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!

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 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!

 

Spaces

The more I photograph, the more I realize that I am drawn to very intimate spaces. Grand spaces generally don’t intrigue me nearly as much, at least in terms of my photography. I also have the tendency to be drawn back to the same space over and over, witnessing how it changes depending on the light or the passage of time. These images are random ones from the past month or so, of various spaces that you may have seen before, but perhaps under different conditions. Some are just brief moments that I photographed in an attempt to hold on to them in my mind; I found them significant in some way at the time, and wanted that moment to stick.

 

And, meet Gwynn, who lives in my studio. The plant’s growth is explosive; these image were shot just a few weeks apart. I plan to keep documenting the growth, but it is slowly (or not so slowly) taking over my studio I think.

 

As a bit of a teaser for you all, I just returned from a trip to New York City, so images from that trip will be up in the (hopefully) near future. Also, more moments of light are on their way. Happy Monday 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!

Spring Break Day 6

Day 6 of our trip was, unfortunately, our last day full day in Arizona. We decided to try to pack in as much climbing and adventuring as possible, which resulted in a huge overload of photographs (meaning this will be a long post). We started the day climbing in the Prison Camp area again, since there were still a few routes there that we wanted to do in that area. After climbing until we were exhausted we drove higher up the mountain to catch the sunset. Unfortunately I foolishly deleted images on my SD card before I transferred them to my computer, so almost all of the sunset images are gone. If anyone has any miracles to recover files from a formatted SD card I would love to hear them!

Prairie Hike

I hadn’t been out to the Konza Prairie for ages, and when it warmed up last weekend I jumped at the chance to head out there for a hike with fellow photography graduate student, Myra. I also hadn’t been out there with my new lens, so I was excited to be able to get a new perspective on something I have shot multiple times before. Unfortunately when we got out there it got super windy and a cold front started moving in, but luckily we still had sunshine and decent light for most of the hike.

Tomorrow evening I am off to Arizona for a week of climbing, camping, hiking, art museum visits, and of course photographing! I am so excited to get a break from Manhattan and share lots of images and stories here when I get back. If you want to keep up with our adventures during the week be sure to follow me on instagram. I will be posting lots there throughout the week, but posts here on the blog will have to wait since I don’t have room to pack my computer. Have a wonderful week you lovely people!