The Ol' Subaru

As most everyone I know can attest, I have a strange obsession with everything Subaru. I've had a handful of them over the years. The '99 Impreza pictured above was with me for nearly ten years before I passed it on and was my companion for much of my travels throughout the state of Nebraska. I drove confidently on gravel and dirt, sometimes in areas without any people around for many miles and it never let me down. Unfortunately, the car died an early death this year, the victim of a timing belt failure at 160,000 some odd miles.

The photograph above was submitted to a Subaru photo contest. It was taken in the summer of 2007 on Panorama Point, the highest point in the state of Nebraska. As you can see, the Point isn't all that much taller than its surroundings. It's not all that easy to get to, either. The only way to get there involves many miles of gravel roads and a pasture path.

Since the photograph never was published by Subaru, I thought I'd put it here in honor of all of our travels together.

Another year gone by...

2010 has been a good year, all in all. My first solo exhibition was a success and I am finally able to call ninety-three completely finished. There were some ups and downs, as there are with every year, but I'm closer to earning my degree and am happy to say that I'm convinced 2011 will be even better.

As for my current projects, I'm in roughly the same place I was a year ago. Still undecided on what direction to go with the yet-untitled family project, with a couple other ideas in the earliest stages of development. I'm hoping an idea will reach out and grab me like Nebraska did.

To make up for the lack of photographs of late, here are a few yet-unseen images from the family project...

Montezuma, Iowa

Wahoo, Nebraska

Barnes City, Iowa

Belle Plaine, Iowa

Searsboro, Iowa

Five: Songs From 2010

Jim Bryson - Freeways In The Frontyard


Superchunk - Crossed Wires


Frontier Ruckus - Nerves Of The Nightmind


The Thermals - I Don't Believe You


Jakob Dylan - Nothing But The Whole Wide World

Influences

As always, click to enlarge.

From above: 1. William Christenberry, 2. Edward Hopper, 3. Walker Evans, 4. The Weakerthans, 5. Alfred Hitchcock, 6. Mark Rothko, 7. Ed Ruscha, 8. Stephen Shore, 9. Robert Frank and 10. Woody Guthrie.

Meme borrowed from Jeph Jacques, creator of one of my favorite web comics.

Sunday squares

A few photographs from this afternoon. Enjoy.

A second look: the Untitled series

As a result of last week's revisit of my first series, rather creatively titled untitled, I found myself once again going through old photographs to see if there's anything I might have missed the first time around. While there is a set from the series on my website, there are quite a few images that haven't really been seen since 2006, if ever.

Without further adieu, here are some of the photographs I rediscovered for your viewing pleasure.

More from this weekend...

Untitled (again)

It's been a few (four!) years, but I recently got the urge to revisit the sort of photographs I was working on when I put together my first portfolio. I spent the afternoon searching an industrial section of Omaha along I Street and came away with a few images I am happy with. After spending countless hours searching the Nebraska and Iowa countryside for potential photographs, it almost seems a little too easy to make these topographic works in the matter of just a few hours.

Above are two images from this afternoon. I'll post a few more some time this week.

The hills, part two

I'm happy to see that September has found us once again. There's a slight chill to the air, a reminder that fall is just around the corner. It was a near-perfect day to explore the northern section of the Loess Hills Scenic Byway. The route is at its best around the mid-point of the Byway, in the area around Preparation Canyon near Little Sioux in Harrison County.

As I mentioned last week, the best parts of the Byway are off the beaten path, along remote gravel roads that wind through the Loess Hills. If you make the trip, make sure to take the short hike up the Murray Hill Scenic Overlook (the view from the Overlook is in the photograph below) and find your way to the Loess Hills State Forest Overlook Trail (pictured in the second image below).





Also visited: Magnolia, Pisgah, Turin, Castana, Smithland, Oto, Sioux City, Westfield and Akron.

Yes, there used to be a ballpark right here

Tonight was the last baseball game at venerable Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. I mentioned the ballpark's demise a few months ago on this blog. The game itself was fairly uneventful, with the Omaha Royals getting out to an early lead and coasting to an easy victory.

