Windfarm near Weatherford
When I visit my native Oklahoma, my camera usually stays safely secured in its case. I usually visit in winter when the dormant grass is a forlorn shade of brown and the trees are denuded of leaves. Winter isn’t Oklahoma’s best season.
This year, I made an effort to get out and take photos, to try and see it in a new light. I have always thought that Oklahoma has underrated natural beauty, but once I started thinking like a photographer, I saw photogenic beauty in places I’d never seen it before. Everything was suddenly more interesting to me, especially grain elevators. Looking back through my photos, I see that I have a fetish for grain elevators.
So without further ado, here are a collection of photos in black and white from the winter.
Photos of Oklahoma in Monochrome
Clouds near Weatherford
Defunct store near Sharon
Lone tree near Quinlan
Seen in Waynoka
Little Sahara Sand Dunes
West Creek Cemetery
Which way is the cemetery?
Walter White’s mobile meth lab
Anyone know what the heck this is?
Thomas, Oklahoma
Woodward, America
Woodward, Oklahoma
Hydro, Oklahoma
Retro fuel pump
Wichita Mountains at sunset
Guns, God, Grits and Gravy
The iconic theater in Woodward
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Looks pretty interesting to me. Maybe since I don’t usually get to see all these in my own country. 😄
If you visit America, go everywhere else first, but then visit Oklahoma. You may find it interesting.
You are actually making Oklahoma look “OK.” You’re making it look like a tourist destination.
I should send a bill to the tourism department
How many times can I say NG should hire you? You take what would seem to be ordinary scenes and turn them into art. Gorgeous collection Jeff.
Thank you Sue – you are too kind!
I approached these photos in a different way than normal. Oklahoma has some hills and canyons and mesas, but overall it is a flat landscape and so doesn’t photograph well with wide-angle lenses like Alaska or the Canadian Rockies. So I looked for simple things and tried to find beauty in the ordinary. I am glad you liked them and again, you are too kind!
You have true talent and skill Jeff. Thanks for sharing your approach to this series.
I would go there now with my camera. Great series of Americana.
Thank you Angeline. Oklahoma does reek of Americana.
These are great photos – so important to appreciate what is in our own back yard!
Carol, this is so true. It would be a great exercise for everyone to just go around their own neighborhood with a camera and enjoy the simple things.
They made a musical about Oklahoma – how boring can it be? Nobody wants to visit Wisconsin on vacation either, except people from Illinois who go to Door County (we have an unpleasant name for our southern neighbors when we see all their license plates cruising down our free highways) and people who come from all over to see Lambeau Field. Other than that – it’s just the natives who, like you, spend our vacations enjoying the hidden gems of our state.
I checked out your previous post, too. You had me at “hiking trails”. 🙂
Sue
PS – we did drive thru Oklahoma on our way to Texas and yes, it was boring. But now I know what to look for!
Sue,
My mind is really struggling to think of an unpleasant name for a person from Illinois who may be driving through…We have the same thing with Texas though, we feel an inferiority complex towards Texas and we make fun of them.
It is interesting living in Alaska, a state everyone wants to visit, and being from a state like Oklahoma that everyone flies over or speeds through as fast as possible. It is interesting to see peoples attitudes and opinions on the two places.
They are called FIBs. Illinois is the “I” in that acronym. The rest you can probably figure out. 😉
I bet its a mixed bag to live in a state everyone wants to visit. Cool to live right in the midst of all that beauty and annoying to deal with all the tourists.
Thanks to Urban Dictionary, I know exactly what you mean. In Oklahoma, we need FITs for Texans.
what a striking collection 🙂
Thanks Joshi.
Nice photos (I love the first one), but I’ll stick to your photo tour. I’ve been to Oklahoma once (my sister lived in Norman for a time), and that was enough. 🙂
If I were an outsider, I’d avoid Oklahoma on principle based on the actions of our politicians lately. Our senator threw a snowball on the Senate floor recently to show that there is now such thing as global warming, and that was the most rational thing they’ve done lately.