One of my travels this year will take me to McCook, Nebraska. Nebraska? What the hell is in Nebraska? My friends, that is a very good question. Tony will be switching schools and going to a small school located smack dab, as they say, in the middle of nowhere, following his dream to play basketball. Topping the list of states that I’ve never been to are Nebraska and Kansas, both located in fly-over country, both plains states. Yes, Nebraska and Kansas are part of The Great Plains:
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Canadian portion of the Plains is known as the Prairies. Some geographers include some territory of Mexico in the Plains, but many stop at the Rio Grande.
WikiPedia
Having lived in Dallas, TX for 20 years, which is part of The Great Plains, I can say that I have absolutely no love for The Plains! 
There is nothing there but horizon! It’s great for farming, as there are no trees to get in your way.
As a photographer, I find photographing in the plains to be difficult, because the place does not move me. It offers nothing that excites me.
Now, if you’ll allow, I’ll break landscape photography into a few, very broad categories, ordered by my preference.
1. Forest/Woods
2. Desert/Southwestern
3. Mountains
4. Coastal
5. Prairie/Plains
6. Polar
I realize that these are pretty wide. I’ve done photography in each of these categories, or perhaps zones. My favorite is forest/woods. There seems to be a calming influence in a place full of rivers, streams, birds, different types of animals, and lots of trees. I can spend hours here and never tire of it.
Second on the list, the desert, or perhaps more accurately, the high desert, where most of the colors are browns, reds, and yellows. There you get to see dunes, bluffs, buttes, mountains, arroyos, cactus, and a wide array of desert flowers and plants. There seems to be always something interesting. However, I don’t know if I could spend my life there, living in that environment every day.
Third – Mountains: This was really hard as mountains and desert are probably really tied at 2nd place, perhaps on certain days, they even gravitate to first place. I just love the power and majesty of the mountains, the spirit of the desert. They both inspire me to shoot, shoot, shoot!
Coming in fourth, coastal. This is one that I have difficulty shooting, sometimes. Though it could be argued that this environment is the most dynamic, as the beach is always changing, second by second with each successive wave, it doesn’t seem to hold my interest very long. I see myself moving further away from the beach and coming back inland to explore greener spaces. I’m thankful for the time that I got to live in Charleston, SC – that gave me an entire 19 months to see if I really liked that type of photography and to explore it in depth, but it doesn’t move me so much.
Numbers 5 and 6 could be swapped, as I have no idea about shooting polar landscapes, though I would imagine that it would be somewhat similar to desert landscapes, but with blues and whites and a whole lot colder! 
As I think about the trip to NE, probably in August, of course I will take a camera with me, but I’m just wondering what I will photograph, out there in those wide open spaces. It’s a long drive between here and there, some 23 hours, passing through some of the least picturesque parts of the country. I’m thinking that, maybe, just maybe, I’ll head on up to Mount Rushmore, South Dakota and to Badlands, since I’m up that way, but then again, after driving 23 hours over so many days, another 8 hour drive seems quite unpalatable!
This will be a challenge to photograph in places that don’t necessarily move me.
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- Forney, TX
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- Zion National Park, Utah
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- Folly Beach, SC
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- West Palm Beach, FL
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- McDowell Nature Preserve, Charlotte, NC
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- Alamagordo, NM – White Sands National Monument
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- McDowell Nature Preserve – Charlotte, NC
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Have a nice visit to Nebraska, Paul, and best of luck to Tony. When I was in the Air Force I did whatever I had to do to keep from being stationed there. Nebraska is a pretty high price to pay to play basketball.
Great selection of photos.
Earl recently posted..Not on today’s menu
Earl, all that I have to say is: LMAO!!! Yeah! He’s willing to make the supreme sacrifice to play. Needless to say, I won’t be attending many basketball games … maybe one! I can’t blame you for dodging Nebraska. There’s a reason why it is still on my list of never visited places.
Landscape photography in the Plains can be challenging. When I lived in MN I had a chance to see some very interesting Prairie country and my first impression was that it was magnificent. What a BIG SKY!!! It still holds that attraction for me but then I didn’t expect to spend my entire life there. The flat lands can get boring after a while so it’s best for photographers to find other subject matter than landscape. One thing I did notice was that the pace was a bit different than what life was in the big cities. Folks seem to be more relaxed and, dare I say, friendlier. You have to make the most of where you are and I hope Tony realizes that the whole purpose of going to school is to get an education. Basketball is the icing on the cake.
ken bello recently posted..grEEn
Well, that’s a kind way of putting it for a place with few trees – Big Sky Country (Montana, I know). Hopefully I can find some ‘rustic’ scenery beneath all of that open sky.
Hope you manage to get some shots of the rare and elusive corn field Paul! I’d say I would have to put Coastal up near the top of my list. I just like being around water – I was probably a fish, a whale, or maybe just a shrimp in a former life.
Mark recently posted..Phlox and more time with the D800
Yeah, Mark. I hope that I can find a cornfield or two to photograph.
As for water, I love it. I’m just more of a stream/river type, rather than ocean. Perhaps I was a trout!
One of the things I enjoy about the plains are the skies. You will never find any two skies the same as they are changing at all times. Add thunder storms and now they take on more drama. I believe that when we take the time we will find the beauty in all of nature. There are several wildlife refuges and natural areas you can check out. Along with these areas will be the history of how pioneers moved through the area and what they endured. The Platte River that flows across the southern portion of the state has abundant wildlife such as deer, turkey and several variety of birds. The sand-hill cranes are well known for their seasonal migration through the area.
The prairies are know for two different areas: the short grass and long grass prairies. If you travel to the central part of Nebraska you will get to experience both.
If there’s a way we can meet up, give me a holler! You wont be that far away from me. What school is he going to attend?
Monte Stevens recently posted..Storm Clouds Over the Plains
That is a wonderful photograph! I love how the light comes through the leaves and illuminates the reflection in the water. The different shades of green are stunning too. Bravo!
Martina Egli recently posted..Look up!