Photo by Sherman

The evening of September 20 Casper had a hard rain and hail storm. It turned into a good soaking, all night. The late Summer rain was great. The next morning I was somewhat surprised to see that Casper Mountain had snow. I say somewhat because Wyoming can have snow anytime of the year, especially in the mountains.

I had thought about taking a drive on Casper Mountain this last day of Summer to check out if the Quaking Aspen leaves had started to turn yet. It was cloudy that morning with very little blue sky. I wasn’t too excited about taking pictures because I tend to like blue skies in my photos. Besides, I had several things to get done at home, so I postponed my mountain drive until later in the afternoon. I try to take pictures when I get the opportunity which is not necessarily the best time for taking good pictures. The best photo times are in the morning or in the evening because there is better light. I know this to be true, but if I waited for just those times, I’d never get any pictures.

By early afternoon my jobs at home were finished, and the sun was breaking through the clouds. Blue sky was beginning to show. Now I had time to drive up Casper Mountain, and it was an amazing drive, even though it was not considered the “best” time for photos. It was a convenient time for me. Fresh snow was hanging from pine boughs. The Spruce and Pines were dark green, and the best part was that the Quaking Aspen had begun to change. Their golden hue was very visible in amongst all the dark green of the forest which was laced with fluffy white snow.

Even the pines, blanketed in their first snow of the season contrasted against the sharp cliffs of Casper Mountain near Lookout Point, and were showing off for me.

Casper Mountain Road

Almost everywhere I looked, there were splashes of color bursting from the forest. In places, the Quakies were like flames of orange as they contrasted against the snow-covered timberland. Others were explosions of color detonating from the blanket of snow.

Flames of Aspen

Burst of Color Everywhere

Aspen Glory

Gold in the Rocks

Gold in Lodgepole Pines

Cabin Framed in Gold

It was an amazing couple of hours of photography. I wouldn’t have even been on the mountain if I’d have decided to wait for the “right” time of early morning or late evening light. The time turned out to be the perfect time for me, even though it was not the traditional time for taking photographs. Consequently, I suggest photographers take pictures when they are able.

In a few days, I’ll have these pictures displayed at my photo store so that you can see them larger and framed. http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/

It’s late Summer in Wyoming and I was driving along Garden Creek Road in search of Mule Deer pictures. This is a short drive along the base of part of Casper Mountain. I make this excursion from time to time just for the purpose of taking pictures. My drive today did not give me the opportunity for deer pictures, but I did notice that some of the leaves were just slightly beginning to change. It’s not Fall yet, but there was definitely change in the air. The nights recently have been cool, even down to the low forties and maybe cooler depending on one’s location. The Willows and Cottonwoods are still mostly green but that touch of gold has definitely caressed some of the vegetation.

“But wait!” I say to myself. “It’s still Summer! Fall can’t come yet! I’m not ready! Fall will come soon enough. Let Summer hang on a little while longer.” The weatherman says Summer like weather will linger somewhat more. That’s fine with me. That warm Summer sun still feels great and right now, isnot too hot. Today’s drive did bring back memories, and I did reminiscence of earlier times of Summer when I did make that Garden Creek drive and capture deer pictures.

In July I had the privilege of finding a young Mule Deer doe standing in a bed of wild sunflowers. She stood there just staring at me and and munching her lunch. The wildflowers with their golden buttons inside bright yellow petals helped to frame and enhance the photo. They gave the picture color and brightness. They helped to make the picture a better one. The sky was much like today, crystal clear, blue, with bright sunshine. A typical Casper, Wyoming, day in late Summer. The doe was right along the road patiently grazing the soft, green grass which was almost as tall as she was. As I stopped along the road and rolled the car window down, she curiously looked up at me as she chewed. Pieces of grass stuck out of her mouth and moved with each munch.

