Back to where the trees grow tall and ain't a sound for miles around

I’m revisiting the far-northwest corner of Nebraska’s panhandle to finalize a project I began way back in the summer of 2013. The project, entitled Oglala, is an exploration of the area in and around the Oglala National Grasslands. I fell in love with the grasslands way back in 2007 during my initial travels of the state and continue to find myself drawn to this wide open, almost-desolate place.

Today marked the first time I’ve ever experimented with a 16:9 aspect ratio. And once I tried it a few times, I found myself wanting to use it more and more. I’m quite surprised by how much I kept coming back to the wider format. Western Nebraska just makes sense in such a cinematic way.

Tomorrow, I will be making a detour into South Dakota and the southern edge of Badlands National Park.

Post title: William Elliott Whitmore - Gravel Road

The winter leaves, and the spring unwinds, and summer comes again you know

After a very (very, very) long winter, it felt good to get back out on the road for a weekend and stretch my creative muscles. I photographed a few places in eastern South Dakota and the very western edge of Minnesota that I had yet to visit.

Post title: Dave Rawlings Machine - The Trip

Another year gone by like the signs on the street

Images from a late December day spent photographing Western Iowa as 2018 comes to a close…

Post title: Sean Rowe - Gas Station Rose

I'm gonna ramble 'til I get back to where I came

A few photographs from a visit to Sioux City over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I lived there from 1991-1995 and, while a lot has changed, there are still quite a few parts of town that are just as I remember them. Sioux City has a lot in common with another old Missouri River town that I visited early this year - St. Joseph, Missouri. Both have new, sprawling commercial developments on the edges while the middle of town struggles to survive.

I’m working with a new camera - a Nikon Z6 - and am very impressed so far. It is far smaller than existing full frame Nikon cameras but still handles very well. No judgements on the image quality as of now (Adobe does not yet support the Z6) but my first impressions are excellent, especially the compact 24-70 zoom.

A long, cold winter is just around the corner here in Nebraska. Time to start planning for and dreaming of spring.

Post title: Townes Van Zandt - White Freight Liner Blues