Just Some Photos: Kaw (Kansas) River

Here's some of the results from my darkroom work I journaled about. This is the Kansas River by Lawrence. We have a real hydro plant on the far side. I liked the icy flow over the dam, the sound of rushing water, the mist hanging in the air and the solitude in an urban setting (strange how cold temperatures keep people inside).

Photo: Old Farmstead

I found this old home remains only this summer while on my 2-night bicycle tour. I grew up around here. Driven by this home many many times and never knew it. It's only 25 feet off the road, but it dense cover on a steep gravel road hill that you're too worried about hitting an oncoming car over the blind hill. Had to come back later and photograph it.

Photo: Wakarusa River

I loved the transitions of texture and detail of this shot of the Wakarusa River. My son put in here with his kayak a few summers ago and paddled over 10 miles into Clinton Lake to visit some friends camping there. Crazy kid. I was jealous.

Photo: Downtown Alley

I've got a thing for old alleys. This is one in Topeka. It was a cold day. Left the car running as I hopped over to take some shots. I send kuddos to the City of Topeka Street Department. All the alleys I shot that day were very clean. Same can't be said for other cities I've shot.

Photo: Near Wakarusa River

This one is a feeder creek to the Wakarusa River, close to my home. Had to crawl down a steep bank and crouch down low to get this shot. That would have been easier in my younger years.

Photo: Shunganunga Creek

This one is from an urban creek in Topeka. I had to work for it, since there's usually always something in the creek to tip you off that it's urban (like a shopping cart or tire or other debris). I just smiled when the camera viewfinder showed me this.

Photography, Part 3

Well, this is the last of the photography journal trilogy. This is my little haven to make contact sheets and enlargements. Nothing fancy, yet it seems like magic what you can do. I only recently learned how to do all this, so maybe that's why I take nothing for granted and it all seems so wild. And I feel a kinship with all those that practiced this trade for decades before me. I know it sounds hokey. But I know Ansel Adams dealt with the same process, and legions of photojournalists and other artists. I'll never be in their league but I'll appreciate their work more. And the medical community better not find that these chemicals are carcinogenic.