Oglala National Grassland

Untitled (2013)

I spent a few days last week exploring the far northwest corner of Nebraska's panhandle, an area known as the Oglala National Grassland. The Grassland occupies near 100,000 acres of native short grass prairie and unique rock formations that many do not associate with the landscape of Nebraska. To me, it symbolizes the beginnings of the west, where the great plains begin to dissolve into the mountains and landscape of Wyoming and the Rockies.

My first visit to Oglala came during the initial travels for ninety-three during the summer of 2007. It's such a foreign place to someone who has grown up surrounded by the expanses of green farm fields and rolling hills. Nebraska's grasslands appear to stretch on forever, almost completely void of trees, and are filled with little more than the sound of millions of short grasses moving in the wind. It's an unmistakable sound that has stuck with me ever since. There is also a sense of isolation that is both invigorating and a bit unsettling. I cannot even imagine how it felt to explore and live in this area before there were roads or towns of any kind on the prairie. It's no wonder that this land was sacred to Native American tribes like the Oglala Lakota of Chief Crazy Horse, who was killed at Fort Robinson in 1877.

Sioux County, Nebraska (2007)

It took a few years, but I did finally make it back. I've started a small project called Oglala that will document the area in and around the Grassland, including Crawford and Fort Robinson State Park. My experience last week was fantastic and I can't wait to share more of it with everyone.  

A July update

near Burchard, Nebraska 

Site of Old Plymouth, Nebraska 

Rosalie, Nebraska (Detail)

Despite my extensive travels throughout the state of Nebraska, there are still a few places I have yet to visit. I've spent a few days this month working on remedying that fact, at least the towns that are close enough for a day trip. The photographs above are from these treks.

It appears that July has lessened its grip on us all a little earlier this year than usual after only two weeks or so of unrelenting heat. I'm looking forward to picking back up on the Platte River project soon with a few new ideas as to how to approach it. Hopefully I'll have some positive results to show in the coming weeks along with more from Fontenelle.

The sasquatch no longer has any pizza

Butler County (Rising City) (2007)

Rising City (2013)

It is with sadness that I bid adieu to the subject of one of my favorite photographs from ninety-three, the infamous Sasquatch Pizza sign that adorned a convenience store along Nebraska Highway 92 in Rising City.

The first photograph was taken in July of 2007 as I passed through on my way home on one of the first few treks I made to discover Nebraska. At the ninety-three show at Hot Shops, this was the image that got the most comments and smiles. I must have told at least a dozen people where it was located.

Unfortunately, since I last passed through Rising City in 2010, the little store had a change of ownership and became "Fergy's Cafe" which has now gone out of business. Poor ol' Sasquatch Pizza was defaced horribly at some point and now is just barely visible. The edges of his face are still there under the ugly black spray paint, sort of haunting and sad, with that goofy smile somehow still there in spirit.

I'm reminded of the work of one of my favorite photographers, William Christenberry, and his ambition to photograph some of Alabama's vernacular architecture over the course of many decades. If his photographs are any indication, this building will still somehow have several more lives over the next twenty or thirty years.

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A word of advice from someone who should know better. If you buy a new (or used) camera, run it through its paces before you rely on it for anything that is time consuming or that will be difficult (or impossible) to shoot again.

I picked up a refurbished Nikon D600 as a backup body and this little trek I made Friday was my first time out with the camera. Unfortunately, it has a problem stopping down lenses and consistently overexposed images by a stop or two (or three) and left me with much less depth of field than I expected. So it goes back.

Live and learn, folks. Even expensive cameras can be lemons.

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Also visited on Friday: Hooper, Scribner, Snyder, Dodge, Olean, Howells, Clarkson, Leigh, Creston, St. Bernard, Cornlea, Humphrey, Platte Center, Columbus, Shelby, Garrison, David City, Brainard and Weston, Nebraska.

May is finally here...

May started out with sub-freezing temperatures and a heavy, wet snowfall. At least it appears to have finally straightened out. I've been working through it, continuing to photograph the Loess Hills region of Iowa and Fontenelle Forest, and reworking my South Omaha series.

Here are three images from the past few weeks...

from Fontenelle

from The Magic City

Council Bluffs, Iowa

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.

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.