I quickly pulled up my camera and shot the picture. I enjoy my auto focus and auto exposure settings on my Pentax K20 digital camera, especially when I need a quick picture. With deer sometimes quick is all the photographer gets. I’ve to often been in similar positions while hand adjusting my older cameras and the deer would run off before I could focus and take a light reading. This time after the first quick shots using the auto functions, I was able to switch my camera to the manual setting, focus, and compose because this lady wasn’t about to leave her garden feast of food. I wanted her eyes and nose to be in focus. Therefore, manual focus worked better for me even though auto focus was quicker. Sometimes with auto focus the lens can be fooled by something that is more predominate than what I had in mind and didn’t notice. By using auto focus first, just to get a picture, and then manual focus to get a finer focus, I was able to come up with the picture I wanted. I eventually drove away as she meandered on into the nearby hills after showing off for me and my camera.

Fall, come when you are ready. I’ll have my camera out and attempt to capture your colorful beauty. But while Summer remains, I’ll entertain myself with some late Summer excursions and soak in the warm sunshine under brilliant, steel blue skies and continue to hunt pictures with my Pentax.

Check out my photographs at http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/

Mule Deer Doe along Garden Creek Road

As I watched the cowboys rein their horses around and ride over the hill covered in swaying green-gold grass of late August, I felt I should be with them.  I knew they were going to roundup the cattle herd they would work later.  I had done that many times when I was employed on ranches out of Big Piney, Wyoming.  I felt I should be with them and that somehow I was shirking my job, but, of course, that was almost 45 years ago and now my job wasn’t to herd cattle.  I was with the Casper Photography Club and we were to photograph a working cattle ranch for fun.  I must admit it did bring back  favorable memories of years gone by.

It wasn’t long and the cowboys could be seen with the first of the slick, black,  Angus cattle moving down the grass carpeted hill. We could hear the critters plodding through the deep, golden turf and discern the cowboys’ voices as they encouraged them on with their sharp yells.

My lens wasn’t strong enough to bring them in really close, but I was able to get a good panorama after they were closer.  And for this part of the photography, that was just fine.  It was fun to observe them in this wide screen view.  I knew that later I’d be able to get some good closeups.

I like panoramas but by moving in closer and cropping out, I can sometimes get some more artistic pictures.  When I taught photography to 9th graders, that’s what I tried to teach them to do.  They tended to like to manage one faraway shot of their subject and call it good.  I encouraged them to move in close and look for details.  As the cattle were herded into the corral, I began to scrutinize the area for closeups and details.

Here are some of my closeups from using my zoom lens to crop out unwanted parts:

A photographer doesn’t always need a picture of the entire herd.  A closeup of a single animal can work also.

Or, maybe, a close up of the herd with the added quality of dust that is kicked up by the animals as they are moved.

However, my favorite topics would be the cowboys, horses, and their western gear.  I moved in close with these pictures and cut and cropped them to create more artistic images.

My favorite photo, however, is when I didn’t move in close.  Instead  I just changed positions. I walked a ways through the almost knee deep foliage of the hill and shot back into the bright morning sun so that the light was disbursed by the clouds of dust.  Using my zoom lens to cut out distracting areas I composed and waited until the opportune moment when the cowboy was waving his rope to encourage the reluctant cattle to be on their way.  I was hoping for a silhouette, but the original color picture was not just what I wanted.  In my Photoshop Elements program, I removed all the color and I think this romantic photo is better as a black and white image.

This photo trip did bring back many memories of when I worked on ranches as a teenager. I was very fortunate to have lived through what many would say was a time of real cowboys and working cattle ranches. On this day I was allowed to live that idealized time again but through my camera lens instead of horseback.

Pleases visit my photo store at http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/ to see more of my photography.

It is always fun and part of family tradition to go out to “the Ranch”. This past weekend it was time to make the trip again.  My wife’s mother owns some land west of Casper that Nanny and Papa named the Knothole Ranch years ago.  It’s not really a ranch in the common sense of the word, but that is what they wanted to call it.  It is a pretty area of scrub cedar, pine, grasses, sagebrush, rabbit brush, and captivating rock formations.  Wildlife is abundant especially antelope and deer, but there is also elk, cougar, hawks, eagles and more.

