The Disappearing Prairie

Happy Leap Year Everyone!
Hope this message finds you well...

As some of you may already know, I spent the month of February almost exclusively traveling the Great Plains by car in search of abandoned houses and structures. The purpose, of course, was to photograph these forgotten buildings (just as I've been doing for the last year) for my "Rickety Buildings & Their Bones" Collection. And, furthermore - to record, and relay their forgotten stories before there are no stories left to tell. I spent many days trudging up hills, running across prairie, and battling the elements. Most every night I returned to where I was bunking with my body soaked from my waist to my feet from sitting in snow, or walking through various conditions. It was a blast, and when it was over, I did not want to come home. On trips like these I always go out thinking one thing, and upon returning, find I have been changed by the experience. I found myself in such remote, and lonely locations looking through abandoned bedrooms, and inside of houses still providing some shelter to beautiful and ornately carved banisters. Some locations had letters strewn from families across the floors. In one location, even, I found a families clothes still hanging in their closets. By the end of my trip, I had taken about 500 pictures of countless locations that seemed so far off any map, I'm amazed I found my way back.

Though there are so many yet to go through from this expedition, I'd like to share just a few with you that I feel really brought the past to life, and exemplified the reason these structures are so intriguing. They are so full of life, and character, and somehow still forgotten. May I present:

Up In Bijou Hills...




The Pulse of Alice...