Fishing in Kansas

I could have sworn I already shared some of these images (since they are from this spring), but apparently they got lost in the shuffle.

Scott and I both really enjoy fishing, and this spring we went quite often. Unfortunately because of the heat, both of us fighting some long-lasting illnesses at the beginning of the summer, and our generally busy schedules we haven’t gone much lately. I also was pretty bad about actually shooting images with my camera (I got lazy and just used my phone most of the time) while we were out, despite bringing it along. But, here are the images that I did capture.

Happy Sunday everyone!

on the farm.

A few weeks ago the boy and I headed to his parents’ farm for a quick little visit. I have blogged about the farm before (here, here, and here, to name a few), but this place has started to take hold of a little piece of my heart. It can be rather desolate and empty at times; the only noises you hear are cows, birds, and the occasional farm equipment running, and the dirt roads around the farm seem to go on forever. Evenings and mornings there can be absolutely stunning, and even though I have photographed a decent amount there I feel like I have barely scratched the surface. On top of that, it changes so much depending on the season that there is always something fresh the photograph. Late spring and early summer are probably my favorite times to be there (which also tends to be true of most locations for me), and since this has been a mostly cool and fairly wet spring/summer so far, things were extra beautiful (aka very green and lush). Earlier this spring however, the weather was not so ideal. The higher temps and lack of rain left the wheat (my favorite part of the farm) very short and not as great as normal for photographs.

The day that we got there was cool and rather perfect early in the evening, so we sat out on the deck for a while before the sun dipped low and things got too chilly. Scott practiced guitar, and I wandered the farm taking pictures in the beautiful light. It was lovely.

 

Spring in Minnesota

Last weekend I went home to Minnesota to be with my family right after my grandma passed away. It was so nice being home with family, and Minnesota in the spring is one of my favorite places on earth. My parents’ yard is amazing; I am so incredibly lucky to be able to call this my home, and to have grown up there.

It had been a while since I was home during this time of the year, and it was interesting to see the difference in seasons between Kansas and Minnesota. In Minnesota everything had just started to bloom, and the leaves were just starting to get full on the trees. Spring in Kansas was long gone though; the tulips and lilacs had been done blooming for weeks, and the leaves had already started to become the dark green of summer.

At the funeral for my grandma the pastor mentioned that she had told him that after the incredibly harsh winter Minnesota had this year, she really wanted to live long enough to see the leaves on the trees and hot weather again. So as I sat on the back patio looking at the trees in the backyard, the leaves and the bright green of my surroundings meant even more to me.

 

New York City (Part Four)

Time for the final installment of my New York City images! I had one pack left of Impossible Project film that I brought along with me, and here are the results:

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!

New York City (Part Three)

As promised, here are (almost) all of the images I took with my phone while in New York City.

This church was directly across the street from the bed and breakfast that we stayed at in Chelsea. I was in awe every time I walked outside.

 

Maria Lassnig at MoMa PS1.

MoMa PS1.

The International Print Center. From the High Line.

Seen on the High Line. The Frick Collection. The Light in the Frick was absolutely incredible, hence the long series just from there.  Charline von Heyl at The Whitney Biennial.

More from The Whitney Biennial (I cannot recall the artist though). The largest camera obscura I have ever experienced. This was by far one of my favorite things from the entire trip. I could have sat in that room for hours, and was wishing I had my tripod with so I could do a long exposure and show it off properly. The Whitney permanent collection.
Mira Schendel at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery. It is tough to see what exactly is going on in this image, but these drawings were between layers of plexiglass and then suspended from the ceiling. They were all on different planes, so depending on the angle you were looking the entire composition looked different. The red square was actually a ways behind and off to the right of the others as well. It was another one of my favorites from the trip.  Another piece by Mira Schendel. This room was filled with fishing line suspended from the ceiling. It was quite surreal.  The Guggenheim of course.  And from our flight home. 

New York City (Part Two)

Time for more images from NYC! Day Three was spent at The Guggenheim, and then at The Whitney Museum for the Whitney Biennial. The amount of art that we saw that day still makes my head hurt a little when I think about it. It was a bit overwhelming even.  I didn’t take out my camera at all in the museums, but did take lots of photographs on my phone and plan to do a post of entirely mobile images, so check back for that soon.

That night a small group of us went on an adventure to Times Square. While looking at these photographs I realized that I like cities for the same reason that I love towering forests of trees; I adore being dwarfed by the things that surround me. The massive buildings of big cities make me feel so small, and so do the trees in old, dense forests. Granted, each place has a different impact on me, and I absolutely need a balance of the two, but for some odd reason I truly enjoy feeling small because of the setting I’m in.

I didn’t take any images on my camera really on day four, so I will skip ahead to our last day in New York. Our last day was a free day for us, and since my head was still spinning from all the art, fellow photography grad Myra and I decided to take the day off from art and museum. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and adventured in Central Park a little bit more, just enjoying the nice weather and our last bit of time in the city.

I will be posting two more sets from our trip, one as I mentioned will be all mobile images, and the other will be Polaroids I shot while there. I’m hoping to get those up as soon as possible because I have lots more (and more recent) to share!

New York City (Part One)

Last month a group of us art graduate students at KSU traveled to New York City with the main aim of seeing the Whitney Biennial (and of course lots of other museums and galleries). It was my first time in New York, and I absolutely fell in love. Since we had a crazy busy schedule and had to stay together as a group for most of it I didn’t have much time to take photographs (especially with cameras other than my phone), but I did manage to capture a decent amount, too much for one post at least.

Day one was spent walking around to some galleries and to visit a KSU alum who lives/works in NYC. Since we didn’t arrive until late afternoon it was a rather brief day exploring the city.

Day two was a much busier day, filled with a lot more walking. We walked along the High Line greenway, through central park, and saw lots of art of course.

 

More to come, so check back soon!

Vibrant Spring

This post will be a bit old news now, but the end of the semester as both a student AND an instructor is madness. So, as is the trend it seems, I have a bit of a backlog of images to share. First up though a few images of spring.

Spring is probably my favorite time of the year. I am a bit obsessed with bright green landscapes, and the fresh, new green of spring never ceases to amaze me. Plus the flowers every where is an added bonus. Since I was so busy this spring I didn’t have a chance to shoot much, but here are the few I did manage to grab before the new green faded and the spring blossoms fell.

Have a happy weekend everyone (and be on the lookout for more posts)!

Burned Prairie

A few weeks ago I went out to the Konza Prairie with Scott for a hike. They happened to be in the process of burning that day, so on some portions of the hike we had to walk through fairly thick smoke. It didn’t make breathing all that fun, but it was pretty surreal and beautiful seeing the familiar landscape engulfed in smoke.

Happy Monday, and Cinco de Mayo everyone!

 

Pillsbury Crossing

I had almost completely forgotten about these images, but while doing some cleanup on my computer stumbled on them. Not long before spring break I went on a mini adventure to Pillsbury Crossing with my studio-mate. Pillsbury Crossing is a small wildlife area just outside of Manhattan. There are a few trails there, so we hiked around a little and scoped out some places for potential self-portraits in the future.

Happy Monday everyone!