Postcards from the Creative Journey

Surviving Photographs

 Valentine, Montana

Sometimes, Square Pegs are survivors. Our family went to Montana to visit “Grandpa” in 2004. Our suburban girls needed to understand where Grandpa grew up. That would be Valentine, Montana, or more specifically where Valentine, Montana used to be – not that there was a lot there to begin with. Somewhere along the way, in a hard drive crash, computer reformat or just plain stupidity I lost most of the files from that vacation. Here is one that I found. I have no idea why this image was saved, or what happened to the other images from that wonderful afternoon.

Entry to the Sons of Norway Hall, Alkabo, North Dakota

Ah, rats. I missed my usual Sunday posting. This photograph is from the entrance to the Sons of Norway Hall in Alkabo, North Dakota. It was the only image I made in this building and it did not make it into the Stillness Borne on the Wind folio. I really liked the direction of the light in this scene and the juxtaposition of the white door and the black window. Speaking of juxtaposition, while looking at the exif data for this photograph I noticed this photo was made exactly two years after the previous photograph (Boots and Chaps, Story, Wyoming, 2006). Maybe that might be the basis for a show. All the photographs I made on September 14^th.

Boots and Chaps, Story, Wyoming

Way back in February, I posted a similar image (Hats, Story Wyoming). Just another nice image from a photographic afternoon that graciously allowed me to capture a couple of images that don’t fit into any particular genre of photographs.

Hell’s Half Acre, Wyoming

 

My project photographing Hell’s Half Acre reflects the love affair American photographers have with the landscape of the American West. This stems from the historical fact America learned of the West through photographs. Easterners did not understand the vastness of the land, so often a person or a wagon provided a necessary reference for the scale of the landscape. Here’s my homage to that genre.