Welcome
As I mentioned in the previous edition, in October I had the opportunity to participate in the Photo Festival organized by the Photographic Society of America (PSA) that took place in Rapid City, South Dakota. This was my first experience participating in this annual event.
During the days of the conference, there were different workshops and photographic excursions. I only participated in one workshop —Mobile Photography: A State-of-the-Art Workflow— which was very interesting (the interest in taking pictures was greater than participating in workshops). Although some workshops seemed too basic for some of us who have been taking pictures for years, the excursions were excellent, and it was on these excursions that I had the opportunity to meet other photographers and talk with them. In Badlands National Park I went on two tours, one at sunrise and the other at sunset, and I went on another tour where we rode for an hour on an 1880’s train.
After the Photo Festival, my wife and I stayed for three more days to visit other places in the surrounding area. In the pages of this magazine, I share photos taken at those places: Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Spearfish Falls, 1880 Train, and Devils Tower National Monument (this last one in the state of Wyoming).
All the places we visited were fantastic but what really impressed me most out of the whole trip was the opportunity we had to see the Milky Way at Badlands. It is amazing to see how many stars you can see in a place where there is no light pollution. I tell you about that experience on page 13 of this magazine.
I am running out of space; I hope you all have a Happy and Blessed New Year 2022.
Badlands National Park
In October, I had the opportunity to visit Badlands National Park in the state of South Dakota for the first time. When we first entered the park, I never thought I would return four more times in a ten day period. I had planned to return twice on two excursions, once to photograph the sunrise and once for the sunset; but my friend and great photographer Abbas Kapadia invited me another two times to photograph the Milky Way, something I have never done before in my life. This is something I will tell you about in another section of the magazine.
Near the Black Hills of South Dakota, Badlands National Park allows visitors access to 244,000 acres of scenic landscapes, incredible geological formations, diverse wildlife and much more. Given all that this park has to offer, you may be wondering: what’s so bad about the Badlands? The Lakota people nicknamed this region “mako sica,” or “badlands,” long ago because its rocky terrain, lack of water and extreme temperatures made it difficult to traverse. Today, the Badlands are a great place for hiking, fossil hunting, driving and game viewing.
There is a lot to tell you about how interesting this national park is, but it would take too much space and I would rather share with you the photos I took there. I invite you to read “10 things you didn't know about Badlands National Park.”
In this link you can see more photos from this trip: Badlands National Park
The Milky Way
A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The term Milky Way is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek (galaktikos kýklos), meaning “milky circle.” From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated visible diameter of 100,000–200,000 light-years.
Here we could write pages and pages of information about the Milky Way, but my intention is to describe my experience when I had the opportunity to see and photograph it in Badlands National Park.
For those of us who live in big cities it is difficult to see the Milky Way with some frequency, as the pollution of the lights prevents us from being able to see it. We would have to go to places far away from the city to enjoy this spectacle and that is not always possible.
The first night I saw the Milky Way, the sky was totally clear, and the darkness was such that I could not see my hands. I was so impressed that I didn’t even realize I was there to take pictures. Several Bible verses came to my mind: The first, when God told Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky in Genesis 15:5; the second, when God told Isaac —I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.— Genesis 26:4; and the third, when King David describes the greatness of God —When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?— Psalm 8:3-4
It is possible that the pictures you will see below are not the best. I wish I could repeat the experience and put more effort into the technique, but in the meantime, I feel more than blessed to have had the opportunity to see it with the naked eye.
Custer State Park
Custer State Park is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and is home to a large wildlife preserve. It is the largest and first state park in the state, and is named after Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park has an area of over 114 square miles of varied terrain that includes rolling prairies and rugged mountains.
The park is home to a herd of 1,500 bison and is also home to elk, coyotes, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, river otters, pronghorn, mountain lions and wild burros. The park is known for its landscapes, scenic drives (Needles Highway and the Wildlife Loop), with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns.
For me one of the most interesting places in the park was Sylvan Lake, full of great beauty and photographic opportunities. Of course, the wildlife loop was also very interesting, but you have to be filled with great patience and compliance as one cannot always see all those wild animals that inhabit it.
