great plains Archives

Posted on February 13, 2020June 14, 2020 by Debra Gail — Leave a comment

Snow on the Kansas Plains – Video

snow on the kansas plains

Snow on the Kansas Plains – Video

I have been to these sites many times and am amazed at how even a little snow transforms and re-writes the landscape. I notice details that I previously did not see in other seasons, or even in the past few weeks. I hope that you are able to see some of the beautiful Kansas Plains landscapes and that you enjoy this video.

Emily Dickinson says it well in this poem, “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.”

This poem is all about how the snow settles in the landscape, re-writes the roads and fences.

I adore her metaphors: the snow is ‘alabaster wool’ and like ‘fleeces’, a ‘crystal veil’ coating the roads and the fences.

The snow certainly gives us a new perspective on the prairie.

snow on the kansas plains

It Sifts from Leaden Sieves

by Emily Dickinson

It sifts from Leaden Sieves –
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road –

It makes an even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain –
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again –

It reaches to the Fence –
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces –
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack – and Stem –
A Summer’s empty Room –
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them –

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen –
Then stills it’s Artisans – like Ghosts –
Denying they have been –

kansas flint hills prairie lone tree snow

Dickinson, E. and Franklin, R. (1998). The poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

For more beautiful landscapes check out my post, “Fences.”

Posted on February 11, 2020September 20, 2020 by Debra Gail — Leave a comment

Come along …

Come along with me on a trek where the tallgrass prairie rolls out deep, dormant grasses for as far as you can see.

come along

The Great Plains area is where Arcadian land rises and falls like the long breaths of Old Man Winter.

debra gail photography

In the Great Plains of Kansas, you can witness the silent edges of an endless and cold, cerulean sky. And the dark skeleton images of the cottonwoods quietly stand guard and hover around serpentine springs.

Debra Gail photography

Take a moment to rest, to reflect until even your breaths seem to dissolve into that which is far away. You are absorbed yet distracted. There is no fiction here, only reality. There is no doubt here, but instead, certainty. There is nothing wasted here.

flint hills photography

Can you hear it? This land sings its song, a ballad of perfect isolation.

come along

Posted on February 4, 2020June 14, 2020 by Debra Gail — 3 Comments

Fences

Good fences are not only about making good neighbors.

Fences provide purpose to all sorts of things.

For example, a fence can limit access to an area. It can also provide a barrier to animals. Sometimes a fence is just for aesthetic purposes.

Most fences that I come across are barbed wire.

What I love about fences is that for a pretty much dull subject, a fence can provide all sorts of interest to a photograph.

A fence provides a line with seemingly endless depth. And that line can disappear into the snow, the fog, or the prairie. Furthermore, a fence leads us on a path throughout the image.

fence photography

About the images below: most are shot in Kansas, although some are in California and Oregon.

Additionally, there are various perspectives on fences throughout this post. Some have a subject other than the fence itself.

Behind a barbed-wire fence along a gravel road in Marion County, Kansas, a windmill peeks out from behind the tallgrass prairie.

Flinthills, Kansas, barb, barb wire, country, country school, ecosystem, grass, grassland, midwest, pasture, prairie, rock wall, school, tall grass prairie — Marion County, Kansas

In Butler County, Kansas, the hedge-post, barbed-wire fencing seems to disappear into the horizon. Our eyes follow the fence deep into the photo and around to the rising sun.

Fences, Flint Hills, Kansas, barb, barbed wire, country, ecosystem, grass, great plains, waterfall, grassland, midwest, pasture, prairie, rock wall, tall grass prairie, oregon, california — Butler County, Kansas

photography

In this photo, the spring flowers capture the attention. The old fence post and barbed wire provide little more than perhaps scale, although I liked the contrast in the natural versus human-made qualities.

The metal fence posts in the image below provided interest for me; one is straight and the other is not. The crooked post draws my eye to the warm sun rays above.

Although the barbed-wire fence below is in the foreground, it is the gently-sloped hills and blue skies that are the focal point in this image. The fence lends some interest and color contrast to the image.

I love the lines that this simple fencing provides, on both sides of this one-lane gravel road in the hills.

This metal fence provides a barrier to the almost 300-foot drop at Salt Creek Falls.

Although the four trees in the middle ground are interesting, my eyes are drawn to the white-tipped T-posts. Morning Clouds Art Print.

Fences, Flint Hills, Kansas, cowley county, barb, barbed wire, country, ecosystem, grass, great plains, waterfall, grassland, midwest, pasture, prairie, rock wall, tall grass prairie, oregon, california — Cowley County, Kansas

fence photography

This little chipmunk enjoys the warmth radiating from the barrier fence and ledge at Crater Lake.

crater lake, Fences, Flint Hills, Kansas, barb, barbed wire, country, ecosystem, grass, great plains, waterfall, grassland, midwest, pasture, prairie, rock wall, tall grass prairie, oregon, california — Crater Lake National Park, Cascade Mountains, Southern Oregon

And finally, this fence. Wait!! There is no fence!! 😨

One of my FAVORITE websites is The National Park Service. Please go check it out and plan a trip to the one closest to you!

Posted on February 1, 2020September 20, 2020 by Debra Gail — Leave a comment

Winter Blues – on the Kansas Prairie

winter blues blue skies kansas prairie landscape photography fine art prints flint hills

winter blues kansas prairie

This post is all about the enchanting blues found throughout the winter prairie!

For all their grandeur, the plains offer sustained beauty throughout all seasons, including winter.

kansas prairie blue skies

flint hills winter blues

I love sharing my images of the beautiful scenes, landscapes and nature photography from the Flint Hills of Kansas.

kansas prairie

The Tallgrass prairies of the Flint Hills deserve promotion that highlights the vitality, beauty, and preservation.

Once upon a time, the Tallgrass prairie covered 170 million acres of North America. Within about 30 years, most of it was plowed under and developed.

Today less than 4% of the Tallgrass prairie remains, mostly here in the Kansas Flint Hills.

landscape photography fine art prints flint hills chase county kansas — Captured in Butler County, Kansas

kansas flint hills

What is now a sea of grass was at one time a shallow sea of water!

Between 200 and 300 million years ago, the “flint” (a gray and white limestone and steel tough chert), began to form from this Permian Seafloor and with it the famous Flint Hills.

The result was rocky land considered unsuitable for plowing but excellent for pasture. The natural prairie cycle of fires, animal grazing, and prairie weather has sustained the tallgrass prairie and its diverse plant and animal species ever since.

A beautiful National Park in Kansas: Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie – Tallgrass Prairie National Park.

The Tallgrass preserve protects a nationally significant remnant of the once vast tallgrass prairie and its cultural resources. Here the tallgrass prairie takes its last stand.