Home on the Range

Three

Three metal silos standing amid the trees and brush in the evening light, as the darkened storm clouds behind them set the sky to an unnerving grey.

Bichet School, District 34

This 19th century limestone school was constructed in Marion County Kansas. Next to the building stands a single tree, the top of which showing damage that likely came from a tornado that passed through at some point that either left the school building standing, or struck before it was constructed.

Coronado Heights Castle

Often referred to as the Coronado Heights Castle, this stone shelter sits at the top of the hill and commands a view of miles in any direction.

Road to Coronado Heights

The dirt road leading up to Coronado Heights.

Old and New

I loved the juxtaposition of the old, beat up and rusty windmill alongside the wind turbine farm. Both things are just so incredibly "Kansas" that I had to capture them together.

Sunlight on Windmills

Rays of golden sunlight stream down from the clouds onto a field of windmills.

Windmill Plain

The wind in Kansas seems pretty ideal for wind farms like this one.

Air Quality

After a quick detour down a dirt road to check out a particularly large smoke plume I turned my camera further down the road, where smoke from the same fairly large range fire was wafting across the dirt road. A wind energy farm can be seen in the distance. There was just something I found really eye-catching about the road through the smoke, leading to the wind farm beyond.

Smoke on the Plains

Spring in rural Kansas means that you'll often see great plumes of smoke rising in the distance. Although sometimes these fires spring up from acts of carelessness, or deliberate harm, in most cases they're part of the controlled range burning that happens this time of year. If we quickly query Wikipedia, we find out that "controlled burning reduces fuels, may improve wildlife habitat, controls competing vegetation, improves short term forage for grazing, improves accessibility, helps control tree disease, and perpetuates fire dependent species." So while the sight isn't uncommon this time of year, I still find it absolutely wild every time I catch a glimpses of one of these massive smoke columns blooming over the road, or the wave of flames reducing a field of prairie grasses to soot and ash

And The Lands Shall Burn

Plumes of smoke billow into the air, carried by the prairie winds as the flames that dance upon the earth below lend an orange aura to the scene. Presumably, this is part of the controlled range burning that farmers engage in every year in rural Kansas.

In Your Heart Shall Burn

Since I first moved to Winfield I've become obsessed with the cottonwood tree that towers over the other trees around it, and sits directly across the field from the back of my apartment. I've photographed my so-called Tree-Across-the-Field crowned with bright yellow leaves and covered with frost. I've shot it surrounded by flash after flash of lightning, and watching over field after field of grazing deer. I think tonight's photo is the most unique, however. As the sun set, the area filled with smoke from another controlled field burn, this one the closest yet, directly behind my tree. Once the light finally started to fade from the western sky, another light started to make itself known -- the glow of blazing fire behind my favorite tree. The fire has died down now. It never crossed the dirt road that separated the burning fields from my own back yard (and it probably had almost no chance of doing so given the wind and the dedication and vigilance of those that engage in these controlled range burns). Even so, the photograph I've captured is forever, and will crown my Tree-Across-the-Field collection...at least until I catch a tornado back there. Tree-Across-the-Field is my longest running photo project. If you want to see more, you can view the entire gallery here: https://art.katzmatt.com/Projects/The-Tree-Across-the-Field

Skyfire

A bolt of lightning carves a line through the northern sky, lighting up the clouds and silhouetting the tree across the field, before ending below the horizon.

Stormcloud on the Prairie

Heading back to Winfield from a quick run up to Wichita and all I could think about was the lovely storm clouds brewing to the south. Ended up stopping part-way back to capture this one off to the south east.

The Dirt Whispered

Waiting For A Moment

Flowers and Fences

Flowers and Fences

Flowers and Fences

Yellow flowers intertwining with a metal fence in rural Kansas.

Country Roads

yellow flowers growing alongside a country road.

Flowers on the Farm

Flowers growing in front of a farm.

Summer Shade Tree

Of all the shots I took on this trip, this one more than any other screamed "summer vibes". The tree, the little bit of shade it threw on the ground, and the cloud all work together with the light summer colors to just completely set the scene. And, yes, it felt as hot as it looks.

Deer Before the Tree

A white-tailed doe crossing the field in the evening.

Autumn Prince

A young buck pauses his evening graze to turn around and make sure I'm not a threat.

Slingshot Sunset

The sun falls below the horizon between two fence posts in a barbed-wire fence.