Iowa: Day Five

Today finds me headed back east to Grinnell, Iowa to work a little more on my current project. It was a gorgeous day, perfect temperature and lots of blue skies. I skipped the interstate for most of the way, instead relying on state highways I'd never taken before.

Above is a photograph of Searsboro, Iowa. It's a tiny place a dozen miles or so south of Interstate 80. There's not a lot of the town left these days.

Also visited: Neola, Minden, Avoca, Walnut, Marne, Atlantic, Wiota, Anita, Adair, Casey, Menlo, Stuart, Dexter, New Sharon, Lacey, What Cheer and Montezuma

Five: Influences (As Of Right Now)

William Christenberry
I am drawn to Christenberry's unique approach to visual history. His photographs of the same structure over many years depict the changes, both deterioration and rebirth, of unique landmarks throughout the southern United States.



William Eggleston
Eggleston gave us color photography, or so history will ultimately read. It's hard to be a color photographer without mentioning his influence. I do struggle a bit with the haphazard look of some of his compositions, but, when everything comes together, few can match his genius.



Robert Frank
My first photo book was Robert Frank's The Americans. I received the book as a gift after randomly listing it on a Christmas list. It didn't take long for me to get hooked on the idea of traveling the country, photographing everything along the way.



David Plowden
David Plowden has photographed many subjects over the course of his life, everything from trains to steel workers. But what resonates most with me is his work in small town America, especially his A Sense Of Place monograph. Plowden's photography of rural Iowa and other states has a sort of quiet, dignified quality to it that I hope to be able to approach some day.



Ed Ruscha
Although more famous as a painter, photography is what Ed Ruscha uses as a sort of visual sketchbook to gather ideas from. His photography is often mundane; a collection of buildings along a single street or a series of gas stations. But his use strong use of typography translates this work into iconic imagery.

Image: Boyer Chute (2009)

Today felt like a good day to get out and hit the road. I revisited a couple places I wanted to photograph, Fort Atkinson and Boyer Chute, and spent some time near Prague in an attempt to work on my latest project. At this point, I'm still not exactly sure how to pursue the whole idea. It is time to evolve and grow. Just need to figure out how to go about it.

The above photograph is from the Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge. It's a nice quiet place, tucked into a bend in the Missouri River east of Fort Calhoun.

Also visited: Fremont, Cedar Hill, Linwood, Abie, Bruno and Prague.

Image: Untitled (2003)

I spent a day off last week going through my old image files to make sure everything is backed up multiple times. This photograph was taken for an intermediate photography class for a pushed film assignment. It's still one of my favorite photographs.

Going through early photographs is always a bit of a revelation. There's always a surprise; something that had never really caught your eye before. The lack of a preconceptions can make for surprisingly interesting work. After looking through hundreds of black and white photographs, I find myself wanting to move back in that direction. Maybe next year.