When I was in Crested Butte, Colorado this summer, I went into a gallery that had a very beautiful photo of the mountain town of Colorado at night. It looks like the photographer did some HDR photography. (HDR stands for High Dynamic Range imaging. If you want to learn more about that, visit Wikipedia.) This photo was amazing because all of the lights of the town created a beautiful glow in the night sky. The man running the gallery said that the photo was printed on aluminum.

I had never heard of such a thing. But, when I got accepted to be able to do an art show, I thought I just HAD to try it. Printing on aluminum sounded very fun. I ordered the image from Bay Photo. It turned out just a little bit darker than what I had anticipated, but it still looked lovely.

This photo was taken on the edge of Hazard, Nebraska. Hazard boasts a population of 66 people. This photo was taken after the ice storm of 2006. The ice coated everything pretty thickly. You can see here that the rocks by the train tracks were coated over in ice and looked very shiny.

You know, it is funny. It is not uncommon for people to ask me if I want to photograph their kids or families. I honestly am not overly excited about those jobs. I think there are a lot of local photographers who do that as their specialty. They have a nice studio, with a great lighting setup. If it is a windy day, or a rainy one, they can bring them into their studio and take a very nice photo. I currently do not have a studio, so I usually hope for a nice day, and hope that Harmon park doesn't have a lot of people milling around so I can go take a few pictures.

What I get excited about is if someone tells me they have an old Ford Fairlane on their farm, and want to know if I want to come photograph that. I actually look forward to a job like that. I love old cars in rural settings. I think it is neat when they have a little bit of rust and a variety of color. Sometimes in Photoshop you can liven up the colors on the car, tint the windows, make it look really great. It is fun to do things like this.

My brother and I moved to Kearney a little over three years ago. We moved onto a property that has two houses. One house is a huge three story Victorian home. That house belongs to my brother. The people that live there loves cars and motorcycles. My roommate and I would call it the "Biker Mansion." They have tattoos and smoke outside, and drive Harleys. I tell people I like viewing the "wild life" from my kitchen window. (My house is right behind their house.) Then in my house are girls that like to go to Bible studies and find ways to serve the community. I jokingly call my house "The Convent." Our property takes up once city block. When we first moved onto the property we joked that we should have a "block party" and just invite the neighbor guys. :-)

My brother is a good guy, he has sleeve tattoos and restores old cars and motorcyles. We actually have very little in common, except that we like the look of old cars. I remember I used to try to figure out what to get him for Christmas. One Christmas I bought him a Harley Davidson eagle necklace. He said "thanks" but I could tell that I struck out when buying him that gift. Yes, it was a little on the lame side, but I was trying.

I finally started taking pictures of old cars. His eyes would light up when he would see them. The photo above is one that he wanted enlarged to two foot by three foot and is hanging in his house. Actually, there are a lot of photos decorating the "Biker Mansion." I was glad I finally figured out what would make a guy like him happy.

So, that is how I got my start taking pictures of old cars. He knew of a guy that had a private collection of old cars. My brother had plans to buy one or two, and he invited me along so I could take pictures. I took a lot of pictures that day. My camera actually kept malfunctioning, but I did manage to get some really cool photos.

One of the most common questions I get is "Where are those cars located?" Well, those beautiful cars were located near Minden, Nebraska. However, the owner died and all those cars were sold off at an auction. Now the cars have been towed away and scattered across the country.

So, if you need some groovy car art, check out Good Samaritan hospital in Kearney. Or, you can visit my website at http://www.NebraskaSky.Etsy.com.

I have a photo in my current exhibit that shows a little square house in a pasture. I lived in the country on a cattle ranch when I was a kid, and there was a house just like this one down the road from where I lived. I loved the look of these tiny houses.

My dad was wonderful with helping me with my exhibit. He helped me hang it, and then we went out to eat. He asked where this particular house was. I told him, then he knew who lived in the house.

The story gets more interesting. If you take a look at that house, you probably think it was abandoned before 1950. However, my dad told me it was the Lundstrom house and that two old bachelors lived there in 1990 when we moved into that area. Isn't that something? These old ranchers were living Amish-like in central Nebraska. The house did not have electricity, and the men got their water from a windmill. Apparently they heated their house with a stove that ran on stove fuel. My dad said they didn't come into town that often, and lived a pretty meager existence.

Anyway, I have always had a special place in my heart for these rustic, little houses.

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