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.

New photographs for a new year

Today begins yet another year. It may be what amounts to a mostly symbolic fresh start, but I'll take it nonetheless. As always, I'm reminded that I must always move forward and find time to be creative as much as possible. And remember to be happy, even in the face of an always-hectic world rushing by.

What follows are twelve photographs for the first day of 2012. I spent this mild, yet extremely windy, holiday in the Loess Hills region of western Iowa. I'd like to think it's a good start on what will hopefully be a fantastic year of image making and discovery. 

Happy New Year, everyone.

Five: Songs from 2011

Big Harp - Everybody Pays



William Elliott Whitmore - Everything Gets Gone



Wilco - Art Of Almost



The Mountain Goats - High Hawk Season



Tom Waits - Kiss Me

Keeping busy

It's been over a month since I last posted anything on this blog. While I've been busy with work and school, I have also spent quite a bit of time photographing South Omaha. The lack of immediacy from shooting film doesn't really allow for consistent blog entries with photographs.

I am looking forward to revealing much of the South Omaha project at the Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha this coming May. The winter will be spent scanning negatives and organizing the series. I'll have more news soon.

Pictured above is the view of the Veteran's Memorial Bridge and Missouri River from Mandan Park.


---------------------------------------------------------


ninety-three is nearing completion in book form. I've been sequencing the photographs and working on getting a cover design figured out. The book should be available from Blurb in the next few months.

Today was a gorgeous day

A few details for your enjoyment from a near perfect Sunday afternoon...

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

A place that once was and a river that still is

I've spent quite a bit of time lately researching ghost towns in the area. Most of these came into being around the time the first homesteaders came to start anew and flourished for a short time before dying away. Now, almost a century later, there is very little left to mark the existence of any sort of settlement or activity. Just an obscure name and a little history.

Rock Bluff, Nebraska is one of these places. Once an important location for those crossing the Missouri River and even home to a college, the town disappeared early in the 20th century. Now all that remains is the gravel Rock Bluff Road and a makeshift park where the steamboats once docked along the river.

The Missouri River has been far above flood stage since May and is finally starting to recede back into its banks, although you wouldn't know it from the water surrounding U.S. Highway 34 in western Iowa. I stood on the edge of a closed gravel road and watched the flooding for a few minutes. A strong wind from the north made waves in the flood water not unlike what occurs on a large lake. It's certainly been a strange summer.

Rock Bluff, Nebraska

Cass County, Nebraska

along US Highway 34 near Pacific Junction, Iowa

Waubonsie Church, Iowa

Southern Minnesota

I have explored Minnesota once before, three years ago. That trip took me through the North Woods with its giant Paul Bunyan statues and Lake Superior shoreline. This one was less ambitious and closer to home, a drive across southwest Minnesota following the Minnesota River for much of the way.

Outside of the area around the Minnesota River (and its tributaries like the Redwood), this part of Minnesota is not at all unlike its neighboring state to the south. There are miles and miles of virtually flat farmland dotted with small towns that all have a large grain elevator of some sort towering over the surrounding landscape. Of course, as stated in Minnesota's tagline, there are small lakes seemingly everywhere a person looks.

Tyson Lake near Wood Lake, Minnesota

Fairmont, Minnesota

Blue Earth, Minnesota

Also visited: Winnebago, Truman, Lewisville, Madelia, New Ulm, Fairfax, Franklin, Redwood Falls, Echo, Vesta, Russell, Ruthton, Holland and Pipestone, Minnesota.

Up through Iowa...

With classes resuming on Monday, I felt the need to get at least one small road trip in before nearly all of my time is spent working or studying. After mulling several destinations in my mind, I took off and headed somewhere entirely different at the last minute, up through Iowa's so-called Great Lakes to Minnesota.

While the weather refused to fully cooperate, I made the best of it and explored quite a few places I had never been before.

near Kimballtown, Iowa

Manilla, Iowa

Spirit Lake at Orleans, Iowa

Also visited: Elk Horn, Irwin, Aspinwall, Vail, Westside, Wall Lake, Early, Rembrandt, Sioux Rapids, Greenville, Spencer, Milford and Spirit Lake, Iowa.