RushmorePhotography.Com

Good Independence Day Fellow Americanos!

In my last post I talked about my introduction to photography. In 1985 I purchased my first SLR camera (Ricoh KR-10X) with a Macro and Zoom lens. I lived in the Monterey Bay area at the time where I always had plenty of new and interesting subjects to capture on film. I used this camera for years. I finally went with Canon’s digital SLR line in ‘06.  Most of my shots were Macro, landscape and candid shots of people on the streets, the beaches, anywhere.  About the same time I bought a VHS camera that I had a hard time putting down.
In 2006, I purchased my first Digital SLR equipment (Canon). It took me a little time to find the settings, but once I became familiar I loved the freedom from expensive film and developing. My first day out was during the Fall colors throughout  Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills. I shot over a thousand pictures that day. And here’s something noteworthy about that day: Another photographer was with me, Linda Johnston, who is now my business partner in Rushmore Photography. We were married this April, and now Linda is Linda Johnson, twice partners!
Linda and I first met in e-Commerce Web dev training.  That’s when I learned of her plans to move up to High Definition in her videography business. Linda was focused on Wedding Photography as well, so we banded together as wedding photographers. We shot our first wedding together in ‘07. It was a fantastic experience. I loved working with our subjects. We shot over 1,500 images on that wedding. Since that first job is special to us, we have posted some of those wedding shots on a few of our site portfolios.

Greg

Great Fireworks Here!

I grew up on a North Dakota wheat farm just seven miles south of Canada. The days and years of quiet solitude shaped my imaginative observer self. I remember standing in front of my Dad’s Kodak Duraflex II 620 film camera for kid and family pictures. The Duraflex II is a twin lens reflex camera that was produced between 1950 and 1954. I don’t recall being interested in asking him if I could try it out. That changed however, when I was about eight years old. My aunt and I were riding in the back of my parents car when she pulled a small cardboard box out of her purse. ‘Mini Camera” was printed on the side. The camera was made of metal, only about two inches long. She assured me that this tiny camera really did take pictures. I wanted that camera! After that exposure to the Mini Camera, I could not stop thinking about a camera of my own. Finally after about two years, I had a cheap camera in my possesion. The problem now was that I rarely could afford the film. I do remember my first roll of B&W that I shot. The roll was fully exposed within two hours or less. My parents found the developed prints amusing. They couldn’t see that I loved the abstract, the micro shots, the ‘artistic’ style.

Gregory L Johnson

Summer, sort of. Just a few days ago our cold spring weather ushered in the start of our 3 months of decent weather. It was a two hour hail storm. It seemed that long. It was probably more like 35 minutes continuous. More than enough to nearly destroy the new flowers we potted.

After painting the backyard fence last May…

I mentioned Blizzard No 1 of the winter in my last post.  Today is June 12th and very much like this winter, we haven’t experienced more than a smattering of a warm day. Let’s see, the last decent temperatures might have been in October…… counting fingers – eight months of not so great to extremely harsh days and nights! Hold on, that doesn’t leave four months of comfortable weather. Sometimes we go from the lingering chill of June to blistering hot, windy days. The scorchers can take up to two of those months leaving two. So why do we live here? What I hear most often is “Oh but I just love the change of seasons.” I think to myself, “but the ‘change’ is very brief.” The other comment is “Oh but the hills (Black Hills) are so beautiful.”

One more bitch about living in South Dakota and I’ll be done. Once you get here, you really become attached in a strage way. It’s hard to leave because you can’t afford to make the exodus.

Hi, I’m Gregory. Outside tonight, blows the first blizzard of the ‘08/’09 winter. I live in the Black Hills, near Mount Rushmore. I am one of the photographers at Rushmore Photography. I’ve just set up this blog and about four others, so in case you’re looking for something useful to read, I promise to return very soon! We are in the process of building our galleries, so keep checking back there as well. Thanks!