Community Art

Kerry Bowers took a photo of the Capitol framed by the white-limbed trees as the building peeked through. Ralph Fischer also had his camera ready for the calm winter morning, snapping a photo of the Capitol as it appeared to float on clouds.

Both photos gave the popular target for lenses everywhere an added boost. But Bowers and Fischer weren't the only two ready with a camera following the foggy Dec. 9 morning.

Barb Wood took an amazing Chantier Creek photo showing a cold landscape. Wood said the sun added a lot of sparkles to the photo and kept it warm enough to melt the frost by noon. And being winter, Wood appreciated the sun's warmth as much as the scenery.

After the past week, there is no mistaking winter knocking at the door. Luckily, Jerry McQuay and Maria Jhing Hays provided some much-needed photos of peaceful skies.

McQuay found a couple of nice spots to hunker down and point his lens at the expanding horizon.

In one photo, he caught the expanding daytime sky towering over the empty landscape on the hill above Riverside Cemetery, overlooking the valley on Dec. 11. In the other photo, McQuay found a beautifully lit Pierre cityscape as the moonlight shined down from his spot across the Missouri River in Fort Pierre.

Hays also looked to the sky. On Dec. 9, she caught a color show above Grey Goose Road, including one filled with soft purples and pinks as the waning sun fired its last light on the horizon.

Matthew Edwards kept busy taking photos around Pierre.

He found a train engine near the PILC crossing, keeping a nice angle that leads the eye to a man checking the equipment. Edwards also found a good spot on Verendrye Hill to take an aerial shot of Pierre across the river.

Closer to the ground, Edwards found some of his favorite photo subjects — birds.

On South Dakota Highway 1804, he found a feathered friend sitting peacefully on a small tree. Near the American Legion Cabin, Edwards found a couple of geese eyeing the Missouri River with potential second thoughts about jumping into the cold water.

There are two more Community Art editions left this year. If you want to see your photos in Saturday's Dakota Life and the online gallery at capjournal.com, send them to Editor Jorge Encinas at jencinas@capjournal.com. Include the who, what, where and when with your submissions and the Capital Journal will publish them.

The Capital Journal also picks one photo to feature in the weekly South Dakota Outdoors newsletter, published on Fridays. If you don't receive the weekly email, sign up at capjournal.com under the "Outdoors" tab and see who took the top spot for Featured Photo of the Week.