The official state motto of Kansas, "Ad Astra per Aspera" (To the stars through difficulties), without doubt applies to this Kansas boy. Although I have no desire to be a star, it is through the difficulties of talent, finding the time, and the funds to work on this project, for me to even be mentioned remotely among the stars who have recorded Kansas photographically so much better than I. However, I do aspire to be, in my small way, one of those who strive to dispel the notion that the state is a flat, ugly, uninteresting place to visit.

Also, I belive it a good idea for every photographer to have an on-going photographic project of some kind. This helps build one's skills, and keeps one from having the feeling at times that there is "nothing to photograph." For me, that on-going project is photographing Kansas.

Although I've lived most of my life in Missouri, I still consider myself a Kansan. I was born in its southwestern corner in the town of Fort Scott in Bourbon County. And, from the age of one year to the age of fourteen, I lived in Kansas City before moving to the Missouri side of of the city. Both maternal and paternal grandparents lived in the state, and other relatives still live there, so in many ways I still think of Kansas as home.

Kansas derives its name from the Kansa Indians, a tribe of the Siouan language family, who lived along what became known as the Kansas River. Kansa, in the Siouan language, means "People of the South Wind." Other Indian tribes who were "native" to the area that became Kansas were the Arapahoe, Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee, Osage, Wichita, and what were known as the Plains Apache.

In 1541 Spanards under Francisco Vasquez Coronado were the first Europeans to explore part of what is now Kansas, in search of gold. French fur traders came later, and the area, except the southwest corner later acquired from Texas, was part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France. Kansas was then part of Missouri until the latter became a state in 1821, when Kansas was only then known as "Indian Country," which also included what became Nebraska and part of Colorado. Eventually what is now known as Kansas became the 34th state to be admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861.

Known as "Bleeding Kansas" or the "Jayhawker State" before the Civil War, over the slavery issue, the official State's nickname became the Sunflower State, although it is also known as the Wheat State.

Kansas rises in elevation from 700 feet in the southeast (near Coffeyville) to 4,135 feet in the west (along the central Colorado border in Wallace County). Rectangular in shape, it covers an area of 82,264 square miles, and is about 410 miles long (east to west) and about 210 miles wide. The state is divided into two main geographical regions, the Western Plains and the Eastern Lowlands.

The Western Plains are part of the North American Great Plains and covers the western half of the state. It is a dry, level-to-rolling land with a scant covering of short grasses. Trees only grow along river courses, springs, lakes, around farmhouses, and in towns. Of special photographic interest are its abandoned farms, windmills, Chalk Pyramids/Monument Rocks, Castle Rock, the Arikaree Breaks, Cimarron Natioanl Grasslands, cattle ranches, river and creek beds, frontier forts, and former frontier towns such as Dodge City.

The Eastern Lowlands are part of the Central Lowlands of the United States. It's a grassy and forest-dotted land of prairies, plains, rolling hills, broad river valleys, chalk bluffs, and flint ridges. In the northeastern section of the state glaciers were found here in the last Ice Age. The southeastern corner is the western gateway into the Ozarks. Here, in the Eastern Lowlands, can also be found windmills, picturesque farms, frontier forts and towns, as well as the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Indian reservations, the Eisenhower Center, agricultural museums, Fort Riley, numerous lakes and wildlife areas, historic homes and churches, among other points of interest.

The picture at the top of the page is of the Kansas state Capitol at Topeka. It was taken with a Konica T4 camera and a Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 lens. The Capitol building is a beautiful structure and was constructed over a period of 37 years, from 1866 to 1903, at a cost of $3,200,000.

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