The train touched down in Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City, Iowa

My exploration of the Loess Hills region of Western Iowa continued Saturday as I explored its northern-most reaches. Much of my time was spent in Sioux City, a place I called home for four years growing up. It's always a bit strange to return to childhood haunts. Sioux City hasn't changed. A building or two is gone (most notably the Catholic grade school I attended with the hideous giant, orange doors) but the past twenty years have not done much to change the place. It's still a little run down and largely depressing to me, like running into a friend from years ago who hasn't changed a bit and appears to languish in a state of perpetual sameness.

That said, Sioux City makes for some pretty damn good photographs.


Also visited: Sloan, Hornick, Holly Springs, Climbing Hill, Bronson, Five Ridge Prairie, Westfield, Akron, Salix, Snyder Bend and Lewis and Clark State Park.

RESTAURANT, rest in peace

As I passed the Honey Creek exit on I-29 this afternoon, I quickly realized that something was missing that I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember. The giant red-roofed RESTAURANT, unoccupied for most of the last decade, has been torn down. 

I imagine the Missouri River flood two years ago didn't do the building any favors. It also doesn't help that exit 66 is an exit to pretty much nowhere not too far away from all the services and restaurants that the Omaha / Council Bluffs area provides. If a person actually wanted to go to Honey Creek, they'd be hard pressed to find it from this exit. There's a few miles of gravel in between and the town can barely even be considered a bump in the road.

Still, I'll miss seeing RESTAURANT when I pass by. Time marches on and so it goes.

RESTAURANT, May of 2009 

RESTAURANT, March of 2013

I spent the afternoon wandering around the central portion of Iowa's Loess Hills. It was the first great spring day we've had this year and I just couldn't resist. Today was a day of bearded old guys stopping me to say hello as I walked around. Three of 'em, all together. Us beards stick together.

Also visited: Modale, Mondamin, Murray Hill, Preparation Canyon, Moorhead, Turin, Castana, Hornick, Sloan and Whiting.

Ozark-bound

I spent a few days last week exploring central Missouri, mostly around the Lake of the Ozarks. It's been twenty years since my last visit and a lot has changed, but there's still some of the old tourist trap quirks to be found if a person looks hard enough. The same goes for my time spent along the old Route 66 around Lebanon, Missouri.

Now I'm back to Nebraska and ready for spring. Surprisingly, there was more snow in Missouri than there was in Omaha when I left. That is until Sunday when a freak 6-8" snowstorm rolled through completely unannounced.

Just a few more weeks.

St. Joseph, Missouri 

 Lupus, Missouri

Lebanon, Missouri

Also visited, Day 1: Atchison and Leavenworth, Kansas. St. Joseph, Rushville, Platte City, Peculiar, Creighton and Urich Missouri.

Also visited, Day 2: Clinton, Tightwad, Warsaw, Climax Springs, Lebanon, Waynesville, Mark Twain National Forest, Roby and Lynchburg, Missouri.

Also visited, Day 3: Camdenton, Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Eldon, Rocky Mountain, Olean, High Point, California, Jamestown, Sandy Hook, Marion, Marion Bottoms Conservation Area, Lupus, Wooldridge, Overton, Overton Bottoms Conservation Area, Huntsdale and McBaine, Missouri.

Also visited, Day 4: Rocheport, New Franklin, Boonesboro, Lisbon, Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge, Glasgow, Gilliam, Slater, Miami, De Witt, Cary, Carrolton, Norborne, Hardin, Richmond, Polo, Lathrop and Plattsburg, Missouri.

February (Thus far...)

February has, to this point, been about rediscovering black and white photography. I'd add 35mm film to that, but I've been shooting with a small Olympus digital camera, the E-M5. It's really quite a fantastic little package with tremendous image quality, even with the pocket-sized 14-42mm kit lens. 

The last time I gave camera suggestions, I was unable to recommend any of the micro 4/3 cameras. Now I can highly recommend any of the latest Olympus models (the aforementioned E-M5 along with the E-PL5 and E-PM2) to anyone who is looking to take high quality photographs with the smallest package possible. Olympus' latest imaging sensor has finally caught up with the DSLR world.

You can't expect miracles, obviously, but I'd say the results are better than what I got with the old full frame Canon 5D. There's definitely a difference in outright image quality between so-called full frame and cropped frame cameras, especially when it comes to fine detail and depth. Just think of a camera with a 4/3 or APS-C sensor as the new 35mm and a full frame camera like the Nikon D800 to be the new medium format. Both have their own advantages and can deliver results that are exhibition worthy. Bigger will mean better in most ways.. but also much more expensive.

Here are a few photographs from the first half of February for your viewing pleasure: 

Places visited: Council Bluffs, Missouri Valley, Logan, Woodbine, Dunlap, Dow City, Arion, Earling, Tennant, Shelby and Minden, Iowa. Washington, Kennard, Arlington, Fremont, Ames, North Bend, Morse Bluff, Cedar Hill, Abie and Plasi, Nebraska.