I'll be sad to see the place go, mainly because it was such a wonderful place to catch a game on a summer evening. A baseball palace on the hill, a throwback to days that now have passed. The crowds seemed to be getting thinner every year, numbering no more than maybe a few hundred on some weeknights. And so, progress marches on, a new ballpark with all the extracurricular amenities for people who just don't seem to have the patience for the pace of baseball in this modern world.

The hills

I spent today exploring the southern end of the Loess Hills Scenic Byway, a route that stretches over 200 miles through the Loess Hills along the western edge of Iowa. It's an interesting drive, winding through and along the edge of the bluffs that rise above the Missouri River valley. I discovered a couple of places that I am sure I will be revisiting at a later date.


For those interested in traveling the Byway, be advised. The route can be frustrating to follow with signage that seems to just disappear from time to time. To see the best parts of the Byway, there are several loops that require driving for many miles on gravel roads. The loops meander through the Loess Hills far more than the main route.

The top photograph is from the Waubonsie Cemetery in Mills County. The Waubonsie Church and Cemetery stand alone along a quiet country road along one of the Byway's loops. Below is a photograph from an old mural painted on a building in the town of Tabor.

I plan on traveling the northern section of the Byway in the coming weeks.

Also visited: Pony Creek, Pacific Junction, Thurman, Sidney, Waubonsie State Park and Hamburg, Iowa. Star School Hill Prairie and Rock Port, Missouri. Brownville and Peru, Nebraska.

Eastern Iowa, Day Two

There's just not too much to report from today. The highlight of the day was the classic Maid-Rite that I had along Interstate 80 near Amana. I always forget how good a loose-meat sandwich with all the fixings can be. Maid-Rite is pretty much exclusive to Iowa, dating back to the 1920's and small towns along the highways before the arrival of the interstate. Yesterday's entry mentioned my Great Grandmother's cafe, which also served Maid-Rites to the travelers along Highway 6 in Ladora.

Pictured is St. Michael's Church in a little bump in the road called Holbrook. The old stone church was built in 1867 and still stands today, albeit it has seen better days. I can't figure out why someone has begun patching the structure with common red bricks, as you can see in the photograph.

Also visited: Oxford, Kalona, Wellman and Lake Hawthorne.

Revisiting eastern Iowa

There are days where a person sets out to photograph, only to struggle to come up with anything that really catches the eye. Today definitely was one of those days. To make matters worse, the weather made things difficult, with fairly bright gray skies and very little sunshine to balance them out. Around six o'clock, it was dark enough that nightfall seemed imminent.

I revisited many of the places that my grandparents and I traveled to last summer, spending some more time exploring, hoping to find details I might have missed. There are a few promising photographs, and I'm sure I'll find more after I spend more time going over them in the coming weeks. Sometimes I'll look through a series of photographs a hundred times and still find something new.

The photograph above is of the Ladora Savings Bank building in Ladora. The building's history can be found here. On the same website, there are photographs of my Great Grandma Calvert and the 24-hour cafe she operated during the 1950's across the street from the Savings Bank.

Also visited: Malcom, Brooklyn, Carnforth, Victor, Marengo, West Amana, South Amana, Williamsburg, Parnell, North English, South English, Keswick, Thornburg and Barnes City.

Concert For Equality

"She said that musicians sound silly when they talk about politics. I'm certain that Woody Guthrie wasn't a silly man." - David Rawlings

In a past life, I spent quite a bit of time writing about music and politics on a couple of websites that I'm sure most have forgotten. Since the demise of the last site, somedaynever, I've maybe attended one live show a year and haven't spent near as much time spouting off political opinions. It would appear that politics have become even more polarizing over the last decade, but I'm sure the more things seem like they change, the more they stay the same.

Tonight was the Concert For Equality in the downtown Benson, one of the many neighborhoods that have been absorbed into Omaha over the last century. The show was a bit of a throwback to seven or eight years ago, back when Saddle Creek was just beginning to reach a wider audience and the label's roster played shows together on a regular basis. All proceeds from the concert went to the ACLU to aid in their lawsuit to prevent the city of Fremont from enforcing controversial immigration laws similar to what the state of Arizona is attempting to do. Counter-protesters promised to gather just outside the concert gates, but none were to be found when I arrived around 7 pm.

