Have a look at the unofficial picture book of the Caravan that we took to Kentucky.  This is not sanctioned but represents photos that I really liked.  

I was able to convince some people that I am a photographer. As consequence I will be sending a photo to be exhibited at Colorado Mesa University.  I feel like I’ve already won just by being selected.  Now the challenge of getting it sold to someone.  Because I spend a fair amount of money framing I need to recoup the cost in the price.  This is not an easy task.  

Mr. Personality

I was able to partake in the Magnum Square Print sale where 6 x 6 square prints of some of their iconic photographers are for sale.  I purchased a Mary Ellen Marks photo. I had it framed at Metro Frame Works.  It came out wonderfully thanks to the folks at MFW. 

Mary Ellen Marks was an amazing photographer who unfortunately left us in 2015.  I would recommend folks to spend a bit of time looking at her work and getting to know  her name.  You will not be disappointed.

What started off in Kickstarter is now a movie about street photography and now it’s on Youtube.  It’s well done and features both old and new practitioner’s of this art.  It is centered in NY City but this is only natural as this is where it all really started.  It was never solely confined to NYC but if you want to see and talk to those that were in the first wave of this art form this is were you go.

An amazing 16K video from Prairie Pictues - here’s what they say about their film:

Imagine standing on a grassy hill overlooking the prairie in western Nebraska. It’s early summer and you are surrounded by yellow fields of Goldenrod, and whipped by a warm wind from the east. A storm approaches from the west. It’s getting bigger and darker. Soon, the sky above you is filled with swirling black clouds and you are lifted upward, light as a feather, tossed by the storm.

I’m fortunate to have grown up on the Great Plains of America where I can touch the sky often. A storm there can transform you. It’s a conduit to God, an interaction with Wakinyan, the Lakota thunder spirit. While you are part of the storm, the bonds of earth are lifted, and you are free.

Finding new ways to convey this experience to others is important to me. In early 2018, I embarked on a mission to capture storms on the highest resolution motion picture format I could reasonably acquire, which for me was 16K (15,985 x 5792 pixels). It didn’t actually exist, so I had to create it. After much testing, I decided on using two 50MP cameras fixed to a custom-made calibrated mount. It was a daunting task, but I was able to make it work.

When you watch this short film, you will see just one, large, beautiful picture. But, you are actually watching two carefully stitched images. If you swear it’s just one image, then I have succeeded.

Please like, share and comment if you enjoy the film.

The score was composed for me by the talented Benjamin Botkin. Check out Ben’s music at benbotkin.com

The lovely Tricia Brioux performs the voice of Mother Nature. You can find Tricia at triciasvoice.com

The words are by the naturalist John Muir, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muir

A portion of the film’s 16K footage can be licensed exclusively through StormStock, stormstock.com

If you love amazing storms and want to see them up close, book a storm chasing expedition with my company Tempest Tours, tempesttours.com

Martin Lisius
Director/DP
prairiepictures.com

Format: 16K (15,985 x 5792) 2.76 “Panavision 70” utilizing two Canon 5DS EOS 50MP cameras. On-line: 8K UHD 2.39 (7680 x 3213) Rec. 2020.

Director’s notes: Shooting “Prairie Wind” required 4 months shooting 16K, and 3 months processing the clips. I drove 8,000 miles across six Great Plains states from March through July, 2018. Most were 16 hour work days. The project was time consuming with a cumbersome workflow. It required lots of hands-on, and many hours of computer processing. There are approximately 6100 stitched 16K images in the finished film. We used two external fans to keep our 8-core Mac Desktop Pro workstation from melting. Only prime lenses were utilized, so the zooms you see are all digital. Each shot required two days to stitch, color, and render, if there were no alignment issues. Making this short film taught me Jedi-like patience. Despite all the challenges and time, the final results are quite amazing. Hope you enjoy it!

