In the past I was never too excited about including signs of man in my nature photographs. I would work hard at making sure there were no signs of man in any of the images. Those telephone poles, houses, automobiles, fences all had to go. But as I’ve moved along in my photography, that has changed. Some of that change has been the expansion of my photographers eye and some of that change has been influenced by my travels.
I’m given opportunities to spend short periods of time in cities while on some overnights. With no vehicle, I’m mostly limited to explore the area around the hotels, so the work of man has become more prevalent in my images. I like how my vision has expanded. That expansion has allowed me to see much more around me. I now have images where including a farm within an image transformed a simple sunrise into an image that told more of a story about life. I also have images of old trucks, tractors, silos, and corrals that tell a story. While looking for images one early morning I discovered this old abandoned truck. For me it conjured up questions of a life from the past. Who first owned the truck? Was it a farm truck? How long was it used? What happened to the headlights?