Friday, November 30, 2012

Peace and Quiet: Big Stone Lake, SD

Some days, you just feel like having a moment of solitude.  Peace and quiet.  We happen to like the minimalist photograph of the shore of Big Stone Lake in northeastern SD during Thanksgiving week.  The cooler morning created a fog over the lake because of the warmer water that had not yet frozen over.

Peace and Quiet: Big Stone Lake, SD

Big Stone Lake SD, Lake, Fog, Minimalist Photography, South Dakota Photography

We are glad you had the opportunity to share in our peaceful moment and enjoyed our minimalist photograph.  Join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Monday, November 26, 2012

3 Reasons to Visit Custer State Park in Winter

If you thought you should avoid Custer State Park in the winter, here are 3 reasons to get in that vehicle and come join us.  Because the beauty in the park is just as bountiful in the winter as it is in the summer - just a different beauty. 

1. Custer State Park Game Lodge in Snowfall...

3 Reasons to Visit Custer State Park in the Winter, Black Hills photography, Custer State Park Photography

2. What?!  I wasn't eating the yellow snow?!
     Come on now - this one is just too cute not to post to Pinterest or Tweet this article out...

deer, Black Hills photography, Custer State Park

3.  Legion Lake during a break in the snow...

Legion Lake, Black Hills photography, Custer State Park

We hope you enjoyed these wintertime photographs.  Join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Practice not Purchased...

Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase. 
- Percy W. Harris
Percy W. Harris, Black and White Photography, Spokane SD, Black Hills, South Dakota, Photomatix, HDR

We went back into the archives to find a photograph we had set aside as a color photograph but moved it into B&W to fall in love with it all over again.  The old schoolhouse in Spokane, SD in black and white.  We hope you enjoy.  Join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

30% OFF - Now until Cyber Monday!

You don't want to miss this sale!  30% off a minimum order of $10.00 on www.dakotavisions.com with the coupon code - CYBERMON12  Just use this code at checkout with your $10.00 minimum order and receive 30% off the product cost.  BUT HURRY!  This offer only lasts from tonight, November 22 until 11:49pm on Cyber Monday, November 26.

30% off, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Discount Coupon, Dakota Visions Photography LLC, photography discounts, iPhone Cases, iPad Covers, gallery wraps, photographs

We don't discount our photography products very often, so this a BIG DEAL!  Fill your stockings with photographs, iPad covers, iPhone cases, or canvas gallery wraps.

Don't miss out on deals like this ever again - join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Monday, November 19, 2012

A Moment to Give Thanks...

“ Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. "
Imogene Cunningham
The history of Dakota Visions Photography, LLC is one of three's: three stories, three principles, and three people. So please indulge my literary stumbles, and hopefully you find the stories captivating.

Passion and my father: The story starts with a man growing up of simple means, yet complex situations forming his extraordinary principles that he chose to pass along to all his children. It started in the prairies and hills that I now call home - Western South Dakota. That man - my father, sometime in junior high, presented my brother and I cameras, a Pentax K1000 and a Pentax ME super (which I still pull out the ME super for those special moments that a digital camera just can't capture). The passion for photography was created...I was hooked, in fact - addicted. To look through that viewfinder and capture a moment of time, to steal a millisecond from the universe that no one could take away from you, to freeze a memory forever on a piece of photographic paper that could be shared - that passion was ignited. All this from a man that collected hundreds of antique cameras, but he couldn't take a picture with any of them if his life depended on it. But when he saw the passion - he continued to fuel the fire by allowing opportunities, providing encouragement, and supplying product for the addiction. For that, father, I am eternally grateful.
 

Black Hills Photography, Trees, Vertical Line Photography, South Dakota

An additional note about my father is that a percentage of the profits from Dakota Visions Photography, LLC is donated to the Alzheimer's Association (
www.alz.org). My father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, so the capturing of memories has taken on new meaning. Join me in the fight to end this disease, for the life you save may not only be yours, but it may be mine.

Ability to overcome and my mother: My mother, who came from these same prairies and hills, saw some sort of ability, or maybe it was a passion for the arts she saw. She dragged me to piano lessons, vocal lessons, and private art lessons (yes, ART lessons!) But for that I am grateful as well, because you see - I am red/green colorblind. Those art lessons helped me identify the shades of the colors that I was missing. When people hear that I am partially colorblind, they are amazed to see the pictures that come out of the camera. The ability to overcome, to adapt to our surroundings, to survive when others think we shouldn't - this is my mother's legacy to me.
 