The State of the Artist: 2013

 01/01/13 #9 (Burt County)

As yet another begins, I feel ever more confident about the direction I've been moving as a photographer. While much work remains, especially in regards to the exhibition of my photography, I have reached a level of competency in my image-making that surprises me on a regular basis. I remember spending hours circling large pieces of Nebraska searching for a single photograph during my travels for ninety-three, struggling to come up with anything that would work. Now I find myself working in small areas with far more success and feel increasingly connected with the environment that surrounds me.

2012 was an important year in my life, both personal and artistic. In my personal life, I found love and a sense of contentment that has brought new meaning to my day-to-day existence. This inspiration and stability will guide my work moving forward and give me the courage to take more chances rather than continue to drift through time without embracing it.

from Fontenelle

Artistically, I began two large-scale projects and exhibited another during the year. Fontenelle was not begun until later in the year but has become somewhat of an obsession for me since then. This series marks several changes from what I have been working with since my first serious work in 2006. I'm not working via a road trip, instead spending many hours simply walking through Nebraska's Fontenelle Forest. This lends a very intimate feel to the work, a documentation of these walks and the details of a quite small piece of this world. The photographs are also black and white, something I haven't done since my time at school. I have wanted to work in black and white again for quite some time but had not found the right project until now. Fontenelle should be finished by the summer.

from the Platte River series

2012 also marked the (early, early) beginnings of a study of the Platte River from its beginnings in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming to its confluence with the Missouri River near Plattsmouth, Nebraska. I have been researching this project every now and then since 2009 but did not set out to start on it until July of this year. It's still too early to see what direction this work will ultimately take or how long it will be until I see fit to call it finished.

The Magic City at Hot Shops

In May, I exhibited The Magic City at the Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha along with the work of William Hess. While I love the images from the series, I am still a bit unsure about the quality of the prints that were created from the film scans. That aside, the photographs looked quite good together on display and I received many compliments over the course of the month. To anyone who visited the Hot Shops and is reading this entry: Thank you so very much for your support.

2013 begins, much as 2012, with a series of thirteen photographs taken on New Year's Day. One of these images leads this blog entry. The others will be posted to my Flickr page over the next two weeks. As I did last year, I will be posting an image to Flickr every weekday. This has proven to be great motivation to get out and shoot as much possible, a requirement if I want to publish 250 or so good (or better) images over the course of a year.

I will do my best to update this blog a little more regularly with what's going on. I also regret that the ninety-three book has not yet seen the light of day. At some point, I lost the files I had made for the test printing of the book and life has kept me from getting back to it. I will do my best to remedy this delay soon.

Here's to another year of growth and discoveries. Let's make the most of it.

A walk in the woods

I spent a few hours on a chilly Saturday morning walking a few trails in the Fontenelle Forest just south of Omaha. This morning followed the first overnight freeze of the year. Despite this, I was determined to get out and enjoy the fresh fall air while I explored an area I've been meaning to spend some time in for the past couple of years.

Nature photography is a lot different than most of what I've been doing for the past few years. It requires a different eye and quite a bit more patience. I've also found that I'm incredibly unskillful with a tripod, especially on the uneven terrain of the forest floor. No matter. I plan on making a habit of it in the coming months as winter begins to set in. It will be a nice change of pace and get me a bit out of my usual photographic routine.

All told, it was a gorgeous morning full of that crisp fall light that I love so much. I felt quite alive alone among the trees and the sounds of wildlife scurrying away. Life makes more sense out there, away from my everyday world, I think.

Fall is here

I took the opportunity of an extra day off this week to spend a Monday afternoon wandering a small swath of east-central Iowa that I had yet to visit. Nothing too much to speak of, just a great day with some good photographs and a little chill to the air. The leaves are beginning to change and so is the light. There's a crispness to Fall that I miss during the rest of the year.

The photograph above was taken in the town of Templeton, Iowa.


Also visited: Troublesome Creek, Brayton, Exira, Hamlin, Audubon, Gray, Dedham, Coon Rapids, Bayard, Bagley, Jamaica, Yale, Panora, Guthrie Center, Montieth, Linden, Redfield and Dexter, Iowa.

Rain, rain, go away

Downtown Hannibal, Missouri

It's just my luck. After a summer-long record drought in Nebraska, I head out on the road for a few days to take photographs and it won't stop raining. It wasn't until I was driving back to Omaha that the sun decided to come out for an extended period of time. 

Cloudy weather is something I've learned to deal with (and even embrace) photographically and rain is usually little more than a minor annoyance that makes things a little more difficult. The rain on Sunday, however, was about as obnoxious as weather can possibly be.

At times, it would cease and I'd get out of the car to walk around. Then, as soon as I'd get a distance away from the car, there would be an absolute downpour. This went on for most of Sunday afternoon, all the way from Hannibal to Keokuk, Iowa. After crossing the Mississippi to Illinois, the clouds welcomed me with a deluge of rain of which I've only seen once or twice in my life. State Highway 96 was unable to cope with the excessive amount of rain water and its edges became deep pools that lurched the car sideways. I pulled off of the highway not once, but three times, as the rain let up momentarily before resuming the downpour just a minute or two later. For reference, this was my view of the Mississippi River through my windshield at a roadside turnoff near Nauvoo:

The rain ultimately didn't let up for good until I had reached my destination in Burlington, Iowa. I was ready to admit defeat and seek refuge in a hotel room before heading home today. Instead, I looped back around through Fort Madison and took a couple of very good photographs before calling it quits. It ended up definitely being worth the second effort.

