"Photographing Oklahoma's Tallgrass Prairie" - Keith R. Bridgman - September 2009 2
Sometimes I believe I was born in the wrong century. Our modern world has provided us with conveniences our forefathers only dreamed of. Yet in many ways because of those luxuries we’ve lost something of ourselves.Often I am torn between wishing I could wander back in time to experience the simpler life unencumbered with the hassles of today’s world, and understanding that those so called good old days were actually pretty hard and demanding. Even so, too often we neglect what our souls need. The modern world has separated us across time from our connection with the land and the inherent aesthetic qualities a slower pace of life provided for our inner peace.
In our rush to find success we sacrifice significance. In our desire to make a good living, we overlook how good experiencing nature makes us feel. We’ve forgotten how to do those things that were once common place and instead rely on high tech solutions to solve our needs.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that modern technology has enhanced and made our lives easier in many, many ways, and those things should not be denigrated. But, often I feel a tugging inside to step away from those things and seek out a place that provides that unique connection to who we once were.
Fifteen or more years ago now, I made my first visit into Oklahoma’s Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. For some reason I always had envisioned that area as simply just a big pasture full of weeds. How wrong I was. From the outset it became apparent that this was a unique landscape with a history, and ecological impact far more important than any weed filled pasture might offer. It was full of drama and filled with a myriad of wildlife and plant species that I was later to understand as more varied than found in the rainforests. The only camera I possessed at the time was one of those disposable 35mm film cameras, and it fell well short of capturing the essence of that wonderful place.
On the afternoon during that first encounter, I pulled the car off the gravel road and walked across the prairie a few hundred yards to the top of a grassy knoll. It was a warm, breezy day in late May and the summer heat had gratefully not yet arrived. About a quarter mile from where I sat down a few hundred bison meandered across the rolling hills that dropped away to the west. Few if any signs of human existence were visible, and I released a deep calming breath.
For several hours I simply sat there on the grassy knoll listening to the prairie sounds; birds sing, feeling the wind in my face – hearing it as it swirled across the tallgrass, insects flittering about, and the low grumble of the distant bison herd. The prairie grasses possessed a unique flavor and aroma all their own and all of my senses were challenged to accept this rich new stimuli. Eventually, I watched the sun slowly sink into and then below the horizon. The sky turn brilliant orange, then red, then faded into a shade of lavender and purple. As I stood and bid it farewell I made a promise to myself that I would someday return and seriously photograph this wonderful place. Little did I know that a full decade would pass before that opportunity would become reality.
In time I learned that only about 1% of North America’s original 400,000 square miles of Tallgrass Prairie still existed. Most of the rest was converted into cropland, highway right of ways, and city streets. Bordered on the east by hardwood forests, and on the west by the drier climate short grass prairies and the Rocky Mountains, it once stretched from Canada into Texas and across Iowa and Illinois. It was the most dramatic transformation of the landscape in history. At one time, the state of Iowa was about 98% tallgrass prairie. Today, almost nothing is left. It is like having Iowa represented as a 1000 piece puzzle. Today, all that is left is a broken scattered fraction of one piece. Across the Tallgrass Prairie’s original range, the same holds true.
Once I began to grasp what happened to this unique eco-system, discovering that Oklahoma, my home state, possessed the largest single unbroken track that remained, I had no other choice than to try to photograph it. I’m not the first to do so, but I wanted to capture its essence in such a way as to create a complete body of work that serves to define what we as a nation almost lost.
Photographing a location like the Tallgrass Prairie requires more than simply pointing your camera at various objects that you see. The Tallgrass Prairie is a story unto itself with a diverse history and ecological importance. To tell that story you must seek to capture its essence in not only the broad vista sense, but in the more subtle ways as well. It's a challenge I am looking forward to.
All Rights Reserved Beyond The CampFire Journal Release 2.0 - Sept 2009 Keith R. Bridgman
