I've been stalking a tree, for a couple of years. It's not far from work so I stop to see it on the way home occasionally when I have my camera with me, and have taken pictures several times. They are nice pictures of  lonely tree, but somewhat lacking. I've been waiting for a great sky to really enhance the photo, but nothing spectacular so far....until tonight.  I was heading home in another direction and glanced over to the West and saw the setting sun starting to shoot color up to the under side of the clouds...and I didn't have my camera with me. I made a u-turn in the road anyway and drove down to see the tree. The sky was changing by the minute and I knew that it would look good with the tree in the foreground. I had learned before that the view that worked well for me was with my DSLR and a 100mm lens and the camera on a tripod standing by the fenceline. I had none of those tonight, but I did have my iPhone. Sometimes the best camera to take a picture is the one that you have with you, and the iPhone is all I had tonight.

I have been inspired by Mark Hirsh and his photo series "That Tree", where he took pictures of a lonely Bur Oak tree in a field with his iPhone every day for a year (click on the Gallery link on his web site to see his photos). I certainly haven't been doing it every day, but I have been photographing this tree occasionally  for a couple of years - long before I knew of Mark's project.

The iPhone has a much wider angle lens than I usually used from an easy vantage point, so, I had to venture out in to the cow pasture to get close enough to get the shot that I wanted. I normally have in the back of my car a tripod, boots and coveralls or a rain suit to slip in to when I need to take photos off the road, but I had cleaned out the car last week and didn't have my usual accessories. There I was in my slacks and dress shoes, just coming from work, tromping around in a muddy field, dodging cow pies. Sacrifices for a photo. I really wish I had the tripod though. I have a new app on my iPhone called Camera+. It has much better camera functions than the native camera controls and allow for easy selective focus and exposure compensation, allowing me to adjust exposure in the sky to somewhat get the effect that I wanted. I couldn't have done this with the normal iPhone camera settings. Overall, I was pleased with the photos I took, although not the same quality as the DSLR I think they look okay on the web page.

After an exciting day at the Buffalo Roundup (see previous post) at Custer State Park in South Dakota, I got up early to look for a sunrise photo opp. Unfortunately, staying in Custer City we were on the wrong side of the mountains (hills?) and it was a longer drive than I had expected to get to the top to see the sunrise. Driving on the Wildlife Loop road on the south end of the park I spotted a Coyote prancing down the middle of the road in the twilight about 15 minutes before sunrise. I got the camera ready, resting it on a beanbag lens rest on the door window and slowly approached the spot were I had last seen the Coyote. To my surprise it was laying in the grass, about 30 feet from the road. I took several shots from the car window without even shutting off the engine and then the Coyote got up and walked away, poking its nose in several prairie dog holes along the way. This was just the start to an interesting morning. A short while later I saw several Wild Turkey walking along the road and in the grass along the road, Western Meadow Larks, Mountain Bluebirds, Magpies, Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Prairie Dogs, and of course Bison.
Click to see more photos of Custer State Park Wildlife (bottom half of the page).

The "Buffalo Roundup" at Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota is an annual event that draws thousands of spectators. Every year the park staff and a few select riders on horses and in pickups round-up the 1,300+ roaming Buffalo (ok, I know that they are really American Bison, but the event is called the "Buffalo Roundup"). The animals are herded in to the corrals where they vaccinate the young and cull out a few hundred animals for sale. According to what we have read they try to maintain the herd at about 1,000 so that there is ample grazing land for them. 

We arrived at the entrance of the park before sunrise and waited in our car until the gates opened at about 6:15 am. There was a long line of cars both directions and there seemed to be much competition to get the best spot to viewing and photography. There were two viewing areas and we were at the North viewing area on the side of a hill facing the valley. We had a long wait, but a great view as the herd of Bison came thundering over the hill across the valley and were eventually herded in to the pastures adjacent to the corrals. It was a cloudy, drizzly, dreary day and had rained the night before. I had imagined the Bison stirring up clouds of dust in the morning sun as they stampeded across the prairie, but it didn't quite happen that way.  The photos were taken with telephoto lenses, because they never did get really close, but I still got some good shots. You can do a bit of searching online and learn much more about the event.
See more photos of the "Buffalo Roundup" and Custer State Park.

The migrating Ruby-throated Hummingbirds showed up at the feeders just before Labor Day. The adult males at first and later the females and/or immature males. It's been a busy time of the year for me, so I didn't get out to take pictures of the males but I get a few shots of the females one day a couple of weeks ago. These were taking on a sunny day, no flash and a 1/2000th of a second shutter speed.
See more hummingbirds and other birds in my backyard.