photography

Jess and Jayce

14 May posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

This weekend had my camera smokin’ as there was a LOT of photographing going on!

Friday there was a high school rodeo, and Sunday there was graduation for my niece; but Saturday, oh Saturday, was SO MUCH FUN!

I love taking photos, even if they’re the set up photos like you see from graduation, but when you get to put two awesome, good looking individuals together, well there’s NO way that can go wrong! And it allows my more “creative” juices get to flowing (though the rodeo photos I took this weekend are pretty creative too, I think. But you’ll have to wait to see those).

Saturday had me doing engagement photos for Jessica and Jayce. They’re getting married this fall, and they’ve been kind enough to ask me to photograph their wedding too! It’s always an honor to be asked to capture that special day!

I’m telling you, I had a super hard time narrowing down my favorites from the evening. The light was gorgeous, the bride-to-be is gorgeous and the future groom- well he has a smile that is infectious.

I’ll let you be the judge so you can decide which ones are your favorites, okay?

I wasn’t lying, eh?

There’s plenty more where these came from on my Facebook Page.

Happy Trails!

5 Comments
Filed Under: photography, pictures

Photo of the Week

11 May posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

This week you can purchase “Sun Flare In December” in a 16×24 size for $40+$10 S&H. Regularly priced at $55.92+ $10 S&H, you’re getting a pretty good discount, on a gorgeous photo that would be a great addition to any room!

Also, don’t forget that you can now shop my photos right from my Facebook page, and until the 20th, I’m offering a coupon code, “1500fans”, that will give you a 25% discount when you spend $25 on my photography site (due to time constraints, I simply cannot combine it with the above offer).

Happy Trails! Have a great weekend, everyone!

1 Comment
Filed Under: art, horses, photography, pictures

May Fan Photos

9 May posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Gumbo Lilies

I thought we’d do something fun this month, so here goes…

I’ve created a gallery, especially for you all to upload your photos.

For the remainder of the month of May upload your favorite photo (limit three per person, please)- for now it can be of anything! But it must be a photo you’ve taken, and at the end of the month I’ll pick my favorite, critique it, and the winner will be given an 11×14 of their choice from any of my photos.

Eventually we can choose a theme for the month if we think that’s a good idea!

We can all leave comments/critiques on the photos in this gallery, so it will be a good learning experience all around! I know a lot of you that ask for photography help, and this is one way I think I can help!

Who’s excited?

Use the link below to upload your photo. Be sure to include your name/email so I can contact you should you win!

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/guest/h4Ct64/MayFanPhotos

Now scurry off, you! There’s photos to upload!

2 Comments
Filed Under: contests, photography, pictures

A New Lens Around the Ranch

2 May posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Last week I ordered a new, wide angle lens.

Now for you camera junkies, this piece of glass is a 28mm Wide Angle f/1.8 Canon Ultrasonic. The reviews say it should be an L series lens. I’m not going to disagree. And because I know what I’m doing with a camera (or not) I’ll give you guys the “technical” details of each shot below.

I picked it up from the post office yesterday morning, first thing, and then ran around the ranch taking photos in between doing chores.

Here’s Sookie, stalking something.

ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/7999

You can really see her missing-due-to-frost-bite ear in this one:

ISO 320, f/1.8, 1/7999

And more Sookie, because I’m sure you’re not bored with seeing her yet:

ISO 250, f/1.8, 1/7999

ISO 320, f/1.8, 1/7999

Then there’s the fence:

ISO 200, f/4, 1/2500

And everyone’s favorite view of the fence, as was evidenced on Facebook last night:

ISO 200, f/4, 1/1250

Maybe these are contributing to my allergies:

ISO 200, f/2, 1/6400

Same as above.

My traveling partner from the trip, Crystal:

Same as above.

Tiger my wild Tom Cat:

ISO 200, f/2, 1/640

And no photoshoot I do would be complete without photos of everyone’s favorite ranch dog, Jake:

ISO 800, f/2, 1/3200

ISO 320, f/2, 1/3200

ISO 250, f/1.8, 1/1600
And my favorite shot of Jake for the day:

ISO 320, f/2, 1/3200

Because I had extra energy last night I decided to make this with three of the photos I took of Crystal:

I guess stapling up 1/4 mile of fence didn’t take enough out of me yesterday!

Now that you’re all bored to tears, go enter my 1500 fans contest. Hurry!

3 Comments
Filed Under: art, photography, pictures, spring

I’m Brad And I’m Bad!

1 May posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

A couple weeks ago I got to photograph my first senior boy. Maybe for boys senior photos aren’t such a big deal or maybe I’m just not known to the boys around. Either way, I felt pretty fortunate to be given the opportunity. He and his girlfriend and her mother came to the ranch and a great time was had by all!

He’s a pretty handsome fella, no?

He brought along the most adorable puppy. We’re all lucky I didn’t just take photos of the dog all day!

Yeah, so I couldn’t resist!

Personally, I think he has an awesome smile!

We really had a good time. We were giving him grief about being a GQ model:

But look, don’t you think he could?

And we tried to get him to goof off. This was as good as it got:

Ok, maybe not. We did manage to get him to laugh so hard he had to take a minute!

I sure had fun, taking these, and I hope he had as much fun as I did and will enjoy the photos for many years to come. Thanks for being a good sport, Brad!

Happy Trails!

3 Comments
Filed Under: photography, pictures

Scatter Butte

23 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

I feel it is now worth mentioning (and I happen to have time right now) to share with you some good news. Some of you may remember my photo: Scatter Butte. Last fall I entered it into the Ex Arte Equinus International Art Horse competition. It was selected as as finalist. There were over a thousand entries from 40 countries, and I felt honored that the judges found it good enough to place in such high regard.

I’m offering it as a signed and numbered, limited edition, wrapped canvas in an 11×28 size.

I know you’ll love it as much as I do.

For those that don’t remember the photo, here you go:

I’m offering you the chance to purchase this now- instead of simply locally- as it’s currently offered. Priced at $215 plus shipping and tax where applicable, I think you’ll find this is a great addition to any art collection. Please allow 4-6 weeks from the time of order to the time it is shipped.

Happy Trails!

2 Comments
Filed Under: art, horses, photography

A Girl and Her Horses

17 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Last week I got the opportunity to photograph a gorgeous girl and two beautiful horses. I love doing senior photos. I mean I absolutely love them! They are even more fun when there’s horses and a cowgirl involved.

I shared a lot of them on Facebook, but for those of you who’re not on Facebook, and who may have missed them, I’m here to show you my favorites!