After reading William Least Heat-Moon's superb book "PrairyErth" I knew I had to go to Kansas, to Chase County, to the Flint Hills, to the Tall Grass Prairie, to see for myself what Heat-Moon had presented to me, to discover the primeval lands he had captured in his words.
I have traveled there several times in the past 2 years or so, initially using a 4x5 wooden pinhole camera and black and white film. I would like to have continued in that vein, but soon realized that workflow was a slower process to use for the large body of work I had initially wanted to create. I needed a less time-consuming approach, but one that would still provide the primitive interpretation I sought for this most primitive of landscapes. This collection is the result. While not yet complete, I have sufficient pieces now to begin feeling comfortable with the process, the workflow, the body of work as it is unfolding.
All of these photographs were made with a Nikon D200 digital camera, converted with an Infrared sensor. After I took the photos, I then created digital negatives to be used for Van Dyke Brown prints. The prints themselves were done on Stonehenge watercolor paper on which I had applied Van Dyke Brown, using a brush. After the paper dried, I sandwiched the negative and paper under glass, exposed it to UV light, then developed the print and hung it to dry.
I love VDB prints, as well as Salt, and Albumen, and many other "alternative" processes. VDB printing harkens back to the earliest days of photography - about 1839 or so - and is not practiced by many today. Its one-off, painterly characteristics, coupled with its primitive nature, lends well to creating these primitive images of a primitive land.
To this point I have made about 70 VDB prints of this subject matter, and am nowhere near complete with this portfolio. As with all of my ongoing projects, the key word is "ongoing". I will find some point where I know I've taken this as far as I can take it.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying that wonderful open expanse of limitless sky and horizon, and look forward to finding more "Prairie Songs".