‘West River’ book captures hidden beauty of western South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A local photographer has a new book out illustrating beautiful pictures of western South Dakota’s landscape.

But the new book isn’t the only place you’ll find his stunning photos.

“I had been shooting stuff out west in western South Dakota for literally 30 years and started to collect this nice catalog of material and kind of started to fall in love with the place,” freelance photographer Greg Latza said.

‘West River’ is freelance photographer Greg Latza’s new book that depicts the beauty of what’s out here on the open prairie that we sometimes take for granted.

But Latza has an eye for how to shoot it and show it in a whole new light.

“It takes a lot of time to do a project like this but it’s a labor of love,” {11:59:40} “It didn’t feel like work when I’d go out there to do some of this photography.”

Photos that capture the beauty of the land and its people.

“You’d think since we are all South Dakotans, we are all the same, but there’s definitely a difference between me, being a farm kid in East River South Dakota from Letcher, and then it’s like a whole nother world when you go out west,” Latza said.

Like branding cattle.

“Just witnessing that was a lot of fun, of course, it’s very photogenic, everybody looks the part, some of the brandings I’ve been to are really, really remote; it’s like they just walked out of an old western movie,” Latza said.

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Latza’s photography skills have been showcased numerous times in South Dakota Magazine. His photos at Lake Poinsett, where he has a summer home, are breathtaking.

Next spring Latza will have an exhibit at the Washington Pavilion dedicated to his work.

“He just has a way of capturing a scene that tells so much more than just squaring things up,” Curator of Visual Arts Center Erin Castle said.

West River is Latza’s 9th book. He says it was hard to capture all the beauty western South Dakota has to offer.

“I could shoot this book for the next 20 years and still not be done that’s how I feel and I’ll never be happy with the final product, because I’m a real heavy critic of myself, but I hope I did them proud and I’m eager to do East River some day,” Latza said.

If you’d like to get a copy of ‘West River’ you can find it on Latza’s website or local bookstores.