C&T Publications 50 States of Art - 2015 | Page 58

Aaron J. Groen – South Dakota “Hail! South Dakota, The state we love the best, Land of our fathers, Builders of the west; Home of the Badlands, and Rushmore's ageless shrine, Black Hills and prairies, Farmland and Sunshine.” DeeCort Hammitt Aaron J. Groen was born and raised in South Dakota. He has spent his entire life exploring the beauty and wonder of the Midwest. Traveling the back roads and gravels where most people do not travel. Constantly in search of that next spot to shoot that perfect moment in time. He loves South Dakota's amazing night skies and things that seem to be left behind by mankind. Website: http://homegroenphotography.com/ Here is my piece. It is called Dark Place. The Photo I have chosen is called "Dark Place" it is a single long exposure shot of our Milky Way galaxy shining bright over an old abandoned house in rural South Dakota. From a series of Dark Places... by Aaron J. Groen @HomeGroenPhotography Taken 6/14/2015 – 2:11:54 AM SINGLE exposure shot, RAW processed in CS6. It had been about a month since my last late night milky way outing and the sky looked as amazing as I had ever seen it before. This is the same location I had shot at during the nasty storms a weekend before and I ran into the owner of the land and got permission to shoot this house whenever :-) I shot a nice time-lapse before this and think it will finish off my video nicely. I wanted at least one milky way scene to go with all my storm footage and now I have it so hopefully be getting that video out soon. Camera-Canon EOS 6D Lens-EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Focal Length-17mm Shutter Speed-25 s Aperture-f/2.8 ISO-3200 Quick Notes: With over 100 ghost towns dotted throughout the state of South Dakota, there are plenty of abandoned buildings to hunt out and photograph. But please be respectful and leave a place as you found it. Do no harm and take nothing away, other than your photography and some fantastic memories. To locate and read more about these ghost towns please visit the following site: http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/sd/sd.html 53