Can I be completely honest and blunt with you? I've lived in Kansas for about a year now, and I've been really unmotivated and uninspired to go out and photograph nature. Let's back up.
I'm from California...the beach. It's tough to take a photograph in my home town that didn't look amazing. The beautiful and radiant colors glimmering off the sand and sky during West Coast sunsets fill the memories of my childhood. My next move? The Colorado Rockies. Just being in the shadow of the mountains is awe inspiring enough. Photographing them can be quite difficult because the photographer is constantly doing God a disservice by not capturing the magnificence of the landscape. My vacation destination? Yosemite National Park and the Redwoods.
Needless to say, my backyard for most of my life was what you would call a vacation destination for the entire world to see, and when I moved to Kansas, I allowed myself to be pretty negative about not "having anything" to photograph.
I LOVE photographing agriculture and being an agricultural photographer in the Mid-West. I love photographing harvest, fields, and cattle. But I wanted awe inspiring and majestic landscapes that varied like what I was used to.
Finally, I decided to end the pity party, grab my camera, and explore the great state of Kansas. It took a while (more for my recognition of beauty than finding it), but I'm starting to appreciate this state for its beauty beyond the humbling sunsets of the plains.
Kansas has a subtle beauty. It's humble but majestic at the same time. It's like the quiet, comfortable, and reassuring friend you only appreciate the company of until they are gone. I found this beauty this weekend at the Konza Prairie nature trail. I went slightly off the beaten path and found the sun just peaking through the trees and just had to photograph this scene.
I'm excited to pick up my camera again and not only give Kansas a second look, but my heart another chance to fall in love with photographing the beauty of my current state.