Fishing is always a fun activity,  especially for the little kids.  Papa started the tradition of taking each grandchild to the ponds and teaching them how to fish.  I don’t think any of the older grandchildren missed their turn with Papa.  We still hear his voice echoing over the ponds, “you didn’t know your papa could fish like that, did you?”  Now it is up to the next generation to teach the younger ones.  This time it was Bob’s turn to begin to teach his son Kyle.

Below is more of an environmental snapshot of Bob and Kyle.  When taking family pictures, it is just fine to include parts of the environment to give a sense of place.

Bob teaching Kyle to fish

Debbie says the best fishing story ever was when Scott told the story about when Papa and he were fishing on one side and Nanny on the other side.  She was using three single hooks.  When she threw it out, she brought three fish in, took a look at them and said, “yep, they look good”, and was done.  After that,  Papa looked at Scott and said, “and that’s a good woman.”  Seems everyone has a fish story about Nanny and Papa.

There are other things to do at the ranch besides fishing.  One of my favorites is just to walk around with my camera.  My challenge to myself this time was to find some exciting color. At the end of Summer there is little color in this area, so off I went to find some.  There is a multitude of green and brown and grays but I was hoping for some reds or yellows.  I found some yellow right behind the cabin.

This photo shows that color can enhance a photo and can even be found at midday in central Wyoming.  A person just needs to look.  Here we see the color of the Sun Flowers and Rabbit Brush not to mention a beautiful blue Wyoming sky.  The greens, browns and grays don’t look so bad either.

Another fun part of walking is when my niece, Diana, insists on going on a short “jaunt”.  There’s a story behind the word “jaunt”, but that’s for another time.  She loves to visit her dogs’ graves which have been there for many years.  This year she carried some wildflowers to decorate the graves.

The jaunt was pleasant.  We kicked up the pungent smell of sagebrush as we meandered up the sage and thistle-covered road.  The fragrance of sagebrush is so awesome during Summer. As we sauntered up the road, grasshoppers kept jumping at our feet and hawks and eagles hunted overhead.  We saw the shadow of the hawk before we saw the hawk itself.  It sure made me realize what rabbits would see just before a hawk would grab them with their sharp talons.

This year I didn’t climb the hill where the dogs are located but Diana did.  I waited at Picnic Rock.  It is a flat conglomerate rock that looks almost like a picnic table, thus the name.   A conglomerate rock is a rock with gravel cemented together by nature.  Millions of years ago the gravel was washed down from some long gone mountain.  The gravel was covered with sediments and buried where time, heat and pressure forced the gravel to be cemented into its own rock. Over millions of years of erosion, the conglomerate was finally re-exposed as a conglomerate rock.  “The ranch”has many of these rocks.

Picnic Rock is a conglomerate rock

Just showing you Picnic Rock doesn’t show you the gravel conglomerate.  Take a look at this close up picture below to see the gravel mixed in with other sediments that helped to keep it all together. The moss and lichens look pretty cool also.

To give perspective I included a bottle cap.  This is a photo technique so the viewer can better understand what they are seeing and  especially to compare size.

As I waited for Diana, I surveyed the surrounding hills.  Way off in the distance on a faraway hill I could barely see an antelope doe and her two fawns.  Shortly a buck ambled up to them and with authority herded them down the hill out of site.  It must be that time of year when bucks begin to collect their harem. It was too far for a photograph even with my telephoto lense but was sure fun to watch. “The ranch” is a great place to watch wildlife and photograph wildlife while soaking in some warm Wyoming sun and waiting on your niece. Later, she came back smiling and happy after communing with her long deceased dogs.

Soon it was time to gather everyone up and head back to town. We loaded into the vehicles and drove back to town concluding  another fantastic day relishing “the ranch” and sharing memories.  The tradition lives on…..

