Dean Sauskojus Photo Blog

I’m getting to where I don’t like cold weather. I grew up in Montana on a sheep farm and I’m still not used to it. I’ll put up with it for a good picture to a certain point. When you go out in fourteen degree weather like I did tonight, make sure you have a good pair of gloves. Definitely not the kind I have with no fingertips. Whose great idea was that? Also get some pipe insulation or cloth tape to put around those metal tripod legs. My battery was fine, but it’s a good idea to have a spare.  By the time I was ready to leave, frost was building up on all my equipment. Make sure you don’t blow on your equipment making matters worse. Winter is here and I’m not ready for it, but if you can put up with a little discomfort you can come up with some great images.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

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Usually I don’t go out in the national forest to take pictures during hunting season, but I wanted to get a nice shot of Sphinx Mountain covered with snow. With the red and orange monolithic surface I knew snow would make a nice contrast in color. I wasn’t wearing orange and several hunters were scoping out this area when I took this image. I’m sure they were wondering what I was doing.  I didn’t see any elk and didn’t hear any gunshots so all went well for me at least.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Handheld, Canon 70-200mm F4 IS L lens

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

Once again my hunch didn’t work out. The light looked great last night especially over the Tobacco Root Mountain Range.  The sun was right at the horizon and its beautiful orange-red rays were shooting to the ground spanning for miles. Me? I was set up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I didn’t  give up that easily. After the sun had set for twenty minutes there was a little bit of a glow in the sky on the horizon opposite this view of the barn. The full moon was also lighting up parts of the sky.  Since I was in the area and had photographed this barn before, why not put my camera to the test and shoot this almost in the dark?  With just a little bit of light left in the sky and bounce light from the clouds I set my camera for 800 ASA and a 30 second exposure and shot a couple of frames.  I try to push the envelope when it comes to my photography.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In this case I think it worked.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 70-200mm F4 IS L lens

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

Since Halloween is coming up I wanted to post an image that goes along with the season. The bacterial mat in this photo reminded me of the color of pumpkins, and the color of foliage this time of the year. The fog and the blackened tree add mystery and a bit of creepiness, if you use your imagination. From a distance those look like bones buried in the dirt! What happened to that dead tree? Is there something lingering in the woods back there? Even in landscape photography the best images out there are images that can tell a story and prick your curiosity.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

I spent this past weekend in a pile of rocks. Very interesting rocks. No, I didn’t get hit in the head with one. I was  attracted to the colors! Those that had broken off from the wall were a blue-gray color. The ones remaining in columns on the wall were a nice warm yellow-orange. There is something I just love about these colors in an image.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

Sure feels like Christmas around here. I was driving through town today and noticed the leaves weren’t changed. They were falling off the trees still green! Tonight’s  forecast says five degrees above zero and more snow. Record cold for southwestern Montana. I was trying to get a cup of hot chocolate today to warm me up. I was visiting with a fellow photographer at a local coffee shop and a ton of other people had the same idea. I knew it was going to take forever to get through the line. I didn’t get my hot chocolate but I can certainly post a nice warm image to look at. Mind over matter right?

Technical Info:  Canon 30d, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens

Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

That’s Curly on the left, Larry in the middle, and Moe on the right. As you can see these guys were having a bad hair day and so was I. The weather this weekend just did not cooperate. We had a full moon and I had the perfect place picked out, but to no avail. So what’s a landscaper like me do? There are so many horses in Montana,  (probably more than people) that they are readily available to photograph. These horses were exceptional, well taken care of, friendly, and just beautiful. The sad thing is I didn’t have any treats for them. What kind of treat do you give a horse anyway? Thanks for posing guys.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, 50mm Zeiss Manual Focus Lens, Handheld

Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

The KISS Principle = Keep it simple stupid. I’m not going to call myself stupid but keeping it simple is a major philosophy of my picture taking. The image of Yellowstone Lake can be broken down into just 5 different elements. I have other images with just two elements that are just as strong or stronger. I used to carry around a black piece of cardboard with a rectangle cut out of the middle to look through like I was looking through the viewfinder of a camera. That helped me focus on what was in front of me, also forcing me to look through the rectangle and not off to the side. You have to be able to pare down all those unnecessary objects to get to the single elements that make up a strong image. On my left when I took this shot was the shoreline. On my right were more rocks jutting out of the water. Neither one of these elements would have made the composition stronger and would have confused the eye of the viewer. The less to look at the more focused the viewer will be, and you as a photographer will have a much more successful image. Then you have abstract photographers who have very complex images. They are very successful, and have a large group of followers, but for me I’ll stick with the KISS Principle.

Technical Info:  Canon 30d, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens,  Singh Ray 2 stop Hard  Gnd

Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

Driving between Norris and Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone a week ago I came across these creek beds lined with very fine grass. If I were to give the grass a name I would call it angel hair. I used the wind to give the grass an even more delicate look by using a slow exposure. The creek beds are full of sulfuric minerals that killed these once thriving trees but not the grass. I used the trees for stationary objects to go along with movement of the grass in the picture. These are my anchors for the image, (more on this later). You can’t walk out into this area without sinking up to you knees in mud. The creeks which you can’t see in the image are four feet deep in places. My telephoto came in handy to reach the area I wanted to photograph without having to cross the creek beds. After using a 4×5 for some years I treated the wind as my enemy. Now I try to use it to my advantage when I can.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 70-200mm IS L lens, BW Polarizer

Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

A video relating to the September 1 post, “Hurry the Harvest”.