My dad was a farmer who grew up in the depression in Kansas, with his older brothers who may or may not have participated in a small bit of bootlegging. His dad was a farmer in Kansas. My great grandparents came from Czech. I have always felt intensely connected to this Kansas landscape in which I still find myself. Even when I traveled, I still felt the intense pull to be "back home" which to me means the flowing flat landscape of endless earth matched with endless sky; the intense, wind driven landscape that is Kansas. Summer-times in my childhood I would travel often to and from Northeastern Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. To this day some of my favorite memories are looking out the window in the backseat, talking to the moon at night, and gazing at endless fields of wheat, flowing in the heavy Kansas wind; it was the closest thing I knew to an ocean.
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| Northeastern Kansas Farm Field, Late September After Harvest. Photo by Ed Tajchman ©. |
I have lived near the Kaw River Valley in Lawrence, KS for about eight years now and will be leaving this place soon. About five years ago I got a mountain bike and began riding so I could get in shape. I lost seventy pounds and discovered a connection with nature. I discovered forest trails in the river valley, rode across beautiful land with turkey buzzards, hawks, deer, coyotes, foxes, and an endless amount of grasshoppers. Part of my rides I would ride on a flat trail enjoying the changing fields of corn and soybeans through the seasons; other parts were spent playing in the forest. During this time I photographed this spot multiple times of day and multiple seasons. Someday maybe I will make a Monet like series of paintings about it.
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