Please check out my photo store at http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/

Seeing 1500 high school students screaming, excited, and motivated about Latin is a site to behold. Latin geeks for sure.  I have just returned from being a part of just such a thing.  The NJCL (National Junior Classical League) recently held their 56th annual convention.  This year it was at the University of California – Davis. Latin students traveled from most of the states in the United States and even from parts of Canada to participate.   Can you imagine that kids traveled hundreds and some thousands of miles to take tests? Not only academic tests but there is competition in art, performance, athletics, and certamen (college bowl).  My wife is the sponsor of the Wyoming delegation, and of course, I was drafted to be the chaperone for her male students.  Not a problem as her students are always great.  The NJCL is loaded with awesome kids.

As important as they are, tests aren’t what it’s all about. It’s more about competition, learning, having fun,  and comradeship.  According to the NJCL creed,  it is about students seeking the best through searching the classical past of Greece and Rome.  NJCLers believe that an acquaintance with these two great civilizations will help them to understand and appraise the world of today.  They believe we are indebted to these great ancient civilizations for our government and laws, literature, and culture. Learning about ancient  Greece and Rome will will give them a understanding of our world today because so much of the west is beholden  to these cultures for our own world of today.

One of my favorite days of the convention is dedicated as a “Day in Old Rome”.  Everyone dresses in togas for a grand march and a banquet.  It’s quite a site to see 1500 students screaming and hollering and showing their spirit while wearing togas at the General Assembly.  People were flashing their cameras and trying to record the seeming chaos occurring in the hall.  I became caught up in the frenzy and used my on camera flash to also take pictures of the excitement.

Then it dawned on me.  Our one camera flashes could not light the entire arena.  We might be able to reach out and adequately light maybe 10 to 15 feet in front of our cameras.  Visions came to me of seeing this occurrence of flashes going off in large Coliseums I have visited, and I would think to myself, “crazy people, don’t they know they won’t get anything that way. They are too far away.” Well, here I was caught in the same trap, shooting pictures in a large building using my flash and expecting my camera to see the scene as my eyes were seeing it.  I realized what my eyes were seeing in the hall were not what the camera and flash would see. Consequently, I turned my flash off and tried to hand hold my camera using a slower shutter speed and a larger f/stop opening in hopes of catching the action but not blurring the image too much.

As you can see here, with on camera flash, only the people nearest the camera are adequately lighted.  The people in the distance are in the dark.

After turning my flash off and adjusting my camera for a proper exposure using the manual exposure setting, I managed a better picture if my purpose was to show more of the people in the distance.  I think this picture, even with some movement blur,  gives you a much better appreciation for the crazy, wild kids yelling and jumping and declaring themselves as having spirit for a “Day in Old Rome”.

Students can get excited for learning.  The NJCL proves it year in and year out.  Kids do want to test themselves academically and really don’t care if they are called “Latin Geeks”.  They wear the term proudly.

To see more of my pictures, take a look at my photography store at http://SamSherman.imagekind.com

Recently we were returning to Casper from North Idaho.  To do this by air one must fly from Spokane, Washington, to Salt Lake City, then on to Casper.  The Salt Lake stopover was very pleasant this time as we had plenty of time to sit around the airport and read or just look out the large windows onto the runway.  As we awaited our next flight,  I checked my e-mail and drank coffee.  Looking up, I noticed there was a beautiful sunset over the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. Closing my computer, I pulled my camera from the bag and  attempted to take some pictures through the windows.  I kept getting an ugly reflection caused by those large windows and the activity in the airport. I realized I didn’t have time to look around for fewer reflections as  it was about time to catch my plane.  I stashed my camera back in the bag, at least knowing that I had witnessed a fantastic western sunset with oranges, reds, purples and other assorted colors even if the pictures I had taken weren’t really very good.  I knew my pictures had problems because of the magic of digital photography.  I could see the pictures on the back of my camera.

