Elmo #2 (revised)
Elmo, Kansas – There is a kind of spirit that pervades the simplicity of the central plains. Those of us who live here understand it. Scenes like these, which are so spare, where so little is going on, can be really satisfying to us. Maybe it’s the uncluttered, open…
Elmo
Elmo, Kansas – I’ve passed by this area for decades without knowing that the remains of a small town is hidden behind some trees. There are some homes and a nice church, though most signs of industry – the mill , garage, scale house – look long…
DandyLion
Close-up view of a common dandelion, conveniently found in my front yard. It’s a safe haven for lots of wildflowers 🙂 Photo notes: It took several excursions, laying among the weeds of our front yard before I found a composition that seemed worthwhile. This used…
end stone
Morris County, Kansas
Stone Post
Flint Hills, Chase County, Kansas
Stone and Trees
Chase County, Kansas
Receding Fire
Chase County, Kansas
Spring Burn #2
Chase County, Kansas – Smoke from a prairie-burn eclipses the sun and shrouds the landscape in soot, abstracting our view of the Flint Hills. Though it’s mid-afternoon on very bright day, it looks more like dusk.
Spring Burn – Starting the Fire
Chase County, Kansas – Dan Bacon is setting flame to tallgrass along the roadside. He moves quickly. The wind is at his back, the fire chasing him as it spreads rapidly in the dry cover. The torch he pulls is fueled with a mixture of gasoline and diesel. He father,…
Bulls of Fire
Photographed near Lake Kahola, in Lyon County, Kansas
Spring Burn
North of Kahola Reservoir, Chase County, Kansas – Dan Bacon seeds a controlled burn of prairie grass as a water truck, off camera to the left (image below), prevents it from spreading into populated areas. The seasonal burns are an important part of maintaining…
Sandhill Plums Visitor
Kansas country roadside – It isn’t all smoke and fire in the countryside.Sandhill plums blossoms are beginning to open and the bees are ready for it.
Circling Hawk
Flint Hills, Chase County, Kansas for Deb * * * ‘I will not be clapped in a hood, Nor a cage, nor alight upon wrist, Now I have learnt to be proud Hovering over the wood In the broken mist Or tumbling cloud.’ William Butler Yeats – The Hawk * *…
The Passions of Trees
Finally Spring
No matter what the calendar says, I didn’t feel like it was really spring until I saw Milo basking in the sunshine, surrounded by greens and grape hyacinth. Photographed with a new Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro lens. I bought it for close-up photography, but it’s…