Download and sample some of the 16K images used in “Prairie Wind” we.tl/t-lSKE8dVRP6

GEAR:

(2) Canon EOS 5DS Cameras (A reliable, rugged workhorse that shoots beautiful pictures). amzn.to/2PNaLI1

(2) Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art Lenses for Canon EF (Crazy sharp and bright lens). amzn.to/2FcBlGf

(2) Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM Lenses amzn.to/2RKrZ69

SanDisk Extreme CF data cards amzn.to/2JOoYio

Vello Remote for Canon 3-pin amzn.to/2D97jAO

Sirui BCH-30 fluidhead amzn.to/2DuHJY0

Kessler QR Plates (Used on all of our support gear). amzn.to/2RDxJyk

Giottos Rocket Blaster Dust-Removal Tool (The most used piece of gear in our office). amzn.to/2PO9vV1

Formatt-Hitech Firecrest Filters amzn.to/2RGktck

CineRanch CineGrip, figured maple (A beautiful, ergonomic grip like no other). Designed, manufactured and sold exclusively by Prairie Pictures in limited quantities. prairiepictures.com/contact/

Technicolor CineStyle Profile technicolor.com/cinestyle

Canon Professional Services membership (Highly recommended). cps.usa.canon.com/about_cps/about.shtml

Apple Mac Desktop Pro (Hats off to our Mac for getting the job done). amzn.to/2JOrMvP

Apple Final Cut Pro amzn.to/2AUHTFe

Promise Technology RAIDs amzn.to/2DuniKA

Dell 4K Monitor amzn.to/2JPID1f
Digital Anarchy Flicker Free digitalanarchy.com

Divergent Media EditReady (Our video compression Swiss Army knife). divergentmedia.com/editready

Baron Weather Mobile ThreatNet (Reliable weather radar that works everywhere). baronthreatnet.com (Ask for Cliff).

Fujitsu Lifebook Convertible Tablet/Laptop PC amzn.to/2JMYIou

Columbia Sportswear Raincreek Falls Rain Jacket amzn.to/2JSER7G

Some of the links above are affiliate links. Your use of them will help me create new and wonderful videos at no cost to you. 

Copyright Prairie Pictures, Inc.

This is the last bit of Ferrania Film P30.  I was disappointed in this last roll because of the numerous scratches on the negatives.  I felt better when someone on a forum said that this first iteration of the film was prone to scratches.

Battle Canyon Highway 83

Highway 83

Kendall, Kansas

My first iteration of my book, In Plain Site has been sent to Blurb.com

More editing to come but at least this stakes out my territory for future editions

The unused 127 color film expired in 1981 - cost $1.29.

Neighborhood lady is moving to Florida and didn’t want to drag this around.  I was more than happy to take it off her hands.  I don’t shoot Canon …but I do now.  Have to get the Wein air cell battery for it but it should work.  A 50mm and a 135 mm lens.  Enough to get me on the road. I will try shooting her way expired C41 - and just take it into BW when I scan. They also gave me a bunch of even older cameras that  I won’t shoot as it requires 127  film but they are neat and perfect for the curio cabinet.

For the music of yesteryear.  Levon Helms is one of my favorites and I came to him late in his life.  But I’m making up for lots time

On the way into Garden City , KS today I stopped at the Battle Canyon Monument.  Here are the photos and text from the plaque.

Battle Canyon in Scott County, Kansas was the site of the Battle of Punished Woman’s Fork, the last encounter between Native Americans and United States Troops in the State of Kansas. The Northern Cheyenne under the leadership of Chief Dull Knife and Little Wolf were trying to return to their former home in the north after escaping from a reservation at Fort Reno, Oklahoma.

There were 92 men, 120 women and 141 children who came through Kansas, crossing the Arkansas River at Cimarron Crossing. On September 27, 1878, US troops under the command of Lt. Colonel William H. Lewis from Fort Dodge located the Northern Cheyenne families at this location.

The women, children and elderly sheltered in and near a cave at the top of the canyon and sentries were hidden in circular pits surrounded by rock barricades which are still visible today. As the troops advanced on the position from the northwest, Colonel Lewis was mortally wounded in the thigh. He died on the way to Fort Wallace, becoming the last Army officer to be killed in Kansas during the Indian wars.

The Cheyenne escaped by night, crossing the Smoky Hill River and going on to Nebraska where the party split into one party under Chief Dull Knife and one under Little Wolf.  The soldiers continued their pursuit until most Cheyenne were killed or captured.

