The Prairie Modern photographs were made in 2005 and the spring of 2006. During that period I photographed the prairie intensively and more or less exclusively.
I also photographed the prairie after this period creating a few more photographs I love. They are similar in some ways, but have a different look and feel.
The Prairie Modern photographs adhere to self-imposed constraints reflected in their formal and symmetric compositions. The later ones break from those constraints. They are more relaxed and organic and perhaps even a little romantic.
Here's a few of my favourite post Prairie Modern photographs.
Edges, Alberta, Fall 2006
Above, Alberta, Winter 2006
Clumps and Abandoned Shed, Alberta, 2012
I didn't recognize the end of the Prairie Modern project until sometime after it had happened. Starting in the summer of 2006 there there were several years of lean photographic activity as I focused on leading product development teams at a startup. The photographs during this period started heading in new directions. The prairies remained the same, but I changed.
I haven't included the more recent photographs in the Prairie Modern portfolio. The portfolio is not a 'best of' collection of every photograph I've taken of the prairies. Instead, its meant to be a cohesive set of photographs with its own narrative and a consistent aesthetic.
There are also some fine photographs of the prairies taken before the project. They are different from the project photographs and the ones that came later. I think of them as precursors. But that's a topic for a future post.
I thought perhaps the more recent photographs might lead to a new prairie project and maybe they will someday. But for now they are a vignette rather than a full story.