Wheeler , KS

Idalia, Colorado

The first two images are from an interesting cemetery near the intersection of Highway36 and Kansas 27.  It is near the town of Wheeler and St. Francis.

As I frequently do, I take the back roads to my job in Kansas and I have started to routinely go thru Cope, Colorado which is very close to the Colorado-Kansas border.  On the Grainery.app I found someone who also takes photos in Cope which is really random and rare given that this town is almost defunct.  So without announcing this as a competition we each show the other our latest “captures”

This roll of film was shot on Adox Color Mission which is a re-release of one of their older formulas.  At first I wasn’t sure what was so special about the film but this roll really sparkled for me, especially the rendering of the blue sky.  I also processed this myself using Cinestill’s 2 bath kit.

Pretty much the last person I would trust.  He’s an Oligarch and that’s the problem. He does what he wants and virtually has no one to answer to.

Before going to dinner we went to the Denver Art Museum for a quick look at a photography exhibition called “Other People’s Photographs”

Then it was onto Fire - the restaurant inside the Art Hotel.  They also had some nice art on the inside

Went to History Colorado last weekend.  Took the Olympus OM-4 with Ilford HP5+.  This roll was developed in Cafenol ( Delta formula)

On my last trip to Kansas I went on Highway 36 which takes you thru Cope, Colorado.  It has some interesting buildings there some of which are abandoned.  Over on Grainery.app there is another photographer who has several Cope pictures which is insane to think that there’s anyone stopping by to take pictures but there you are.

This photo was shot on Ilford HP5+ and developed in Caffenol Delta formula.  I was surprised that it even came out and not really a bad negative.

This exhibit is both part of the Denver Month of Photography and an exhibit at History Colorado.  

This is from the photographer himself:

During the fall of 1966, working as a VISTA volunteer in East St. Louis, Illinois, I purchased a Canon SLR camera and started to photograph fellow volunteers and anything that caught my eye. In time, my passion for photography grew and I was looking for a school to learn commercial photography. I graduated from Colorado Mountain College in 1975 with an associate’s degree in commercial photography. 

I worked for a variety of photo businesses in the 70’s and 80’s and started my own business in the mid 80’s. I was working as a photojournalist and specializing in portrait photography and creating abstract photo images. In the mid 90’s I started to lose a significant amount of my vision and was legally blind. I have been living with vision loss for 24 years. Even with this small amount of vision, I continue to photograph. 

After closing my business in 2003, I was hired to work in a Base Supply Center at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado. Envision is a nonprofit agency that is aimed at helping the blind community gain independence through knowledge and skill. The photos shown on the website are a variety of black and white, and a series of color jump shots. The jump photos guide us away from the anxiety of the pandemic and energize us with fun and humor!

Vine of Death: John Davenport

February 17 – March 5, 2023

Pirate Contemporary Art

Opening Reception: Friday, February 17, 6 – 1o pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, March 4, 2 pm

In Vine of Death, artist John Davenport addresses his father’s career at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and his role in producing chemical weapons of mass destruction. This is John Davenport’s second exhibition as a full Member of Pirate Contemporary Art.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) was a United States Army chemical weapons manufacturing and storage facility located in Commerce City, Colorado. The site was originally established in 1942 to produce chemical weapons and later expanded to include the production of pesticides and herbicides.

During its operation, the RMA produced a variety of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin, and VX nerve gas. In addition to the production of chemical weapons, the site was also used for the storage and disposal of hazardous waste.

In the 1980s, concerns were raised about the environmental impact of the RMA, particularly the contamination of nearby water sources and soil. The site was eventually designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1987, and a cleanup effort began.

The cleanup effort at the RMA was one of the largest and most complex in Superfund history, and it took nearly three decades to complete. The site was officially declared clean in 2010 and was turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use as a national wildlife refuge. - Chat  GPT

His mixed media display was very interesting.  I have spent lots of time at the Arsenal since it’s conversion to a wildlife sanctuary but we should not lose the history of what this once was.

Poisonous Vines and Bombs

I had a great chat with John about the many dangerous places in Colorado - The Arsenal, Rocky Flats Plutonium Plant, Cheyenne Mountain where NORAD was housed and was ground zero for any nuclear exchange with the Russians.  All three have been decommissioned though the Rocky Flats is still highly contaminated underground.

I recently had the chance to walk down one of the main streets of Goodland, Kansas.  I found the facades to be quite interesting.  To be sure I think this downtown area has seen better times. 

This is a common theme in the Midwest - trying to tell you what to do.  Don’t get an Abortion, Pray to Jesus, Don’t do Drugs.  There is the famous sign on the way out of Garden City, KS that says Eat Beef - Stay Slim .  Well let me tell you if you you only ate beef and left off the double stuffed potatoes, Salad Bars piled high with shit that isn’t salad then you would stay slim.  But this is not how Americans rolls ( BTW you have to leave off the rolls too)

I have been a big fan of Diane Arbus for a long time.  So much so that my dachshund - lab mix was named Arbus.  Diane is known for taking photos of “freaks” and given that my dog is definitely different I thought Arbus was an appropriate name.  Her reputation for taking pictures of freaks was and is inaccurate.  Susan Sontag in a famous editorial slammed her for taking advantage of people on the fringes.  Arbus on the other hand called her subjects freaks because that’s what they called themselves.  And how convenient for Sontag to attack Arbus several years after her death by suicide.  I suspect that Sontag never spoke to Arbus to get a better understanding of her style of photography and selection of subjects.  On the other hand in previous blog posts I’ve indicated my disdain for Sontag - her book ” On Photography” is to me an incomprehensible word salad.  People still swoon over her.  Anyway please enjoy this short YouTube.