This 30 acre site has been designated a State and National Historic Site. It is maintained by the Scott County Historical Society.

Stumbled onto Jason Lee and while it’s a bit hard to see that he was the actor that we used to watch on TV but damn it if it isn’t the one and the same.  

HIs BIO

JASON LEE

Born in Orange, California in 1970, Jason Lee is an American film photographer, actor, producer, and director. Well known for having been a professional skateboarder during skateboarding’s very pivotal late 80s and early 90s, Lee would go on to pursue acting in 1993, working in film, television, and voiceover, and with such directors as Kevin Smith, Cameron Crowe, Lawrence Kasdan, and Brad Bird.

Retiring from skateboarding in 1995, Lee has maintained solid ties to the industry, most notably through his partnership with longtime friend and fellow ex-professional skateboarder, Chris Pastras, and their now 26-year-old skate brand, Stereo Skateboards, which Lee co-manages with Pastras.

In 2002, Lee developed a passion for film photography and has been an active photographer and film advocate since, having had his work both published and exhibited throughout the years. In October 2016, Lee published a selection of small and large format Polaroid and Fuji instant film photographs spanning a decade as a special limited hardbound issue of Fort Worth-based Refueled Magazine. Just 500 sold-out signed and numbered copies were produced, with three of the copies inhabiting the libraries of the SFMOMA, Amon Carter, and Philbrook museums.

Lee’s follow-up photo book, A PLAIN VIEW, released in 2018 through Film Photographic, is comprised of large format color film photographs made throughout Texas in early 2017. The publication will be the first for Film Photographic, an Instagram film community page and now photography publishing platform founded by Lee in 2015.  

In 2017, Lee held two successful preview exhibitions of selected prints from A PLAIN VIEW at Artspace 111 in Fort Worth and Preacher Gallery in Austin. An exhibition at the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center in Denton, Texas was held in 2018 and featured eighteen large-scale prints from the book.  

For 2019, Lee will be exhibiting his Oklahoma photographs at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa. A companion book will be released at the closing of the 6-month exhibition. 

Lee is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary from director Greg Hunt that will take the viewer on the road with him as he exposes his remaining boxes of now-expired 8x10 Polaroid film, a favorite medium of Lee’s and one that is no longer being produced. An accompanying book of the large format Polaroids will be published by Film Photographic, with the originals being exhibited. Slated for 2020/21. 

A retrospective B&W photo book is slated for a 2022 release, to feature American photographs dating back to 2007 and to be published by Film Photographic. 

Lee has also produced and directed music videos for Beck and the band Midlake, a short documentary and live concert film featuring Midlake, two Stereo Skateboards films, and THE WHITE DOOR, a 35mm short film starring Giovanni Ribisi and Beth Riesgraf, and is currently working on a skateboarding-based 16mm short film that began production in 2017, to be released at a later date. 

I just got around to shooting this startup film out of Italy.  Actually it’s a revitalization of a very famous film manufacturer.  Any of the famous Italian cinematographers of the 50’s and 60’s shot on their movie film stock.  Former employees have opened the factory up and are trying to get the production line up for large scale sales.  The samples of this film that I have are from their original Kickstarter program.  Now we won’t be able to get it for a little bit.  I found it to be fabulous.  Here are two examples

Where the time zone changes from  Mountain to Central.  They have a cute cemetery if you can call a cemetery cute.  It’s on a hill overlooking the town itself.  

Way in the back there is one of the simple crosses to mark the burial place of the counties first African - American.  I have this on the good authority of the custodian of the cemetery.

Today’s travels brought me to Dodge City. This town known for gunslingers, Boot Hill etc.  I didn’t do the old western town thing but instead did a distillery tour.  

This is a small craft distillery.  The produce Vodka and Gin as a quick way to get cash in the door.  The whiskey they produce is basically a two grain ( corn and wheat) variety.  They are going to play with a rye whiskey and they do plan on offering a bourbon later this year.  

