{"id":576,"date":"2007-06-09T16:31:22","date_gmt":"2007-06-09T21:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/06\/09\/horizontal-grandeur\/"},"modified":"2007-06-09T16:35:04","modified_gmt":"2007-06-09T21:35:04","slug":"horizontal-grandeur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/06\/09\/horizontal-grandeur\/","title":{"rendered":"Horizontal Grandeur"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }\n.flickr-yourcomment { }\n.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }\n.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"flickr-frame\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nicmcphee\/537768005\/\" title=\"photo sharing\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1229\/537768005_c7b5f486af.jpg?w=840\" class=\"flickr-photo\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>\n\t<span class=\"flickr-caption\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nicmcphee\/537768005\/\">Horizontal Grandeur<\/a>, originally uploaded by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/nicmcphee\/\">Unhindered by Talent<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"flickr-yourcomment\">\n\tLast night WeatherGirl [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/25771870@N00\/\">Flickr<\/a>] [<a href=\"http:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/WeatherGirl\/\">blog<\/a>] and I learned that four of our submissions (two each) were juried into a regional exhibition.  The show &quot;Horizontal Grandeur&quot; is being hosted by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stevenshistorymuseum.com\/\">Stevens County History Museum<\/a> will open with a fancy reception on Friday, 13 July, at 6:30pm.  The theme was the prairie that is our home here, with the name taken from an essay by the same name by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.billholm.com\/\">Bill Holm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The top two are from WeatherGirl (who needs to post more of her excellent photos!):  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/25771870@N00\/216908100\/in\/set-72157594239336119\/\">&quot;The only trees were wavy lines&quot;<\/a> (a line from Holm&#8217;s essay) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/25771870@N00\/217435170\/\">Silo<\/a>.  The bottom two are mine:  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nicmcphee\/206762199\/\">Fighting back (Tilting at windmills?)<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nicmcphee\/491303147\/\">Waiting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>WeatherGirl and I obviously stretched the prairie theme a fair bit in our submissions.  It wasn&#8217;t obvious how the judges were going to respond, and I was pleasantly surprised that they accepted four of our six submissions.  All four of these photos emphasize in different ways the huge changes wrought on the prairie by arrival of European Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The settlement of this part of the world brought plows that replaced the seemingly endless (and treeless) oceans of prairie plants with the contemporary landscape:  rows of corn and soybeans.  That settlement was greatly accelerated by the building of the railroads, which brought settlers and carried their grain back east.  Morris, like so many of the towns here, was built by the railroad companies (and named after a railroad engineer), providing a place to drop off and pick up both people and goods.  Sadly, passenger traffic ended decades ago, but the freight trains still rumble through, carrying coal, grain (stored in the silos that steadily puncuate the landscape), heavy goods and (more recently) ethanol produced from local corn.<\/p>\n<p>To grow all that grain requires good soil (which the settlers found in abundance once they learned how to break the prairie sod) and water.  Rain isn&#8217;t an entirely reliable source here (we&#8217;re fairly dry), so wells were sunk and acquifers are pumped out onto the fields.  If, as some predict, climate change leads to drier weather here (like the very hot and dry July\/August last year), then more and more irrigation will be brought to bear.  Acquifers, however, aren&#8217;t infinite&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The settlers also brought trees, for decoration and fruit and shade and wind breaks.  Many of the early boulevard trees in the midwest were elms, which are now being decimated (such as the one on the top left) by dutch elm disease.<\/p>\n<p>Going through pictures to consider for submission, it became clear to me that I really don&#8217;t have much in the way of prairie photographs.  There are some nice patches of largely undisturbed (whatever that actually means) prairie around here, but I&#8217;ve never gone out and photographed any of them seriously.  I&#8217;ve got lots of shots of native flowers from our gardens, but little to nothing from the &quot;wild&quot;.  I should try to fix that this summer.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"st-post-tags \">\n\tTags: <a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/tag\/photography\/\" title=\"Photography\">Photography<\/a><br \/><\/div>\n\n\n\t<h4>Related posts<\/h4>\n\t<ul class=\"st-related-posts\">\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/18\/wonderful-little-film-about-paul-rand\/\" title=\"Wonderful little film about Paul Rand (18 Nov 07)\">Wonderful little film about Paul Rand<\/a> (0)<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/20\/with-joy-shall-ye-draw-water\/\" title=\"With joy shall ye draw water (20 Nov 07)\">With joy shall ye draw water<\/a> (0)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Horizontal Grandeur, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent. Last night WeatherGirl [Flickr] [blog] and I learned that four of our submissions (two each) were juried into a regional exhibition. The show &quot;Horizontal Grandeur&quot; is being hosted by the Stevens County History Museum will open with a fancy reception on Friday, 13 July, at 6:30pm. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/06\/09\/horizontal-grandeur\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Horizontal Grandeur&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[21,16,11,25,20],"tags":[869],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-9i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1474,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2011\/03\/28\/horizontal-grandeur-submissions\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":0},"title":"Horizontal Grandeur submissions","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"28 Mar 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Each year the Stevens County Historical Society has hosted a juried art show entitled \"Horizontal Grandeur\" that celebrates the flat lands we call home. I had a few photos in the first \"Horizontal Grandeur\" show in 2006, but haven't submitted anything since then, mostly due to being swamped and such.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of snow covered fields in SW Minnesota ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5245\/5288279231_3d7bfacc81.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1513,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2011\/06\/29\/ive-got-two-pieces-in-horizontal-grandeur-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":1},"title":"I&#8217;ve got two pieces in Horizontal Grandeur 2011","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"29 Jun 11","format":false,"excerpt":"I have two pieces in the 2011 Horizontal Grandeur show, whose opening reception is Friday, 8 July, from 6:30-8:30pm.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Elbow Lake, Minnesota, 7 August 2009","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2517\/4029984175_bb70891474.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":666,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/10\/07\/fresh-from-the-shameless-commerce-division\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":2},"title":"Fresh from the Shameless Commerce Division","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"7 Oct 07","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my goals for our sabbatical year is to figure some things out about my photography. I really like taking pictures, and I don't completely suck at it, but it isn't my job and it can consume a lot of time and money. The massive ego part of me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":594,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/07\/09\/it-comes-to-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":3},"title":"It comes to this","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"9 Jul 07","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year we lost two of our three elms to Dutch Elm Disease, and a few weeks ago we came home to find a large orange 'X' spray painted on the final elm. This morning at a little before 8am we were awoken by the army the city had sent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1263,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2010\/05\/06\/mom-loves-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":4},"title":"Mom Loves Me","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"6 May 10","format":false,"excerpt":"Mom Loves Me, originally uploaded by nailbender. I don't get enough time to look at the wonderful photos that other people are posting on Flickr, but every now and then I carve out a few minutes. This morning over breakfast I discovered this gem and had to share. There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":329,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/03\/23\/some-great-photojournalism-on-flickr\/","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":5},"title":"Some great photojournalism on Flickr","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"23 Mar 06","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo by Hugo* Please forgive me for another round of pro-Flickr babbling, but I just ran across some really wonderful photojournalism and had to share. The photo above is by Hugo* and is part of an excellent series documenting recent unrest in France. This is truly fine work, and certainly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"March 23, 2006 - 18.08 by Hugo*","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.flickr.com\/40\/116848269_c09b2f37ac_d.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}