Nine Mile Prairie is one of the last remaining modestly large parcels of Tall Grass Prairie in Nebraska to escape the great plowup in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is located five miles west and four miles north of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s city campus. Owned by the university since 1983 its 230 acres is home to an amazing variety of plants, birds and other animals and insects. It has been used for prairie ecology research since the 1920s. ( http://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/where/fieldsites/ninemileprairie.asp )
I first started to go out to Nine Mile Prairie shortly after the university acquired it. Over the years, from time to time, it has been a place I’ve photographed with a large format film camera, as well as a place to just walk and see how the prairie once looked…
In the fall of 2012 shortly before my birthday I bought a Nikon D800 and some lenses and accessories. I had decided to teach myself digital photography and to learn about creating websites and blogs. The first place I went to try out my new camera was Nine Mile Prairie.
After that first trip with the Nikon I decided to dedicate my sixty-fifth year on earth to trying to get to know the prairie in a very personal and intimate way through photography. I’ve been photographing the prairie twice a week since late December of 2012. I’m launching this site as I close in on one full year of effort, one more circle around the sun…
I’ll be posting images from my year-long endeavor over the coming weeks and months – as a series of slide show portfolios, pages of images organized by month, as well as some personal observations in the blog section about Nine Mile Prairie and what my experiences have been during this past year.
I welcome your comments and observations, too.
Michael Farrell
You can see more of my work at http://www.michaelfarrell.com/
I also am a partner in the Platte Basin Time-lapse Project: http://www.plattebasintimelapse.com/
All images on ninemileprairie.com are copyright 2013/2021 by Michael Farrell. All images have been identified with an invisible embedded and traceable watermark to discourage misappropriation. For permission to use image files or to purchase fine art prints contact me at mfarrell.1st@gmail.com
