A second look: 93 in 2010

February finds Nebraska still stuck in the midst of the winter doldrums. Tuesday was the coldest day of the winter with daytime temperatures barely climbing above zero. While I enjoy winter, it's nice to know that the end is in sight. Just a few more weeks until spring break and (hopefully) some warmer temperatures.

Just another evening spent occupying my time by looking back at last year and making plans for the coming one. I'm anxious to hit the road.

near Bassett, Nebraska

State Fair Park in Lincoln, Nebraska

near Long Pine, Nebraska

near Fordyce, Nebraska

A second look: The Platte

While I've been busy with school and hiding from the cold, there hasn't been a much to report on this blog about my activities. January, as it tends to do, finds me looking through photographs I've made during the last year.

The following details were created along the Platte River near Louisville, Nebraska in July. It was an incredibly hot day and, with all the flooding we had received, the river was running higher than it usually would in the heat of summer. At one point, I stepped into the thickest mud I may have ever seen. My shoe very nearly disappeared and I spent a good half an hour trying to get the dark mud off before I dragged it into the car.

I need to get out on a fan boat one of these days.

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.