It's been far too long

It's been a busy few weeks for me. Work, school and the show at the Hot Shops have been taking up all of my time. Now that everything is winding down, I found time to get out and explore a few of the towns in Nebraska that I haven't visited yet. As you can tell, it was a near-perfect day for making photographs. A very productive day at that.

I can't begin to explain how much I needed to get out on the road. It's been entirely too long. I plan to begin work on my next project over the summer and will have more information about it once everything falls into place. I have begun to research the project, but, as my past endeavors have illustrated, the initial plans usually bear little resemblance to the eventual results of the effort.

And remember, photographs from The Magic City are on display through next weekend at the Hot Shops if you've yet to see the show.

Saunders County

Surprise 

Seward County

Loma Cemetery

Also visited: Jack Sinn Memorial State Wildlife Area, Ceresco, Valparaiso, Dwight, Ulysses, Gresham, Staplehurst, Oak Glen State Wildlife Area, and Raymond.

The end of the road

Every so often in my random travels, I end up in what would best be described as the middle of nowhere. Today, I headed north and found myself in such a place somewhere south of Decatur, Nebraska. The gravel road I was traveling on suddenly disappeared without warning, no "Minimum Maintenance Road" signs to be found, and I would up in the middle of a rather desolate part of the flood plain. The photograph above shows the end of this path, a stop sign attached to a tree in the middle of the barren land.

near Fort Calhoun, Nebraska

Fort Calhoun, Nebraska

Decatur, Nebraska

A few photographs from a rainy afternoon

Random photographs from an afternoon spent wandering immediately north of the Omaha metro area...

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

near Fort Calhoun, Nebraska

Last summer's flood left a remarkable amount of sand in the area around Boyer Chute near Fort Calhoun. The whole landscape has been transformed into a nearly desert-like appearance complete with ripples in the sand from the wind. As bad as it is, I'm not exactly sure what will become of this land in the future. It will be near impossible to grow any crops and may take many years for this much sand to dissipate. Boyer Chute has always been one of my favorite escapes near Omaha and it just can't seem to catch a break of late. First two or three years of flooding in a row and now this.

near Blair, Nebraska

Frontier County (and more)

Moorefield, Nebraska

 North Platte, Nebraska

near Stockville, Nebraska

I'll spare everyone from more of my ramblings about how fantastic the weather was today. (It was absolutely, completely, spectacularly gorgeous.)

Instead, I've just posted a few photographs from today's proceedings. I visited every town in Frontier County (Curtis, Eustis, Maywood, Moorefield and Stockville) after starting the day in downtown North Platte. This part of the state is rugged and hilly with steep drops to the mostly dry creek beds that meander through the rough terrain. I can only imagine how rough it must get when a bad blizzard blows through this isolated, nearly tree-less place.

Details on ordering ninety-three to follow. Thank you again for stopping by.

Hello, January?

It's not often that Nebraska experiences a January quite like this one. My birthday usually finds itself smack in the middle of the coldest weeks of the year. This winter, in quite unusual fashion, has been anything but cold. Outside of a little snow in early December and two or three days with single degree lows, the weather has been just fantastic. Tomorrow promises a high above fifty degrees.

I've decided to take advantage of mother nature's generosity and head west for a quick overnight trip in honor of the beginning of my thirty-third (!) year. While putting together the ninety-three photo book, I realized that there was one county that I just wasn't 100% satisfied with. I'll be revisiting that county again tomorrow and hope to have the book available for purchase in the next few months before the Hot Shops show in May.

Pictured above are the sandhills just north of Brady, Nebraska. I am forever finding myself drawn to the sandhills' space and isolation.

Also visited: Lexington, Darr, Cozad, Willow Island, Gothenberg, Maxwell and North Platte.

Way over yonder in the minor key

Some photographs from this afternoon in far southwestern Douglas County, Nebraska along the Elkhorn River. Fall is my favorite time of the year to photograph. There's just something about the fall light that's just about perfect.

October 1st

Some days you've got it. Some days you don't. Today was in the latter category. I spent some time in eastern Saunders County before watching an unfortunate performance by the Nebraska football team against Wisconsin.

I did make it to what's left of the village of Wann, Nebraska. Once a small settlement with a church and school, Wann now amounts to little more than a few houses and the structure along the railroad tracks in the photograph above.






For those who may not know, I've been uploading a large number of photographs to my Flickr page, many of which have not been seen before.

flickr.com/photos/josephvavak

Sunday squares: A random strip mall