I was born and raised in West and Central Kansas. Born in Colby and moved with the I-70 Freeway to Russell at age 8. My dad was responsible for building that crappy interstate to that point but he quit working for the state and started working for Russell county so that is where I was till I left to go to photography school in California. There was no photography school in Kansas at the time.

I have spent a lot of time there and done a lot of photography of Central Kansas abandoned farms and small towns. I was going there once or twice a year for the last 7 years to help out my sick widowed mom, but she died and now I don't have any duty to go back but I would love to do a lot more of the photography I was doing.

It is so personally spiritual and reaffirming to be in the quiet nearly empty countryside with the wind. It brings me back to who I am.

Dennis

Hi Dennis. Welcome to the group and thanks for posting the first discussion. I was born in Edwards County then we moved to Hutchinson. Rob Young is from Dodge City so maybe he will chime in on this one.

I uploaded an icon for the group. It's a crop from the Arden Gano elevator, just west of Kinsley along US 50. Used to pass by it very frequently when I was a kid.

Hello all,

I grew up in Claflin. One set of grandparents were in Galatia...not too far from Russell, Dennis. I'm now in Salina doing large format photography and printing primarily with Pt/Pd.

Kent

Hello Kent, and I have one of your prints. I like to drive around the countryside surrounding Lake Wilson, a short distance west of you. I never spent much time in Salina for some reason. Whenever I wanted to go to a little bigger shopping mall than they have in Russell I would go to Hays. They have a micro brewery in downtown Hays that is really terrible.

Yes, Dennis, the hills and ravines around Wilson Lake are very interesting visually as is most of Lincoln County which now has wind farm. A lot of the other KS members and I seem to gravitate in the other direction east into the Flint Hills though. I've checked out your website...your series on Russell County sure looks like home.

Kent

Hello all,

I'm from Solomon, just east of Salina. Nice to see other Kansans here

Hi,

Just joined today. I didn't realize there was a Kansas APUG group. I'm over here outside Topeka. Looking forward to participating here in the group. Cheers!

Hey guys,

I'm in Lawrence (KU grad), grew up in Topeka and my dad is from the Lindsborg area (Smolan to be exact). Good to know there are some Kansans here on APUG.

See you around!