As with any airport there is a wait time for zone loading and other incomprehensible delays while waiting to board.  The same is true at Salt Lake.  Once we were given permission to board, it was a long walk to the plane.  For our short flight to Casper, we loaded outside and walked up the steps to the plane.  As I was walking out and up, I noticed the western sky was still very colorful, but the sun had set.  Just as I was going to walk into the plane, the thought came to me, why not get my camera out, hand hold it, use the railing for support, take a picture,  and see what happens. Fortunately, my camera was handy in my backpack.  Out came the camera, and I had time for at least one click.

As I aimed, I knew I wanted the colors in the sky to be the main theme of the picture.  Consequently, I deliberately composed the picture, so the results would be lots of sky and very little ground area.  I did want the Oquirrh Mountains to show as a silhouette but did not want the runway to dominate the foreground.  Therefore, my horizon line is low allowing the sky to dominate.   Notice that in this composition the horizon does not cut the picture in half.  Obviously, this was done to accent  the sky.

I might add here that in landscape photography, it is usually better to NOT cut the picture in half with the horizon.  You might instead decide what is more relevant and compose accordingly.  Obviously in this photograph I wanted the sky to be the most important part of the picture, so I composed for it to dominate.

For those camera buffs I was using my Pentax K20D camera, ISO 100, Pentax 28mm to 250 mm zoom lens set at 1/60 second, f/4, focal length 32.5.

The end result was a delightful picture of the alpineglow (the rosy light of the setting or rising sun seen on high mountains) as seen from our airplane when we boarded to go back home to Casper after a very rewarding and enjoyable trip to North Idaho.

To see more of my photography please go to http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/.  Your comments would be greatly appreciated as well as any purchases.

Back in early June the Casper Photography Club sponsored a photo scavenger hunt for its members.  We met for breakfast to determine the themes of the hunt and learn the rules.  One rule was that we could only take two pictures of each theme.  We picked 10 themes: low angle, triplets, water, wheels, selective focus, entrance, reflections, texture, wild things,  and lines.  We selected partners by drawing and then set out with our partner to accomplish our task of finding pictures to fit the themes.

Today I would like to discuss three of the themes: relections, entrance, and wild things.

Reflections:  My partner and I searched the downtown area and finally found a building with lots of windows.  As we drove by I knew this would make a good place as reflections were everywhere.  A Challenge would be to exclude parts of the reflections that were distracting and include reflections that would enhance the picture.  The trick was to look through  the camera’s viewfinder and see what was there.  I have a 28 mm to 250mm  zoom lens on my Pentax K10 so was able to zoom in and out and select parts of the reflections that interested me.  Viewing the reflections from street level gave one view of reflected trees. it was not bad.

First reflections pictures

After crossing the street, I noticed some large billowing clouds reflecting in the windows.  This was much more interesting.  It’s the one I entered in our scavenger hunt.  It won first place.

I felt these clouds made this picture better than the first.

Another theme was “wild things”.   I envisioned pictures of crazy people doing wild and fun things.  We couldn’t find anything like that as we drove around Casper but I’m sure if we looked long enough, we probably could.  What Casper does have is plenty of Antelope.  We found some of these critters out by Casper College.  They were accustomed to humans so let us drive up close to them.  I didn’t get out of the car as that would probably make them run.  I just took the pictures out of the car window.  Not an unusual thing around Casper.  My first picture included to much.  It’s ok to include more than one antelope but this first picture was not what I was looking for.

This picture shows to much and the animals are not in very photogenic positions.

My suggestion is to crop out.  Zoom in closer and simplify.  I found another Antelope with this group.  He was alone allowing me to simplify by zooming in closer. Once again I took the picture from the car window.  It’s a better photograph because of zooming in and simplifying.  This photograph won first place in the “wild thing” theme.

Move in and simplify.

