Category: columns-photo

By Christian Begeman

I have an affinity for black and white photography. I learned how to develop and print black and white photos in my college days at the University of Sioux Falls. Monochrome is simple, yet evocative. It can convey a sense of timelessness and elegance. It can also be poetic. Ansel Adams, an American master at photography, has both inspired and taught countless photo enthusiasts like me. I’m especially a fan of his use of color filters in the field to get his photos to look a certain way when printed. For example, on a blue sky, sunny day, he would often use a red filter. The result turned the azure sky into nearly black when printing. This technique allows for clouds as well as flora and fauna, with their contrasting lighter tones, to stand out.

The digital age has dramatically changed photography since the days of Adams. One of the beautiful things about modern editing programs is that many of them allow an editor to dial into the individual color channels of a photo and manipulate the image by sliders and dials instead of filters and chemicals. Photoshop even has presets to mimic the red, orange and yellow filters that Adams so often used. I try to post a black and white country church photo every Wednesday on the Prairie Sanctuaries Facebook page. Many of them are shot on blue sky days with white clouds. I use the red filter technique as a starting point in editing to give the darker skies a more eye-catching contrast against the often-white churches.

Last summer, it dawned on me to actually shoot a church at night to get a naturally dark sky instead of using the red filter. I actually stumbled upon the idea. I was chasing some Northern lights in Butte and Harding County and by the time I got to South Cave Hills Church, northwest of Buffalo, clouds had begun to roll in from the north and the aurora was quickly fading. Since I was already there, I took a photo. Once I had it back in editing mode, I couldn’t get the green cast from nearby yard lights out of the image. On a whim, I converted it to black and white. It was a revelation. The stars and clouds above the church suddenly grabbed my attention in a whole new way.

On my way home to Isabel over Christmas, I drove through Trail City on Highway 20 and noticed that all the lights were on in the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. I stopped to shoot the image and, once again, the black and white version seemed to pop more than the color image. Because of these two instances, I made it my mission to try more black and white night photography this winter. I even re-edited a few of last summer’s photos of a lightnting storm and the Milky Way with a prairie windmill to see how they would look in monochrome.

So here are 16 black and white night images for your viewing pleasure. Most were made within the last month as I tried new scenes like the city lights of Sioux Falls and dark sky areas like Palasades State Park or abandoned farmsteads. I realize others may not be as enthusiastic about black and white, but I had a lot of fun. I always learn something when I try something new. And with our unusually mild February, what better way to spend those long winter nights than outside under the stars?

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

By Christian Begeman

The simplicity of a single leaf yet to fall, blazing orange in the early evening light. A long, straight road heading into the heart of evening. A lone bison against fiery clouds. Winter’s first blast against the straight walls of a country church. Visual eloquence. Nature being itself. Time churning, seasons turning. Each vision an echo of the reminder we all see this time of year. The seasons of growing, of life, have come to an end and winter has begun to reign on the high plains.

What if a photograph, or a series of photographs could capture that mood of transition? Recently a co-worker loaned me a DVD of longtime National Geographic photographer DeWitt Jones talking about his experience. One of his tips was simple, yet profound. Ask yourself,”What in the scene in front of you is good?” Once you’ve pinpointed that, then work to eliminate all the things that would distract from that one good thing you want to capture.

This isn’t easy to accomplish. Our world tends to be very complicated and full of things to see and do, and we are tempted to capture it all in one fell swoop. I’m as guilty as the next person. That is one of the reasons I wanted to try the simplicity idea. My tool of choice became the telephoto lens. Most photographers tend to think of the long lens as a sport or wildlife lens. However, it can also work wonders in isolating the detail of a leaf against an abstract background. Keeping your aperture low also helps the blur, or”bokah,” of the background stay pleasantly out of focus and less distracting.

I use a 100-400mm lens whenever I can. Sometimes I’ll even add a 1.4 extender, which gets me even closer to the subject. This set-up is also great for capturing birds. By November, most of the summer species have fled for warmer weather, but colorful and lively birds can still be found. While walking the trails of the Sioux Falls Outdoor Campus the day after our first snow, I was intrigued to watch a flock of finches, field sparrows and dark-eyed juncos expertly pick and eat the seeds out of the tall grass and dried out sunflower heads. A small, downy woodpecker flew out to a nearby tree while I stood there trying capture the simple beauty of these busy little bursts of life liven up a cold November day. Simple beauty sometimes happens where you least expect it. That’s the fun of trying new techniques and attempting to take images in a new way.

On Thanksgiving Day, after our feast, Dad and I went for a drive to catch the sunset. It had been cloudy and generally dreary for a few days, and the break on the western horizon gave evidence that the sun might make an appearance. The day was as still as you can get in the vast expanse of rural Dewey County. We drove to an abandoned church north and east of Firesteel and waited. When the sun burst out and the colors came alive, coyotes howled to the north and the sky began to make magic. The sun proceeded to paint the clouds various shades for 20 minutes until the light was gone. That simple beauty may have been brief but it will remain with me for a long time to come.

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