Today was another story. I did a little exploring but chose to start the long trip home without much to show for the day. It's as if I was creatively exhausted and ready for a break after a few days of constant image searching. And now it's time to get back to the reality of a full time job and classes. Such is life, right?

Also visited Sunday: La Grange, Canton and Alexandria, Missouri. Quincy, Hamilton, Niota, Dallas City, Lomax, Carman and Gulfport, Illinois.

Also visited Monday: Gladstone, Oquawka, Keithsburg and New Boston, Illinois. Muscatine, Nichols and Lone Tree, Iowa.

Paris, Florida and Louisiana

Sumner, Missouri

I visited all of these places in one afternoon. Of course, all of them were towns in northeastern Missouri. Mexico wasn't too far away, either.

Paris is a nice, yet fairly nondescript, small town with a charming little main street. Nearly non-existent Florida is the birthplace of Mark Twain and finds itself surrounded by a large man-made lake that bears his name. I got my first sight of the Mississippi River while walking up and down the hills in downtown Louisiana. It's exactly what a person would expect an old river town to be, equal parts charming and industrial. The old, narrow river bridge on US Highway 54 is fantastic.

The photograph above is of Maxie, the "world's largest goose," in a tiny, tiny town of about 200 off the beaten path called Sumner. Most of Sumner has definitely seen better days; More than half of the town's main street is abandoned and dilapidated.

I'm in Hannibal for the night and will be exploring tomorrow morning. Then I'll be heading north towards Keokuk and more river towns in Illinois and Iowa.


Also visited: Avalon, Forker, Salisbury, Moberly, Madison, Victor, Perry, Ashburn and New London, Missouri. Atlas, Illinois.

Towards the Mississippi...

Rulo, Nebraska

This weekend finds me headed towards Hannibal, Missouri and the mighty Mississippi River. I spent a day taking photographs around Burlington, Iowa back in 2008 and have wanted to head back to the Mississippi ever since. For those who may not know, Hannibal holds a special place in American folklore as the childhood home of Mark Twain and his literary creations like Tom Sawyer. It's one of those places that I have wanted to visit for as long as I can remember.

As for today, I meandered to Chillicothe, Missouri via Rulo, Nebraska and Highway 7 in northeastern Kansas. The weather chose not to cooperate, as it sometimes does, but I still got in a few solid photographs over the course of the day.

I did manage to meet two very angry dogs on main street in White Cloud, Kansas and get lost (again) in St. Joseph, Missouri. St. Joe completely throws off my internal compass for one reason or another.

Also visited: Troy and Wathena, Kansas. Watson, Phelps City, Corning, Craig, Big Lake, Easton, Hemple, Hamilton, Mooresville, Ludlow and Dawn, Missouri.

Onward to Pierre

Lake Oahe, near Pierre 

Chamberlain at dusk

I left Mitchell this morning and headed toward the state capital in Pierre. It was a lot like a drive through western Nebraska - small towns few and far between with nothing but fields and grasslands as far as the eye can see. The drive around the southern edge of Lake Sharpe is fantastic, if the road is a bit lumpy, and completely isolated. After leaving the Native American settlement of Fort Thompson, there was not a single gas station or much of any sign of civilization until reaching Fort Pierre an hour and a half later. In the end, Pierre was only mildly interesting. The city is mostly a single strip of chain restaurants and stores without many unique qualities other than the state capital grounds.

Also visited: Letcher, Woonsocket, Lane, Wessington Springs, Big Bend Dam, Lower Brule, Vivian and Kimball, South Dakota.

South Dakota

near Dimock, South Dakota

Today was a very, very, very windy day in South Dakota. Not occasional gusts, either, but this incredible, ever-present south wind that made it difficult to operate car doors and take steady photographs. An elderly gentleman in Irene told me that it's usually windy there - but not always this windy - and sometimes more windy. I just smiled.

I do have to say that I like south-eastern South Dakota a lot. There are a lot of narrow gravel roads and wide open spaces to explore, plus the huge skies are fantastic. It feels good to get out on the road for a few days towards some place new.

I am spending the night in Mitchell, home of the world famous Corn Palace, many souvenir stands and cowboy-themed restaurants. Mitchell is an easy day's drive from the Black Hills on I-90 and attracts more than its share of tourists this time of the year. Tomorrow I'll be headed towards the state capital of Pierre and  Lake Oahe.

The image above was edited with Nik Software's Snapseed on my iPad. It's a nifty app, although the iPad's limitations make it difficult to post to Blogger via the device. I eventually emailed the edited image back to myself and created this post on my dreadfully slow netbook.

Also visited: Riverside, Iowa. Hub City, Volin, Menno, Olivet, Tripp and Parkston, South Dakota.