You Might Find Me Here

Lake McConaughy is truly one of my most treasured places to visit. I ache to get back to camping in the sand, with that Nebraska wind, and amazing sunset sky.
This information following has nothing to do with my pretty pictures, but it’s a history of the place. The photographs are scanned film from my holga camera.

As early as the 1880’s, citizens of south-central Nebraska discussed the possibility of bringing irrigation to the area. Interest in irrigation grew with each successive drought cycle until the drought and economic depression of the 1930’s helped convince state and federal officials and community leaders of the need for irrigation.

The Public Works Administration approved funding for the hydro-irrigation project in 1935 and construction began in 1936. Kingsley Dam was closed and dedicated in 1941 and project operations began soon afterward.

The dam and reservoir are named for George P. Kingsley, a Minden, Nebraska banker, and C.W. McConaughy, a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska, two of the leading promoters of the project. Although neither lived to see the completion of the project, their leadership and perseverance eventually culminated in a public power and irrigation project that helped Nebraska become one of the nation’s leading agricultural states.

History of Kingsley Dam
The Kingsley Dam, located 9 miles north of Ogallala, Nebraska, is the second largest, hydraulic fill dam in the world. It is over 162 feet high, 3.1 miles long, has 26 million cubic yards of material, and holds a body of water that is 22 miles long and 142 feet deep called Lake McConaughy.
The Kingsley Dam was formed by the pumping of a mixture of loess soil and water into the ground, making a watertight core. Lake Ogallala was formed from the pumping of the soil into Kingsley Dam. It is 35 feet deep, 1.6 miles long, and .3 miles wide.

Even though it is smaller than Lake McConaughy, it’s in the middle class size of lakes in Nebraska. Sand from the riverbed below was pumped to form the sides of the dam. Then, to make sure that nothing would try to go under the dam, giant steel sheets were driven into the watertight core and into the ground below. The water facing side of the dam is layered with limestone rocks from Wyoming and 180,000 “jackstones.”
A jackstone is a 6-pointed stone that looks similar to a toy jack, weighing over 800 pounds each, for a combined weight of 144 million pounds. It is said, that if the dam collapses, the city of North Platte, located 50 miles to the east, has 45 minutes to evacuate before their city is destroyed.
A unique feature to the Kingsley Dam is the water release and flood control system. The system is located on the south side of the dam, partially in the water and is composed of two parts, the outlet tower and the morning glory spillway. The outlet tower is 185 feet tall, 42 feet wide, has one ring gate and 4 tractor gates that regulate normal water release functions like irrigation. The gates are located on the sides and middle of the structure. The structure is connected to a 20 foot wide, steel reinforced, concrete tube that runs underground to the power plant on the other side of the dam. When all the gates are open, it can release over 7,000 cubic feet per second, or over 420 thousand gallons a minute.

I threw in two digital photographs from 2009. Pretty cool tail on that dam. It’s thrilling to stand next to it. The guys like to hang around it and fish.

The Morning Glory spillway is named for the way it’s shaped. It looks like a morning glory flower if you’re looking down into it. It is used only in emergencies when water levels are too high. The Morning Glory has 12 gates that are 16 feet high, 22 feet wide, 3 feet thick, and can discharge 54,000 cubic feet per second, or 3,240,000 gallons a minute. This water is released through an opening on the opposite side of the dam.

This photo has nothing to do with a morning glory shape, but sunflowers grow wild all over Nebraska. We brought some sand home the past couple summers and Nebraska sunflowers are invading our territory. I don’t mind. I love them.

This is downtown Oshkosh, Nebraska, which is about 20 minutes from the lake. I was born in this town. Love the For Sale sign.

Another glance of Oshkosh, Nebraska. Honk! Honk!

HOLGA film photography

I started scanning in some old and new film shot with my holga. It’s great to work with film again. Stay tuned for many more to come.

TOY CAMERA WORKSHOP – Illiterate Gallery mark sink speaks….

Well known photographer, Mark Sink spoke at Illiterate Gallery – located on 82 South Broadway in Denver, Colorado. There is too much to say about his career and artworld. In a nutshell…..Mark is a well respected photographer, both in the fine art and commercial industry – locally and world wide. He is also a respected curator and highly responisble for Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Lately, he’s been working especially hard on pushing the photography sceen in Colorado. He has a big hand in the photography buzzing around Denver this month.