I was most impressed by the performance of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, pictured above with Conor Oberst and members of Bright Eyes on stage for their finale. Rawlings played a song of his own which wandered into a fiery rendition of some of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," and was easily the highlight of the show. Bright Eyes sounded great, as did Cursive, and seeing Desaparecidos on stage for the first time in eight years felt good, if a bit like traveling back in time.

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of everyone at Nebraska Appleseed. They tirelessly work to make Nebraska a better place for all of us who don't have the patience to deal with the frustration of making change happen in a stubborn world. I am incredibly grateful that such dedicated people exist.

Wahoo!

When I was growing up, Wahoo was sort of a mythical place. It was always the last town we drove through on the way to my Grandparents' house in Prague. And that name.. It just didn't seem like anyone would actually name a town after a goofy celebratory yelp.

Wahoo lies about a half hour west of Omaha's western edge. Despite the unusual name, it's a fairly typical Nebraska small town. I've passed through Wahoo countless times, but I hadn't ever taken the time to photograph it until today. It was a great day to be out and about, with a little more mild temperatures than we've had the last couple of weeks, and just the right amount of clouds to occasionally give some cover from the sun.

I (slowly) continue to work on my family project. While I like some of the images, the whole idea just hasn't managed to quite completely click with me as of yet. Perhaps another visit to eastern Iowa will help everything take shape.

Also visited: Ashland, Memphis, Ithaca, Weston, Brainard and Malmo.

A random drive...

With nothing at all to do today, I started driving east into Iowa. Not much to report, really. Just a nice drive on a hot summer day. Iowa is far prettier than Nebraska, with rolling hills and green nearly everywhere you look.

The top photograph was taken near Cumberland. The bottom was taken a few miles north of Greenfield.

Shop talk

I must preface this post with a simple fact: I detest what qualifies as discussion of digital photography on the internet. There's simply too many people with too much money spending way too much time arguing over tiny differences that have little to do with what makes a good photograph.

That said, I do get asked from time to time about the equipment I use. I assure you that this information is far from being all that interesting, but I have promised a post like this on more than one occasion. So, here goes..


The Cameras
I have used my fair share of cameras since I seriously began pursuing photography. When I started out, I used Canon and Nikon 35mm film cameras for most of my work in school. Eventually, I shot my first full series with a borrowed Bronica SQ-A and a Hasselblad 500 c/m, medium format film cameras that capture a square image. The untitled series on my website was shot with these cameras. When I first envisioned what would become ninety-three, I planned to shoot it with a medium format film camera, either the Hasselblad or a Mamiya.

On what amounted to a whim, I purchased a Canon 5D digital slr when the price got to be quite low (relatively speaking) with the rebates that were running at the time. I was assuming I'd photograph a few more weddings here and there, and it seemed that the 5D would replace 35mm film cameras for more casual work. At the time, I was still set on photographing Nebraska on color film.

In May of 2007, some very good friends coaxed me to take a road trip to Glacier National Park with them. I figured the 5D would be perfect for the trip, small and easy to carry, yet with enough image quality to make sizable prints that I would be happy with. I quickly found the camera to be a productive tool. After an aborted attempt to begin ninety-three with a Mamiya 645 film camera, I ended up setting out with the 5D when I began the project in earnest.

My shooting style with the medium format cameras was somewhat cumbersome and, while I am not a "decisive moment" photographer by any means, I felt it was getting in the way of cataloging the world in the way my brain does. I have the utmost respect for anyone who sets out with a giant view camera and heavy tripod. I learned fairly quickly that I am just not that guy. The Canon 5D gave me the mobility I enjoyed and color photographs of a quality more in-line with the medium format film I used before. The original 5D lacked a bit of resolution and sometimes the more limited dynamic range was frustrating, but the Mark II version really improved on both counts. All of ninety-three was shot with these two cameras.

The post-thunderstorm photograph above was taken with a recent purchase, an Olympus EP-2. I haven't used the camera extensively yet, but it's small enough to hide in my glovebox and the quality is much better than any point-and-shoot digicam that I've seen. As they always say.. The best camera is the camera that is with you.


The Lenses
My experience with lenses has been far more complicated than the camera story. With medium format, it was always the standard lens, 80mm for the Hasselblad and Bronica. That made things easy. I had a 28-105mm lens that I used a lot with a Nikon N80 film camera, but a vast majority of my shooting with 35mm film was with a standard 50mm lens.

