rule about horizon placement in a number of my compositions here.

This is the Way
Darkland

This concludes my morning shooting in Badlands NP today.  Time to explore more of the park.

Ken

 

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Part 4

After my morning excursion into Badlands National Park, I returned to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands Campground Area, picked another campsite, had lunch and waited until it was time to go out again for sunset photography.

Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 1
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 2

As the afternoon progressed, like yesterday, storm clouds began gathering.

Visitors, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, South Dakota
Praire Storm
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, Campsite 2

Rain soon began to fall with gusty winds.  It was apparent that the storm was too fierce for me to venture back out for a late day shoot.  Now I have to look forward to another morning shoot.

Until then,

Ken