One last theme for today is “entrance”.  This was a difficult theme to find.  Sure, there are lots of entrances around Casper but most aren’t real interesting.  We drove up to the Trails Center and found an interesting entrance.   Once again I zoomed in and simplified.  I cropped out a garbage can which would not add anything to the picture.  I liked the way the arches led the viewer into the picture.  The shadows of the windows added interest too.   This is one of those pictures I felt comfortable with and did not take another.  I thought it would work for the theme and could not be improved for the purposes of the scavenger hunt.  I was right. It won first place for the theme “entrance.”

First place "entrances".

Here’s another option my wife, Sandy, mentioned to me.  For a family of photographers or just those who have cameras, use the idea of a photo scavenger hunt as a family project.   Pick your own themes and rules.  Go for it. Give it a try.  If you do, let me know how it turned out.

Don’t forget to view my photo gallery at  http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/

My son, Scott, took me to a place not far from his new house in North Idaho to take some pictures of an old barn.  As I was photographing the barn, I heard some strange screeching noises.  As I looked up, there was an Osprey nest with an Osprey peering down at me telling me I wasn’t wanted.  I didn’t want to disturb her any more but she flew off any way.  She swooped down and around me and scolded me to get out of there.

I thought I might as well make the most of the situation and get a photo of an Osprey in flight if I could quickly and then leave.  I knew I didn’t have time to change the settings on my 35 mm digital Pentax camera before she would be gone or at least more upset with me.   I quickly found her in my telephoto zoom lens and clicked my shutter. I took several before she was out of range,  most were not good.  I managed to take one picture I thought was acceptable which you can see below.  I was surprised any part of her was in focus much less her eyes.  But her head and eyes do seem to be in focus. When taking wildlife photos, it is best to have their eyes in focus.  I lucked out on this one. Her wings are blurred because I apparently still had my shutter speed set somewhat slow from photographing the barn.

The lesson I learned was to be prepared for any event when out photographing in outdoor areas.  You might not be totally ready for some very interesting photo situations.

I hope to upload some Idaho pictures to my gallery at http://SamSherman.imagekind.com/ next week.  In the meantime, feel free to go there and see what I have already.

I have been spending some quality time with my son, Scott and his wife, Tonya in North Idaho. Part of the reason being here is to take some photos.   Last night we walked down to Tonya’s parent’s house on the river to watch the fireworks set off by the neighbors.  I have taken photos of fireworks in the past and always followed the rules such as using a tripod and shutter release.  Since we flew here in an airplane, I didn’t bring my tripod or cable release. They were left in Wyoming.  My challenge was how do get some fireworks pictures without a tripod or a cable release.   As it became darker, I kept thinking I should try someway to photograph these fireworks just so I could say I tried. The neighbors were creating a spectacular display which was almost as good as some cities do.  The colors were bright and would drift down in their beautiful burst. I could feel my photo excitement building.

I took out my 35mm digital  Pentax and set the camera for manual exposure and manual focus.  Focusing for infinity usually is good for these long distance pictures.   For those of you not familiar with the B setting, that allows the photographer to keep the shutter open as long as he/s wants.  Usually at this point I’d set the camera on the tripod, screw a cable release in the the shutter and aim and shoot through several burst of color.  A cable release would help to keep the camera steady on the tripod and help reduce camera shake.  Using the shutter release and keeping the shutter open through  few burst  can result in some nice fireworks pictures.

With neither a tripod nor a cable release I knew I’d probably not get any good shots,  so the challenge would be to try anyway and see what happens.  As the night sky darkened, and the fireworks began to be less  I thought I’d better get with it or lose my chance. I just sat there, hand held the camera and clicked the shutter open for several seconds and waited through several bursts.  I tried to hold the camera steady while bracing it in my hands and arms.  I used this method for several different bursts of fireworks while realizing I’d just be lucky to end up with anything I liked.

After many failures and some not much better than failures, the picture below seemed to be the best one.  This is not bad for hand holding using the B setting and holding the shutter open  for several seconds.

This is my first blog post so please forgive me if I was not clear in what I wrote.  Ask questions and comment.