Black and White Photography of Flowers, Tulips, Color blind photography

Vision and my best friend: Well, now you know why there needs to be someone else involved with my photography adventure! Someone needs to help with any color adjustments to the final photographs, but there has been so much more. Almost a year ago, Dakota Visions Photography, LLC was just a dream made up of a lifetime of photographs, but my friend helped focus this dream into a detailed vision. From choosing the name of the company (which took FOREVER by the way), to pouring over the composition and color of a photograph, to allowing time to take photographs as we drive around Western South Dakota - he has been a driving force in helping me focus in on the vision. He is as much a part of Dakota Visions Photography, LLC as the man behind the lens. And most importantly, he is there to slap me across the back of the head, and focus me back on the vision when I need it...

black and white portraits, masking, photography, layers

So thank you for indulging my verbose description of Dakota Visions Photography, LLC - the passion, the ability to overcome, and the vision.

" There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. "  
Ansel Adams
So, take the time to remember the reasons why you are thankful this Thanksgiving week. And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Top 5 Photos of Dakota Visions

Another year is in the books for Dakota Visions Photography, LLC.  We have been looking back over the last year of dynamic, positive changes here at Dakota Visions Photography, LLC and we've realized it's because of you - the customer, viewer and reader.  So we wanted to stop and say, 'Thank You!'

Here are the top five photographs including sales and views on the Dakota Visions website for the last year of being in business.  We can't wait to continue serving you for another year.  We'll see you behind the lens...

Autumn Color in Custer State Park


When Mother Nature Speaks...


Little Spearfish Falls

Black Hills Photography, Spearfish Canyon

Sunrise at Sylvan Lake

Sunrise at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com Black Hills

Sunset on Needles Highway

Sunset on Needles Highway by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com Custer State Park Black Hills

We sure hope you have enjoyed this year as much as we have.  If you have, head to the website at www.dakotavisions.com and share these photographs or your favorites via Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.  We owe you another Top 5 after another year in business, so we better get going!  We've got a lot of work to do.  We'll see you behind the lens...

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Swift Things are Beautiful

Swift Things are Beautiful
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Swift things are beautiful:
Swallows and deer,
And lightening that falls
Bright-veined and clear,
Rivers and meteors,
Wind in the wheat,
The strong-withered horse,
The runner's sure feet.

Mule Deer, swift things are beautiful, deer, custer state park, Dakota Visions Photography LLC

And slow things are beautiful:
The closing of day,
The pause of the wave
That curves downward to spray,
The ember that crumbles,
The opening flower,
And the ox that moves on
In the quiet of power.

Mule Deer, Black Hills, South Dakota, deer, Dakota Visions Photography LLC

We hope you enjoyed this reflection on the swift things in life that are so beautiful. Join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Birds of Prey: Great Horned Owl & American Kestrel

The final post for this series of Birds of Prey features Icarus, the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) and Hendrix, the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius).  Thanks to the Black Hills Raptor Center and the 2012 Black Hills Photo Shootout, we had the opportunity to spend a morning with these two beautiful birds of prey.

Icarus, the Great Horned Owl, has also been known as the 'Tiger Owl' or the 'Flying Tiger'.  One of the reasons for this is the 30 lbs of grip strength in each talon, or roughly 240-300 PSI strength in total.  This is more gripping strength than the human hand.  Icarus hunts mainly small and medium sized mammals including rabbits, rats, and squirrels.

Icarus, Great Horned Owl

Hendrix, the American Kestrel, is also knows as the 'Sparrow Hawk'.  The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in North America and, under traditional classifications, is the smallest raptor in America according to Wauer & Clark.  Hendrix's favorite foods include grasshoppers, lizards, and mice along with smaller birds. 

birds of prey, bird photography, American Kestrel, Falco sparverius

Please join us in supporting the mission of the Black Hills Raptor Center by making a donation today at their website. The center relies on contributions to keep the animal ambassadors ready to greet the community and teach the children about the wonderful, wild world of nature. 

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Sunday, November 4, 2012

They're baaaaaaack!

For those of us living around the east entrance to Custer State Park, the first of November brings us more than just a change back to standard time.  It brings back the eagles.  They're back!  The beauty and majesty of an American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is unparalleled in the bird world.  The appearance of that dark shadow overhead brings shivers to the spine and stirs up emotions for the love of one's country, when that flash of recognition hits as the white tail & head appear.

Here are the first photos from this year, followed by a poem salute to the majesty of our national symbol. 

Bald Eagle in Flight Black Hills SD by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

From an Eagle's View
Have you ever wondered what it's like to fly free,
To see the world as far as the eye can see,
To view the surroundings from high and from low,
To hear only the sound of a distant echo,
To float in the air with the wind being your guide,
To admire many rainbows that the trees tend to hide,
To see the misty mornings over a beautiful mountaintop,
To glide over a flowing river that never seems to stop,
To watch the animals from over a mile away,
Or to rise above the treetops that glisten in the day?
If you were an eagle you would wonder no more,
For it can see things you have never seen before.
Next time you look into the sky of blue,
Think of what it's like from an eagle's view.

Poem by Stacy Smith

Black and White Bald Eagle Photography Soaring by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com Black Hills SD

We would like to remind you that November 11 is Veteran's Day.  Don't forget to spread the word to honor our veterans and while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , Twitter, or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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