FLINT HILLS NUMBER ONE – Portfolio Number Three – Greenwood county, Kansas. Photographs taken 1999. Reversed composite image. The Flint Hills start some 35 mile east of Wichita, Kansas and run north from Oklahoma to near the Nebraska line. This is a land of rolling hills and streamed gullies. A land of wooded areas and barren vistas. This composite image with it’s glowing cottonwood trees, is sharply contrasted by a single small dark tree and it’s rocky foreground. I particularly like the perspective created by the use of composite images. When I create composite images I am creating a mental as well as a visual tapestry of a given area. The cottonwood tree is the state tree of Kansas.
REFLECTION – Portfolio Number Three - Greenwood County, Kansas. Photograph taken 1999. Reversed image. Throughout the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas a number of old limestone structures still stand as memorials to the state’s heritage, its people, and its past. I was drawn to the texture of this walled surface, its uneven and shifting masonry lines. The intersecting board with its weathered surface cast a reflective shadow. Here I am referring to mental reflections created by time and memories.
FLINT HILLS NUMBER TWO – Portfolio Number Three – Greenwood County, Kansas. Photographs taken 1999. Reversed composite image. Millions of years ago this area was covered by a vast ocean. Fossils can still be found throughout the Flint Hills. With the composite of two images the stone structure appears to be submerged. A hundred or more years ago life on an early Flint Hills homestead would have been harsh. The land rocky with only small areas suitable for farming, few neighbors, towns distant, scorching summer heat, and biting winter winds. Yet one grows to appreciate the subtle pleasure such a land has to offer. I particularly like the four distinct tonal values that intersect at the front of the building. The light horizon band dissects the image while preserving the detail in the distant trees.
SUN FLOWERS – Portfolio Number Three – North of Eureka, Kansas. Photograph taken 1999. Reversed image. This image was taken at Eureka City Lake near the spillway. This area was a wonderful wetland with rocky ledges, trees growing on either side, and an abundant variety of wild flowers and water grasses supporting aquatic and bird life. A few weeks after taking this photograph, I returned to the area to work again. To my dismay the trees had been bulldozed, the wildflowers and water grasses covered in layers of gravel. Shame. Sun flowers of many varieties can be found along any country road throughout the Midwest. They have become ordinary somethings we take for granted. My desire was to take the ordinary and convert it into something visually unique.
FLINT HILLS NUMBER THREE – Portfolio Number Three – Greenwood County, Kansas. Photographs taken 1999. Reversed composite image. A mental composite developed from years of traveling the back roads of the Kansas Flint Hills. The horizontal lines represent the layers of limestone at the foundation of these hills. There is a single tree embellished in Rembrandt lighting. A wetland represents the diversity of plant and animal species. The Flint Hills roll with the sky to create an ever-changing horizon. Here the desire was not simply to create a visual tapestry but a dream like memory. Some areas obscure others rich with detail.