It was a crisp overcast March afternoon. We all sat around the table as Mark pulled out loads of assorted toy cameras, which were carefully protected in bubble wrap. It was entertaining. What’s a toy camera you ask? Well….we looked at equipment, ranging from a 1901 Kodak Brownie (that’s not actually a toy but an old film camera), to a late 1980’s fisher price children’s camera that spits out fax paper with a photograph. I held a $1200 market value bugs bunny camera…. “what’s up doc”, and looked at various polariod cameras. Of course, Mark brought his infamous Diana camera. Mark and Diana go way back in time. He has his own chapter of photographs in the Diana Camera book. If you purchase a modern day Diana it comes with a nice little book with a display of impressive photography from photographers who have used the Diana. Of course, we were introduced to the slightly hilarious bioncular style Andy Warhol polaroid camera, (which everyone should own, just for party conversation) – the list of cameras went on and on. Mark has a history working with Andy Warhol, and we enjoyed some stories about that as well. His excitement about photography is wicked contagious. Everyone got to tinker with the cameras and take photos. We are all anxious to meet again and see what we’ve photographed. Selected images will be blown up and wheat pasted to an approved outdoor location. There are already photographs wheat pasted all over the Denver metro area. Wheat pasting is a process of adhering paper to buildings and other surfaces, and it’s being used in The Big Picture Show. The photographs are submitted in grayscale and then blown up on an architectural copier. After that, they are adhered to approved locations with the wheat paste, like buildings and walls. One location is the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art’s building. This process is not only happening in Denver, but also locations across the world, including Jamaica, France, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Netherlands. +more. There is fantastic photography to be seen in this show and it’s so different. You should not miss it. Every copy of the photographs are sold for $50, so people can afford to buy some really excellent art. Mark says that he’s seeing young kids purchase art and this is very exciting. Let the BIG PICTURE roll!
There is a lot of talk about what is photography anymore. Is digital a sham? Is it not valid? I don’t have the answer to that. I value photography’s ability to create “traces” and “memories”, rather than getting caught up on the medium.
Alternative processes like polariod transfers, cyanotypes, playing on xerox copiers, and just tinkering around with creating images is all photography as well. I believe I was provoked by my instructor, Craig Coleman to think about photography outside the box of pretty pictures. Anyone I went to school with loved Craig’s classes.

I’m going to bore you for a second here with a defination about photography.

The word photography is based on the Greek φῶς (photos) “light” and γραφή (graphé) “representation by means of lines” or “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light”.

What does that mean?

First of all, it reverts back to the fact that the main element needed for photography is light, it doesn’t say anything about film or digital, but light and lines. hmmmmm… Secondly, you can’t honestly be a photographer if you aren’t keenly interested in light. Moreover, you can’t get serious about taking photographs without considering the light source. Photographers chase light, they study it, they know where it will be during different seasons and times. We genuinely think about light. Often noticing it’s beauty and making a mental note of the time of day. We bounce it around, turn it into colors, and eventually learn how to use strobes, and flash, and bounce natural light. This is true about photography. Lights and cameras go together like peas and carrots (it can be natural light too). There isn’t that old expression “Lights, cameras, action” for nothing ya know? This holds true to film and digital. Here’s the biggest common factor about film and digital cameras. A camera will screw you without notice, without an explaination or apology, and if you looooove photography, you’ll always forgive her. It’s like this sick relationship you’ll never end. haha I am being funny. In my opinion, all photography processes have an element of chance. I have a love and respect for film and darkroom. Anyone who’s worked with film knows it’s magical. Film has a fablous soul all of it’s own. In my fast paced mommy life, I enjoy my full frame digital though. Now I sit in my laundry room and flip loads of laundry while editing my photographs. I like it. I also print on awesome fine art papers at home, and then cover them with resin coating. My iphone has around 10,000 high resolution jpegs, which I carry in my pocket, carry in my purse, use to ring my husband….whatever. I continue to take photos everyday of random moments – driving my family crazy. Mostly of my kids, and stuff I would otherwise never catch. I miss working in a darkroom….it’s true, and I feel like a cheap digital tramp around my fine art friends (they’d laugh), but honestly, film and digital are each fascinating in their own ways.
MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The Big Picture