With the 5D, I've owned all of the following Canon lenses at one time or another: 17-40mm F4, 24-70mm F2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4, 50 f2.5 macro, 70-200 f4 IS, and 135mm f2

The 50mm focal length is still my favorite. In fact, it's the only lens I currently own. If someone made a lightweight 28-50mm lens, that would cover almost everything I need. I sold the 17-40mm lens but will most likely be buying it again for a wide angle option. It's a nice lens, relatively small for what it is, with the ability to go really wide if necessary. The distortion isn't too bad from around 24mm on up.

As for the rest of the lenses... The 24-70 f2.8 is a great lens, maybe a little soft on the long end, but I got tired of its sheer size. The 35mm f2 is built like a toy and is pretty much awful in the corners up to f4, but gives very good results around f8. I bought the macro lens to shoot distortion-free detail shots but hardly ever used it. The 70-200 f4 IS is pretty much an amazing lens. Sharp at every aperture, crazy good image stabilization, and fairly lightweight. I used it to shoot much of ninety-three but its telephoto range just doesn't fit my style anymore. The 135mm is very sharp, even wide open, but I found it to be too long even for portraiture.



I think that just about covers it. When it comes down to it, I'm really very simple when it comes to making photographs. I don't carry a giant bag with an assortment of lenses and who knows what else. Instead, I tend to walk around with a camera and one lens. I've found that having too much stuff just gets in the way of what I'm attempting to do.

Right now, I am debating shooting my next large scale project with 35mm black and white film. Just an old camera body with a 28mm lens and another with a 50mm lens. It has been quite a while since I've shot anything in black and white, and I miss the look of it. Ilford HP5 has been calling my name.

This end is only a beginning...

I am happy to announce that I am calling ninety-three finished as of this past weekend. There are more than a few friends that will most likely roll their eyes at this, but I really do mean it this time. The photograph above, from Homestead National Monument near Beatrice, is the final piece of the project.

Hopefully there will be an opportunity at some point in the near future to show the entire series. The ultimate goal will be to publish a book of the photographs. I do plan on putting together an electronic book in the coming months, a more affordable way to share a high quality version of the project for everyone to see.

Again, thank you to everyone for their support. It's much appreciated. I've got something new in the works that I hope to be able to share soon. Stay tuned.

Homestead National Monument

I set out today to finally put ninety-three to bed, and eventually ended up at Homestead National Monument near Beatrice. The monument resides on what once was Daniel Freeman's homestead, the first established under the Homestead Act of 1862.



Homestead is what I would consider a quiet attraction, the kind of place that rewards spending some time contemplating your surroundings. There isn't any overly spectacular scenery or attention-grabbing structures, just a very nice visitor center and a native prairie to walk through and clear your head. Today was a near-perfect day for the walk. It was just what I needed after a long week of doubts.



The best news is that I am ready to call ninety-three finished in the next few days. I've got some new ideas that I hope to be able to share soon. It's an exciting time (when I manage to look past all of the present uncertainty).

Also visited: Ellis, Odell, Clatonia, Adams, Louisville and Bellevue.

Saturday afternoon

I've decided to spend some more time on two counties that are the closest to home yet relatively unexplored during the time I've been working on ninety-three. First comes Washington County, which lies immediately north of the Omaha metro area. I spent most of the afternoon around the Missouri River near Blair and Fort Calhoun. There's still quite a bit of flooding in the area from the all rain we received in June. The road to Boyer Chute lies under water at the moment, but the flooding appears to be subsiding as we move into the far more dry weather of July.

Detail #2512 was found in the town of Nickerson, across the Elkhorn River in Dodge County.

Also visited: Herman, Fontenelle and Arlington.

Stromsburg, Nebraska

Today I revisited Stromsburg, the Swede Capital of Nebraska and one of my favorite small towns in the whole state. The town has a near-idyllic downtown square full of locally-owned shops and friendly people. It's a bit like going back in time.



Above is a barn that I photographed in early 2008 and was going to rephotograph today. Sadly, it appears that some sort of calamity has destroyed the structure since my last visit. The abandoned farmhouse and small silos are still there, however, quietly standing at the intersection of two gravel roads about two miles west of Stromsburg.

