Will be on Vacation - hope to be able to post on the road.

Kit Carson

Guard tower Granada, CO

Some recent pics from my trip this week.

A very talkative squirrel in the front yard.  Probably watching over a nest.

Looks very good from the trailer.  Will have to hunt it down when it comes out.  I’ve always been a bit disturbed by him having thousands of undeveloped rolls of film.  I get ansy if I have two rolls that haven’t been processed.  I’m always sure that I have an absolute gem of a negative just waiting to be revealed by the chemicals.  But that’s me

Some cloud to cloud lightening this morning when going to work this morning.

” I am just a middle-class farm boy from Dodge City and my grandparents were wheat farmers.”

Small things - like a truly automated car wash that got ALL the dead bugs off my car.  

Just outside of Granada, Colorado ( south east corner of the state) was the Amache Internment camp for Americans of Japanese extraction.  Amache is actually NOT a Japanese word but rather an Indian word.  The camp had schools, farms, police.  But as nice as the Federal Agents wanted to make it seem , it was still an internment camp for Americans.

Guard Tower

Rebuilt Building

All that’s left of most of the buildings

Our Airstream was involved in a hit and run incident.  It was parked in our storage area and someone bashed into it and never reported it.  This is all before our planned one month excursion to Kentucky for the Bourbon and Bluegrass Caravan.

Todd is going to make it new!

This is footage of the Chris Sarian track day at the Colorado State Patrol track in Golden , CO.  I’m in there somewhere.  It’s a nice little track, 1.4 miles in length.  Not as technical as High Plains Raceway but as I learned last weekend, there are some definite right and wrong ways to take the corners.  This year there was the threat of : Deer wandering onto the track, rattlesnakes in the bush and brush fires!!

Bellamy Hunt is the man behind Japan Camera Hunter. An Englishman who lives in Japan.  He can source you cameras that may be hard to find in the ‘States’.  As he says in the this interview he doesn’t do compacts anymore.  He has also set up a film distribution trade selling JCH400.  I’ve shot this film and it does an admirable job.

1] From the hotel in Garden City, KS

2] Entering Colorado from highway 96 headed to Eads, Colorado

3] Old Time Gas Station: closed on a Sunday.  Scott City, KS

PRODIGAL SON

[Verse 1]
Now the prodigal son was a forward child
His mind was not to obey
But after he left his father’s house
He thought he had gone astray

[Chorus]
That’s why
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
Yes, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord

[Verse 2]
Now his father saw him coming
And he met him with a smile
And threw his arms around him
Saying this is my darling child

[Chorus]
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
Yes, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord

[Verse 3]
Now the father asked the prodigal
Son, why you been gone so long?
What made you so love the world
And forget your happy home
The prodigial said “I searched for true religion, but
No faith and no peace could I find
Until I came to a little place called Bakersfield
That eased my troublin’ mind”

[Chorus]
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
Yes, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord

[Verse 4]
Now, I wandered into a tavern
Where a music band was playin’
Now, the steel guitar rang out so sweet
I feel that I was prayin’
And I asked a comely waitress
“Is this a new teaching?”
Yeah, she said, “There is no God but God
And Ralph Mooney is his name”
I said, “Let me empty your ashtray, Mr. Mooney
And if the drunks interfere I’ll be sad
But just as long as you sit there on the bandstand
And play your guitar like Buddha, I’ll be glad!”
Now the father asked the prodigal
“Did you smell the sweet perfume and hear the angel band?”
He said, “Daddy! Dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud music
Is the only kind of truth I’ll ever understand!”

[Chorus]
That’s why
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home
And be a servant of the Lord

Ry Cooder at the Paramount Theater August 14, 2018:  Great concert accompanied by the Hamiltones. One hella show!

I should say that I am NOT a fan of the Artist Statement.  Most are pretentious, unintelligible and do not lead to a better understanding of the artist.  The simpler the better.  I have had to put together one as a requisite to entering photo contests.  I didn’t even write it myself!  I had Vicki do it.  

I did just read the above captioned book about artist statements which is a parody of the subject.  The first one in the book is a fill in the blank template!

Here now is my AS

I was 13 when my father taught me my first photographic techniques. Re-invigorated by the love of this hobby we shared, I’ve kept a camera close by since his passing in 1996. Now, there’s nothing more relaxing than spending an hour, day or weekend with a camera in hand. The majority of my photographic body of work can be divided into three categories:  landscapes, still life and ironic images.

Landscapes. Being born in a small prairie town—Simla, CO—instilled in me a deep appreciation for open space, the pace of rural life and a life-long love of clouds.

Still Life Human hands have arranged most of the objects I like to shoot.

Ironic Images. Unintended humor is all around us. Capturing the unplanned juxtaposition of images, thoughts and people easily amuses me.

I hope you enjoy the images I’ve photographed as much as I’ve enjoyed the experience of shooting them.

Wheat Ridge in the bygone days used to be known as the carnation capital of what? the state?  We don’t grow carnations anymore but the festival continues including a pretty awesome fireworks display.  Sorry. but these were hand held so we have some blurring

St Francis Cemetery on KS 96 near Leoti.

This was a funny interlude this week at work.  I work at a Centura owned medical facility in SW Kansas ( Garden City) and the folks have decided that they would do a road trip to all their facilities in Colorado and Kansas to record stories from employees ( were actually all called associates ) about how great Centura is and the mission that we are doing. I have no problems with this and actually recorded a 1 min. spiel about MY mission.  Anyway they come out with a full sized bus, they had treats, three comfort dogs which are always awesome.  I met with the production person who is from LA.  Very nice lady with a British accent.  Well as we were getting close to the display area one of the floor nurses sees this lady and says spontaneously - “Oh look they even brought a clown!!”  This is the difference between dressing in LA and rural Kansas

Besides liking to skulk around cemeteries, the Garden City Cemetery has special interest for me.  Just down the road is Holcomb , Kansas.  This was the scene of a most gruesome murder November 15, 1959 when four members of the Clutter family were killed by two drifters.  This was the story as set out by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, 

I finally was able to find the Clutter grave stone (AI 470-2) as well as the grave site for Alvin Dewey (AG 346/8)  who was the KBI ( Kansas Bureau of Investigations) agent who chased down and brought to justice the two perpetrators of this murder.

I felt and urge to do a blog about The Plains or Prairie .Now that I travel frequently thru eastern Colorado and western Kansas I have plenty of time to look and think about the plains.  The fly over states suffers from the same disparagement.  Even folks in Colorado freak out when they think that I may have moved to SW Kansas.  Take a look at the blog and let me know what you think