The BIG PICTURE opened tonight, March 4, 2011. I picked up a packet of all the photographs included in the show. This is 75+ photographers from 20+ countries. My photograph is wheat pasted at 35th and Wazee. My favorite photograph in this show was at the illiterate gallery called bird man. I could be bird man. I mean, if I were a guy, and had a speedo and some feathers. It’s possible. I could be right there with them birds. Enjoy these photographs, if you can see them. I tried my best. I’m in the second row on the right hand side. hahaThere’s my photograph on the top right hand side, second one down.you can’t stop looking, right?

Las Vegas, Nevada • March 2011

Just got back from Las Vegas. One of the luxuries of living in Denver is the fast non-stop flights to the bright light city. We had a wonderful three days playing without the children. This is the first trip to Vegas that I made a real effort to focus and take a bunch of photographs. I didn’t make it out in the evening though. There is just too much to do at night. On the last day I took out my gear and photographed for about 5 hours straight, freely walking the strip and checking in with favorite places and views that I could reach within that time. It was awesome (high 60’s in early March) and I was pleasantly surprised to have met a few inspiring photographers along the way for good conversation and exchange of ideas. Las Vegas is a bolt of energy for me. I am a people person. I love all the people and the chaos…just for a few days, and then it always feels great to be home again. When I look at this photograph…my heart aches a little. I’ll be back! Working Dogs!

Major General Earl C. Hedlund

Hedlund is my maiden name. Major General Hedlund is my Grandfather Woodrow’s brother. Their parents were immigrants from Sweden. Major General Hedlund received his commission through the ROTC program at the University of Nebraska. He received a B.S. degree in 1938 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserves upon graduation. After the war he later held a M.S. in economics and a Ph D. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois as well.

During the war General Hedlund flew 67 fighter missions in the Aleutian Islands for a total of 180 combat hours, and 103 fighter missions in the European Theatre, representing 367 combat hours. He was a fighter pilot in World War II and destroyed 15 enemy planes. In 1948 he was assigned to the Joint Military Transportation Chiefs of Staff, where he served until 1951. From 1951-1952 he was a Chief of the Air Transportation Division, Directorate of Transportation, Headquarters of the United States Airforce. After attending the Naval War College from 1952-1953, he was assigned as Director of Transportation Headquarters, Far East Air Forces, in Toyko, Japan.

In 1956, he became Deputy Director of Transportation Headquarters USAF, and in August 1959, was appointed Director of Transportation.

On July 1961, General Hedlund became deputy commander, Ogden Air Material, Air Force Logistics Commander, with headquarters at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. In August of 1963, he began duty as commander, Warner Robins Air Materiel Area, Air Force Logistics Command, with headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia

As a former fighter pilot in WW II, then squadron commander, group commander, and deputy wing commander in the Pacific and European theatres, he spoke authoritatively with with regard to supply situation.

Major General Hedlund was considered a War Ace. He wore a chest full of decorations that include the Distinguished Service Cross, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with and oak leaf cluster, Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster, and the air Medal with nineteen oak leaf clusters. He also held the British Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and Silver Star and Belgium Fourragere.

“Which Road Do I Take?”

I purchased two female Holland Lop Bunnies from Melissa Wren, owner of Wren Sweetheart Bunnies Rabbitry in beautiful Loveland, Colorado. Melissa has many years of bunny experience and is a master breeder for quality Dwarf Bunnies, Holland Lops, Neitherland Dwarfs, and Lionheads, many in rare colors. Our bunnies each have beautiful deep blue eyes, which I found to be a really unexpected attribute in a bunny. Rabbits are funny little creatures, and very affectionate. The dogs really like them too. I have even found Dad outside messing around with them and securing their cage. They are so gentle and tolerant. Annabelle’s bunny allows her to cradle her like a baby. They hop around and never run away.

Oh, and we ran into some sunflowers on the way back home.

If you have an interest in checking out approximately 100 bunnies at once give Melissa a ring. 1-970-690-2748

http://www.sweetheartbunny.com