Lens ball in a tree with red berries on the edge of Covell Lake in Sioux Falls.

Lens ball in the snow and sunshine.

Lens ball on an old corner post under a South Dakota sunset.

Sunset east of Dell Rapids.

A particularly colorful post sunset sky in northern Minnehaha County.

The Arc of Dreams with Jackrabbit and Coyote colors on one of the coldest evenings in January.

Jack Frost’s handiwork on my storm door.

Sun dog sunset after a ground blizzard abated west of Sioux Falls.

A late winter, country sunset in rural Lake County.

The Arc of Dreams taken in late February with the lights of Sixth Street bridge traffic in the foreground.

The Arc of Dreams in early March after the ice came off the Big Sioux River.

The lens ball and the Arc of Dreams.

The lens ball and the Arc of Dreams.

The lens ball capturing the sky above pooling meltwater at Lake Vermillion.

The lens ball as sunset starts to change the color of the sky.

An early March sunset on the edge of Lake Vermillion.

The lens ball and sunset shot with a wide-angle lens.

The lens ball resting on a rock on the edge of Lake Vermillion just after sunset.

A Winter of Art

Mar 23, 2020

By Christian Begeman

When I started doing this photo column, I wondered from time to time just what I should share. The wise answer from my friends at the magazine was simple. Just show us what you are shooting and tell us a little about it. It was good advice, but this time around, I discovered its one flaw. What if I didn’t get out and shoot like normal? It’s tough enough to get out of the house with winter weather in January and February, but this year was even harder for me with an expanded work role, a couple of bouts with a stomach virus and a lower back problem mixed in just to make it interesting. Now, with the world in an unprecedented immobile state due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I really didn’t think I’d have a column to share with you this month. But then I remembered that good advice: Show us what you have been shooting. I haven’t stopped taking photos this winter, and I realized that the last two months may have been my most “artistic” winter to date.

It started with my secret Santa at work. I drew an accomplished photographer who does amazing portrait work. She gave me a lens ball, a simple, round ball of glass that I started seeing photographers use a few years ago as a new, unique and fun way to shoot images. That said, I didn’t consider it “my style.” Plus, I’m becoming cheaper as I get older, so I passed on buying one for myself. Bad decision. When I took the lens ball out for a photo session, I spent two hours playing in the snow like a kid, then another fascinating half hour with a typically amazing South Dakota winter sunset.

Later, when the South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota basketball teams squared off in the South Dakota Showdown, the Arc of Dreams in downtown Sioux Falls was illuminated in the schools’ colors. Since my day job partially consists of supporting Midco Sports Network, which was broadcasting the game, I found myself out shooting the Arc for the first time in a stiff wind and subzero temperatures. I’m not sure why I waited so long, as the Arc is a real work of art and provides a unique vista, especially at night.

In late February and early March, Sioux Falls hosted both the NSIC and Summit League conference basketball tournaments, both of which Midco Sports Network televises. So once again I found myself at the Arc shooting time lapses to be used in the broadcasts. While there for the third time this winter, I decided to take the lens ball and soon found myself having a whole lot of fun again on that brisk winter evening.

Just a few nights ago, after a snow came and melted, I took the lens ball to Lake Vermillion Recreation Area in rural McCook County. My goal was to play with reflections and see what kind of visual interest the lens ball would add. Again, I was amazed at what a seemingly little bauble of glass could do under the right circumstances.

So that’s what I’ve been shooting this winter, thank you very much. Actually, I mean that wholeheartedly to my secret Santa of 2019. Thank YOU very much!

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he's not working at Midco he is often on the road photographing South Dakota’s prettiest spots. Follow Begeman on his blog.