Also visited: Clarks and Silver Creek.

Gage County

I spent this afternoon revisiting Gage County, attempting to find a photograph worthy of being the final addition to ninety-three. It certainly was a gorgeous day for it, a reprieve from the almost daily thunderstorms we've been dealing with of late. I'm not sure I'm ready to call the day a success for myself, but we'll see.

The building in the photograph is the Elijah Filley Stone Barn, located a mile or so south of the town of Filley. The unusual barn was built in the 1870's and now finds itself on the National Register of Historic Places.

Also visited: Cortland, Pickrell, Rockford, Holmesville, Blue Springs and Wymore.

The (almost) final map

It's been awhile since I updated the ninety-three map, but here it is for your viewing pleasure. There is one red dot for every location I stopped to attempt to take a photograph. I was going to try to count them all, but I kept losing track before I even got halfway through the map.

All told, I spent nearly 40 days photographing Nebraska and shot over 4000 exposures along the way.

And I'd love to do it all over again.

Wynot Stop Here?

Three years ago today, I began what would eventually become ninety-three. I didn't have any idea that the series would turn into this big of a production, an obsession that has stuck with me ever since that day. The good news is that I'm just about to wrap up the project for good. After my travels today, I feel as if there is only one county's photograph that I need to improve upon.

It was a very moody gray day when I woke up in O'Neill this morning. The sun came out as I went north towards South Dakota and the clouds didn't return until I came through Wisner on the way home. My main focus today was Cedar County and I visited almost every town in the county that I had not stopped in to this point. I'm much happier with what I was able to come up with this time around.

The above photograph is of the now defunct drive-in movie theatre in O'Neill. It's definitely seen better days. The only operating drive-in theatre left in Nebraska that I know of is in the town of Neligh. That theatre had Toy Story 3 listed on the marquee when I drove by yesterday.

Edited to add... A reader points out that there is a drive-in theatre still operating in Alliance. So that makes two.


And another photograph, from my trek through southern South Dakota that went over both the Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams. The old worn out Pepsi logo was on the side of a building next to a car wash in downtown Wagner.

Also visited: Pickstown, Marty, Tyndall and Tabor, South Dakota. Spencer, Butte, Menominee, Fordyce, Constance, Bow Valley, Wynot, St. Helena and Obert, Nebraska.

A failed return to Rose

The photograph above pretty much sums up my travels to Rock County today. The Elkhorn River has been flooding all the way from its beginning to its end near Omaha. After a detour near West Point on the way up here, my plans to revisit the area around the near non-existent town of Rose were foiled by the water over the road shown above. While I have a lot of confidence in my Subaru, I do feel it's best suited for dry land.


Despite the flooding doing its best to get in the way, today was a beautiful day once the clouds cleared in the morning. Best of all, due to the highway to Rose being under water, I had time to take a short drive on Nebraska Highway 7 north of Bassett to the Niobrara River. I always forget just how impressive the elevation changes coming into the Niobrara valley can be, and this may be the best place I've found to cross the river. The photograph above just doesn't do the scenery out there justice.

It's another drive to add to my list of the best ones in the state. I'll have to put together a list for this blog one of these days. If you're heading out to see the Sandhills, it's well worth the drive up here to see the Niobrara on the way up to Valentine.

Also visited: Wisner, Neligh, Long Pine and Newport.

Pawnee City, Nebraska

Pawnee County, along the Kansas border in eastern Nebraska, has been another county that just doesn't seem to cooperate with me. After two visits, I still felt like I could do better with the photograph of the county for ninety-three. I am happy to report that I was able to find something that I am satisfied with on the third try. This leaves me with only a trip up to the northeastern part of the state to call the project completely finished.

Above is detail from a shop window on the downtown square in Pawnee City. The appropriately named Memory Magic deals in scrap booking supplies.

It has been just about three years since my last trip to Pawnee City. The last time through, I photographed a rundown building downtown that someone had written SOLD in one window and NEEDS ROOF BAD in another. Sure enough, despite all the time that has passed, there was the same building with the same writing scrawled in the windows.


July 2007 above, today below. Not much changes in a small town, other than the paint slowly peeling away from a window.