It’s been a dream of mine for some time to visit the South Dakota Badlands. The dream having finely come to fruition, I’m sitting here in my RV looking at the sandstone rock formations that make up the Badlands about a mile away. I’ve been here a little over a week now. I haven’t accomplished all that I would like to, but still managed to produce some decent work.

During this trip, along with my photography, I am also shooting some video for my good friend Jeffrey Ehrenkrantz and the 59 Veterans Project. Jeffrey was kind enough to loan me one of his Sony A7Sii cameras to use on this trip.

Upon arriving in the area, my first day was spent driving around the Badlands exploring. Stopping at lookouts, compass in hand, looking at sun positions for sunrise and sunset. Also looking at where the Milky Way’s galactic center will appear in the night sky. And of course, jotting down pages of notes along the way.

I use an app on my iPad called PhotoPills that helps me plan my photo expeditions and envision the outcome before ever taking a camera out of my bag. This app provides a lot of data I use while shooting, my favorite being the Hyperfocal and Depth of Field tools. Second to that would be the Sun, Moon, and Milky Way positions along with their times for rising and setting.

Over the course of the week, I’ve photographed landscapes, wildlife, and made my first attempts at astrophotography. Like visiting the Badlands, making photos of the Milky Way’s Galactic Core has been a dream of mine for quite a long time. More on that in a future post.

As far as photography techniques, I’m making conventional photos of course, and have also been doing some High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography along with multi-photo panoramas requiring stitching together in my computer. More than likely, I will also do some black and white photography while here.

So, what’s next for myself and Digital Photography Mastery? To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I’ll spend at least another week here in the Badlands making photos and videos. After that, maybe I’ll head into Wyoming and towards Yellowstone National Park. Stay tuned.

All images were made with my Sony A7ii and either the Sony Zeiss 24-70mm lens or the Sony 10-18mm lens.