In South Dakota the time between winter and spring can be long and, like this last week, ugly. Fr. Tony Grossenburg, a Catholic priest on the Standing Rock Reservation found beauty in this transition. You can see more of his work at www.flickr.com/photos/frtony/.
Another view of the Wakpala spring flood. The church pictured is the Catholic Churc of St. Bede, the oldest structure in old Wakpala. The normal creek bed is to the east of the church, but now has covered all of old Walkpala. We’ll have to wait for the waters to subside to see the extent of the damage.
This is looking east at old Wakpala. In Lakota Wakpala means “Oak Creek”, and this is the name of the creek that flows to the east of the town. The creek is swollen to such an extent that it has inundated old Wakpala. The blue building is the Assembly of God church, and the next building is the Post Office. The Post Master is still on duty, but I ‘m thinking it would be a good idea to leave soon!
This isn’t in focus, I know. If I would have been quicker I would have been able to switch the shutter speed, but I still like the freedom expressed.
flooding from the Grand River on 3/22/2009