Skulls and Suns, Santa Fe

Sun and Skulls, Santa Fe

If you’ve never wandered The Plaza in Santa Fe on a winter’s night, you’re missing quite the experience.

Tulip Leaves, Adams County

Tulip Leaves, Adams County

Textures, light and variation: visual drugs for photographers.

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Carhenge, Alliance

Carhenge, Alliance

This is my second image from Carhenge, and by far my favorite.

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Sumac, Hall County

Sumac, Hall County

Fall is a wonderful time in Nebraska: No, I’m not waxing poetically about Husker football, but about the fall colors. Autumn is dry here, chilly and clear, while the colors are vivid and the harvest dust luminescent; roadsides offer their own version of micro-scenery, as if the plants themselves are trying valiantly to contribute something to the already vibrant hues of the season.

Hostas, Adams County

Hostas, Adams County

Ansel Adams was a staunch promoter of the axiom, “Expose for the shadows, print for the highlights.”

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Stars, Davis Creek Reservoir

Stars, Davis Creek Reservoir

I’ve been asked on many occasions how remote Nebraska must be: no towns; no people; and no light.

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Carhenge Detail, Alliance

Carhenge Detail, Alliance

Ah, the running joke of life in Nebraska: You’ve been to the Stonehenge of North America, right?

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Cemetery Angel, Whitman

Cemetery Angel, Whitman

In Whitman, Nebraska, a lonely cemetery sits atop a hill overlooking town and the vast, rolling expanse of the treeless Sand Hills.

PlainSky, Nebraskans Master Image 1: High Plains Train, Grant County

High Plains Train, Grant County

My next solo exhibition, “PlainSky, Nebraskans,” opens at the Minden Opera House Gallery on April 16, 2013, and will feature three 40-inch-wide panoramic images indicative of both the project as a whole, and the essence of western Nebraska. The above image, “High Plains Train, Grant County,” is one of them (I think).

PlainSky, Nebraskans: Spaying Cattle, Sioux County

Spaying Cattle, Sioux County

Ranching is a lifestyle of few vacations. Cattle don’t understand that you can’t feed them for a few days, or that their need for water will just have to wait; for the rancher, that means a life tied to the lives of his stock. On Ray Semroska’s ranch, that has been a family inheritance for more than 100 years, and one that plays out in this image of a cold January spaying of 400 heifers, evidenced most clearly by the cloud of steam from the pictured cow’s mouth.