I’m embarking on a new project exploring the tremendous topographic, climatic, and ecologic diversity of the North American prairies. This has sent me back to reexamine some images I made in 2021 while backpacking a section of the North County Trail in North Dakota’s Sheyenne National Grasslands. It was a pretty photographically-productive trip, and I’m having a bit of a struggle curating this collection into the one or two standout images (if they even exist as “standouts”) for inclusion in my larger prairie project. I’d be grateful for your insights as to which images are worthy of further consideration, and which are not.
Self Critique
One way I hope to communicate the diversity of prairie landscapes is through a diversity of compositional styles. This particular collection is pretty much all wide angle (it’s the lens I had at the time). I expect to mix in quite a few more small scenes and abstracts as the project moves forward over the next couple of years.
Creative Direction
There are two emotions driving my work in this project: 1) Profound sadness for the fact that the mast majority of North American prairies (especially in the tallgrass region) have been lost. I hope these images help demonstrate the remarkable landscape that we’ve plowed almost to extinction, and to motivate others to pay more attention to the preservation of what we still have left, and to the restoration of that which is is possible. 2) An epiphanic sense of wonder that the prairies, from Alberta to Texas, represent such a diverse natural environment, one that is all but impossible to appreciate while traveling at highway speed. Maybe one of images in this project will motivate someone to stop, get out, and wander in the waving grass.
Specific Feedback
Which images, if any, best communicate those emotions? If one does, I’d love to know why, but that may be more time than you’d like to spend. Even just noting an image title or two would be great.
Jeff, I’m not quite certain what you’re looking for. What I’m hearing based on what you’ve written is that what you’ve posted here is not meant to be seen as a series and what you’re asking for is to help you pick the “best” pictures among these so that you can add them to a series you’re building or planning to build. Am I getting that right? If so, I’m not sure if you’ve posted in the best place to meet your needs. If these aren’t meant to be seen as a series then, for example, talking about varying aspect ratios, the order of presentation, and mixing colour and black and white photographs isn’t necessarily pertinent. My recommendation would be to post these individually in the Landscape Critique section and that would better provide you with feedback, based on what your intention is for each photograph, as to how they might be improved according to the overall story you’re trying to tell. I hope this is helpful.
I’m not sure why you would wish to cull any of these images at this point…
It would be more than a little difficult to assist you in selecting one or two images from this group to include in another future project that has no images currently. There would be no means of discerning which of these images might fit into the future group if we have no idea the direction that collection may eventually take.
IMO, project diversity comes from a conceptual idea, not from technical aspects. In this case, what are the diverse aspects of North Dakota prairies in comparison to those found in Texas (or some such). A diverse choice of lenses used is a technical necessity, but doesn’t contribute to the story of the prairies…at least to me.
So, I’m going to diverge from what has been said. Even though I know this category is meant to show off a completed project, I totally get what you’re asking. So, my two favorites are the first one and the fifth one. For two reasons. I feel they both best portray untouched, pristine prairie land as you are wanting people to appreciate. Also the focus is more on the beautiful land rather than the sky. The skies are beautiful in your other photos but I think they might detract from the story you’re trying to tell. Hope that helps!
Thank you very much @Vanessa_Hill ! That is indeed very helpful. As I’ve been working on this project, I definitely need to find the right balance between land and sky, as it is easy to emphasize sky as it is perhaps a more central part of the “sense of place” on the prairie than in most other landscapes (especially dramatic clouds!).
