Leaving the big Badlands National Park, after a week of shooting, mostly at night, i dropped by the Shelf, a formation that knifes out to the high prarie from the edge of the badlands. The landscape behind me had blizzrd conditions dumping a foot of snow, as well as, perfect full moon nights with brisk air, and evertyhing in between, including the same erosianal chaos mirrored in the weather it fits.
Painted Mounds, Big Badlands, South Dakota – a ninety minute exposure by moonlight on the third night after full moon in October, 1996 and shot on Ektar 25 film.
A violent Autumn snowstorm blew into, what, othewise was a perfect fall start to a Big Badlands pictures’ quest over a period of one week, the center of which were four moon-lit nights with enough illumination to register nicely on film.
On the first day of the night of possible illumination a large intense snowstorm set in. When the snow began to taper around 11 pm, i drove into the badlands on the west side of the Painted Hills, where the main sceneic highway cuts through, but this wasa the other side, seldom scene, since it was so distant from the dirt road spur off thye main road to the south.
At one point my vehicle (pony) sunk into badlands mud – gumbo – impossible to move in. At around midnight i began the six mile walk to the ranger’s home and station in high winds and freezing, biting temperatures, by the park entrance. I made a call to Phillips, forty miles away, and a great guy named “Sarge” towed me out.
We got the car out at sunrise which was now completely clear of the storm, and all of the snow, which is what originally drew me in – the formations in the distance is where i was headed. In the light i was surprised to see i had actually driven far into a flat plain of green grass, that, at the time was coverd in snow, but not frozen, and the front tires sunk. I knew to back up from here, and i almost did, but didn’t.
In the long run, i met a great ranger who let me in at 4 am to call Sarge, a great guy and also owned a steak house in Phillips whih i visited. For now i had to go out and shoot that night, it was clear and seven hours away, so i rested.
That night the first shot of the evening would be from the first line of hills, after crossing the prarie, where i had gotten stuck the night before. Here it is:
I reached, what a stuck vehicle prevented me from doing, 24 hours later, shot in 1996 on Ektar 25 negative film in a ninety minute time exposure. It was my first shot of the night, it was late fall, and the next three nights were much of the same which was an exhausting complete wonder.