PLUMPING UP KANSAS
by Roy Inman
A (long) back of the postcard note from the Sunflower state-
OK, I will admit it: Never been much of a fan of the state of Kansas, visually speaking that is. The landscape is decidedly boring, partly because there is not much to differentiate the stretch ahead from the one behind. In point of fact, in 2003 Southwest Texas State University and Arizona State University actually scientifically determined that Kansas was indeed flatter than a pancake, specifically flatter than a pancake purchased at International House of Pancakes.
"People just look down at the pancake," researcher and doctoral student at ASU Brandon Vogt said at the time. "If you were an ant climbing it would be incredibly difficult to navigate. There are bubbles and ridges, and it usually bulges in the middle." If a pancake was the size of Kansas and you were on highway 70, you'd encounter 10-mile deep potholes." He and fellow researchers did the math and I take them at their word.
For years I have struggled to make some really good images of the state, both for clients and for my own satisfaction, but alas, with only partial success.
I guess I just don't see things in the same the way that stellar landscape photographers such as Kevin Sink, Ed Robison, Michael Wolfe, Kathy Wismer, Wes Lyle, and others have.
Then I struck upon an idea: Why not Photoshop the entire state, one photo at a time, thereby giving the various scenes more interest, or in effect, "plumping them up." I will sheepishly admit that some of the photos have actually had little digital work. Some had a lot. But all have some. That is the nature of the state: ripe for manipulation with the mouse.
The result so far is a collection of images that I like to call "Postcards from Kansas. I use the term quite loosely, given that what I shot and what I then re-created in the digital realm is unlike the typical postcard beauty shot.
Now, when I take pictures in Kansas, I am visualizing what I will do to the image later in Photoshop. What I see through the viewfinder is merely a starting point.
With tongue planted firmly in a pancake filled cheek, I remain sincerely yours,
-Roy Inman