Today I visited Greensburg, Kansas.  Prior to 2007 this small Kansas town was known for having the largest hand dug water well.  It was at the time an amazing technological feat to dig this well - done in part to secure their water supply and their future.  

Then in May, 2007 the most damaging type of tornado there is , an EF5 hit the town wiping away 95% of it.  12 people died.  This was the first time an EF5 designation had been used.

The town is now rebuilt but it still has a strange feeling as many spots that you know had a house on it, doesn’t.  What is there is a wonderful upspringing of new homes and building with the latest in architecture and energy saving technology.  I would definitely recommend folks to visit if they are in the area.

This new album by Ry Cooder and his son Joachim is a do-over of ancient gospel tunes.  I think it’s great although some of the reviews have been less than stellar.  I bring you the lyrics of “You Must Unload”

Now you fashion-loving christians sure give me the blues
You must unload, you must unload
You’ll never get to heaven in your jewel-encrusted high-heel shoes
You must, you must unload

For the way is straight and narrow and few are in the road
Brothers and sisters, there is no other hope
If you’d like to get to heaven and watch eternity unfold
You must, you must unload

And you money-loving christians, you refuse to pay your share
You must unload, you must unload
Trying to get to heaven on the cheapest kind of fare
You must, you must unload

[Chorus]

And you power-loving christians in your fancy dining cars
You must unload, you must unload
We see you drinking whiskey and smoking big cigars
You must, you must unload

On the way home from the Airstream Caravan in Kentucky we went to Columbus, Indiana.  This small midwest city made it their vision to support cutting edge architecture.  This put them on the map as a destination.  We had a wonderful Sunday bus tour of some of their iconic buildings, sculptures, etc.

As we were leaving the campground outside of Columbus we were treated to this nice sunrise.

One of the benefits of our travel to Kentucky this last month was to be able to see our friend Greg. At one point we were arguing who was the better friend myself or my wife Vicky. We never came to any conclusion but did have a good time with Greg. We visited the University Kentucky Art Museum where the Ralph Eugene Meatyard exhibit was displayed. We went to the”castle” outside of Lexington for dinner. These are just a couple of shots that I made on film of that visit

Ralph Eugene Meatyard Exhibit at the Univ. of Kentucky Art Museum in Lexington.  Visited with Vicki and our friend Greg who lives in Lexington.  Greg belongs to the Lexington Camera Club , the same one Meatyard did back in the day. From an exhibit about the Lexington Camera Club 

During its heyday, the Lexington Camera Club was one of the more experimental groups of photographers outside of art hubs like New York or Chicago. What’s more, the club’s members—comprised of opticians, lawyers, and writers—differentiated themselves from their counterparts in bigger cities by allowing the idiosyncrasies of their environment to inspire their photographic explorations.

Club mentors Van Deren Coke and Ralph Eugene Meatyard encouraged their peers to employ multiple exposures, out-of-focus techniques, and compositions that deliberately made use of the play between light and shadows when making photographs. The resulting images often incorporate aspects of life in Kentucky: family, nature, and daily life are recurring themes within the club’s work.

The distinctions of the Lexington Camera Club are the subjects of Kentucky Renaissance: The Lexington Camera Club and Its Community, 1954-1974 currently on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The exhibition is a testament to the club’s profound dedication to expanding the definition of photographic output, often through publications and partnerships as well as the photographs themselves. In the exhibition, works by Meatyard and Coke are presented alongside images made by Zygmunt S. Gierlach, James Baker Hall, Robert C. May, Guy Mendes, Thomas Merton, Cranston Ritchie, and Charles Traub.

I’ve been absent from my blog on account of traveling by trailer to Kentucky for an Airstream Caravan.  16 states are represented in the Caravan - we all met and traveled together for a month thru the state of Kentucky - It was aptly named Bourbon in the Bluegrass.  I’ve been busy doing a blog for that group

I promise to put more interesting details soon on THIS blog

Just a sampling of images made along the way. 

On the caravan most RV parks have NoFi which means I have to log into the internet world teathered to my phone using it’s 3-4G connection.  I hate these RV parks that advertise WiFi and then it’s shit and when you ask them they just shrug their shoulders.  Time to look for a Starbucks