The three notable photographers who took up color when it came available were Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter and William Eggleston.  This is a brief video of Ernst Haas book on New York.  There is a much longer YouTube on Ernst Haas that is worth watching

How can you travel to thee states going from Colorado to Kansas when Kansas is on the eastern border of Colorado?  Simple you go Colorado- Nebraska then Kansas

Some of the sites along the way:

Yuma, CO

Haigler, NE

Otis, Colorado

ditto

ditto

Last of the Otis Pics

My only comment is WTF?

Early morning at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Preserve.  Shot on my iPhone.  Love the clouds behind the bison.  It was cold out so the bison are usually out and about feeding.  In the Summer they tend to hang out by the trees for shade.

This is an excerpt from a F1 Alphabet Book meant for little readers.

My sister in law, Julie gave me some out of date color film to see if I could use it.  First roll was a disaster - this is from the 2nd roll.  It’s Kodak 800 that I decided to process as Black and White ( only because the cost to develop C41 is intense and BW I can do myself).  Decided to “pull” the fill by shooting it at ISO 200 ( two stop pull) and then developed it in Kodak HC110B for 6 min.  The film curled terribly but I have a scanner that can handle this.  So there you go folks.

Thanks Julie

I’ve always called Vicki a Doctor without a Degree but she just revealed that in fact she is a Doctor of Ad Listings!

Photographers are disgruntled about Instagram.  I certainly am.  Last year the person in charge at IG announced that they were gonna be de-emphasizing photography and pushing video to compete with Tik Tok .  Well this didn’t work out as they get whooped.  So now the same person is saying that this was an over reach on his part.  Nothing really has changed as the platform is really now more geared to Tik Tok and reels.  Also their algorithm pushes some really weird crap.  Mine started to push Arabic posts - not that I have anything against this - it’s just that I have no interest!!

Someone made the suggestion that photographers should look to putting their work on Tumblr which I have been subscribed to for some time.  I wasn’t really using it much to post.  I decided to take the leap and start a whole new Tumblr called ColoradoPrairie  The first thing I noticed is all the ads.  Well for a little over $3 per month you can get rid of them.  This is a fair price.  My other place the I post film photography Grainery charges $3/month to upload, they don’t have ads.  So this is comparable.

This is Jesus in the Wheat - I just found about this from surfing the ‘net - It is a double sided billboard off  I70 as you come thru Colby, Kansas.  Never noticed it before but there it is.

Wheat Jesus Billboard History

Wheat Jesus has been blessing Kansas motorists since the billboard was erected in 2009. 

A local couple, Tuffy and Linda Kay Taylor, were inspired by other billboards they’ve seen and decided to create their own. They hired a local artist, Phyllis Shank, to paint Wheat Jesus. The Wheat Jesus billboard purposefully does not have words; the Taylors wanted viewers to think for themselves, so its interpretation is up to you. You can find more details on the history of the Wheat Jesus billboard .

The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of U.S. VolunteersColonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 69 to over 600 Native American people. Chivington claimed 500 to 600 warriors were killed. However, most sources estimate around 150 people were killed, about two-thirds of whom were women and children.

SC Celebration

Hero of Sand Creek

Mountain of Bison Skulls

It has taken longer than it should to finally shine a light on the massacre.  This exhibit at the Colorado History Museum is a big step in this process.  Dialog is from the Indian perspective as is appropriate.  An interesting side light is that Territorial Governor Evans is buried in the same cemetery along with Silas Soule who is arguable one of the heroes  of Sand Creek for NOT letting the troops under his command enter into the massacre.  Here is a link to Riverside Cemetery here in Denver.

“A Misplaced Massacre” is highly recommended.  It is not only the story of Sand Creek but also a recounting of how we finally have a National Park Service site where we think the massacre occurred.  A very interesting read.

This is the predecessor to all the modern film Nikons:

Nikon F2 is a 35mm film professional, mechanical shutter SLR system camera by manufactured by Nippon Kogaku K. K., Japan (Nikon Corporation since 1988), introduced in 1971 using Nikon F mount for interchangeable lenses. It is the successor of successful Nikon F. Instead of an upgrade of Nikon F it is a completely new body only sharing with its predecessor the lenses, some accessories and the philosophy.
There are different versions of the F2 depending on the finder attached to the body. The body comes in chrome or in black. The plain prism finder DE-1 also comes in chrome or in black. All other finders are in black only.
Though very different internally, the F2 was made as ergonomically identical to the original F as possible. Even the weight of the body with the initial DP-1 finder was kept within an ounce of the weight of the departing F with an FTN finder. But the improvements were extensive: • Extended shutter speed range of 10s to 1/2000 and 1/80 flash sync
• ISO 6 to 6400 with initial DP-1 head
• Larger reflex mirror to minimize viewfinder vignetting with some lenses
• Shorter 120 degree stroke, and integrated On/off switch in film advance lever
• Rounded contour body for better ergonomics
• Rewind crank with a 6mm raised position for easier manual film rewinding
• Removable hinged back 

These images were shot on Rollei Paul & Reinhold film which is rated at 650.  I was very happy the way they turned out.  The lens was a very slow f/3.5 35-70 Nikon zoom which in the past I thought was a pretty sharp optic and these photos confirm that.  The exposure window is sometimes hard to see and if shooting in low light it is not possible to see it at all.  Hence the invention of LED lights to indicate correct exposure.   But overall a very nice experience.