Sylvan Lake was created in 1891 when Theodore Reder built a dam (the Sylvan Lake Water Dam) across Sunday Gulch Creek. The lake area offers picnic places, rock climbing, small rental boats, swimming, and hiking trails. It is also popular as a starting point for excursions to Black Elk Peak and The Needles. The lake was featured in Disney’s 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film made the lake appear to be located directly behind Mount Rushmore when in reality it is actually five miles southwest of Mount Rushmore.
The Needles Highway is more than 14-miles road (closed in the winter) — it’s a spectacular drive through pine and spruce forest, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen and rugged granite mountains. The road’s name comes from the needle-like granite formations which seem to pierce the horizon along the highway.
Mount Rushmore
NATIONAL MEMORIAL
American History, Alive in Stone…
Indeed, the majestic figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, surrounded by the beauty of South Dakota’s Black Hills, tell the story of the birth, growth, development and preservation of this great country. From the history of the earliest inhabitants to the diversity of the United States today, Mount Rushmore brings visitors face-to-face with the rich heritage we all share.
Visiting this place has been truly shocking; through the photographs I had seen I could not appreciate the magnitude of this monument. Between 1927 and the end of October 1941, sculptor Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers carved into the stone the busts of these four presidents representing the first 150 years of U.S. history. Each head is about 60 feet tall and on average the nose of each is nearly 20 feet long. To give character and expression to the faces on that scale required a masterful touch; Borglum gave the eyes a sparkle of life by leaving a column about 22 inches long as a pupil, which the sunlight makes stand out against the shadow it forms. The plaster models and tools used in the construction of the sculptures are still there.
Unfortunately, Borglum was not able to see his work completed; he died on March 29, 1941 at the age of 73, just before the monument was finished. The finishing touches were supervised by his son Lincoln Borglum, who as a teenager had worked as a supervisor at the beginning of the project.
Mount Rushmore was declared a national monument on March 3, 1925.
1880 Train
The Black Hills Central Railroad is a heritage railroad that operates in Keystone, South Dakota. It currently operates the 1880 Train on the former Keystone Branch of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) between Hill City and Keystone, South Dakota. This railroad line was originally built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) to serve mining and timber interests in the Black Hills. It reached Keystone on January 20, 1900 and was later used to haul equipment for carving nearby Mount Rushmore.
Devils Tower National Monument, a unique and striking geologic wonder steeped in Native American legend, is a modern-day national park and climbers’ challenge. Devils Tower sits across the state line in northeast Wyoming. The Tower is a solitary, stump-shaped granite formation that looms 1,267 feet above the tree-lined Belle Fourche River Valley, like a skyscraper in the country.
The two-square-mile park surrounding the tower was proclaimed the nation’s first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The park is covered with pine forests, woodlands, and grasslands. While visiting the park you are bound to see deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife. The mountain’s markings are the basis for Native American legend. One legend has it that a giant bear clawed the grooves into the mountainside while chasing several young Indian maidens.
The stone pillar is about 1,000 feet in diameter at the bottom and 275 feet at the top and that makes it the premier rock climbing challenge in the Black Hills. Hikers enjoy the Monument’s trails. The 1.25-mile Tower Trail encircles the base. This self-guided hike offers close-up views of the forest and wildlife, not to mention spectacular views of the Tower itself.
I can almost say that this was the last frame I shot this year that we are ending. I remember taking this photo on December 2nd at the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in Indiana. That 2-hour drive from my home cannot be forgotten as the return trip took me 4 hours due to several accidents on the road.
The trip was not the best because even though the website of this place said that there were around 27,000 sandhill cranes, I could barely see a few hundred. It is true that I was not there until sunset, which is supposed to be when there is more activity, but in any case, I don’t think the number will increase much more.
If I decide to come back in the future, I think the best idea would be to spend the night in a hotel so I can be there at sunset and sunrise, this way I think there will be better opportunities for good pictures.
Happy New Year 2022
Credits:
©Francisco Montes Photography