Sunrise over tiny Aurora, Kansas

When I was the Director of Tourism for my home state of Kansas back in the early 1990s, I often lugged a camera along with me as I traveled from community to community to work with leaders who were promoting their individual towns and regions.  When possible, I took as many photos as I could.

We were always looking for a high volume of new pictures to compliment our advertising programs, publication development, and other efforts aimed at drawing overnight visitor spending to the state. A lot of times we didn’t have much budget for acquiring new photos–so I tried to help fill in some of the gaps.

At the time, Kansas often suffered from long-standing image challenges. For example Carl Becker, in 1910, wrote about a phenomenon that some say still exists today. According to Becker, “Until 1895 the whole history of the state was a series of disasters, and always something new, extreme, bizarre, until the name of Kansas became a byword, a synonym for the impossible and ridiculous, inviting laughter, furnishing occasion for jest and hilarity.”

The Republican River at Clyde, KS

I wish Mr. Becker was wrong and was not more than a bit futuristic in his thoughts and words. But, many years later, I often heard misperceptions similar to what he was talking about.

By the mid-1990s, I had moved to Arizona to run the Grand Canyon State’s tourism marketing efforts. There were a lot of communities, resorts, and attractions that wanted to know what our office was doing. So, I was asked to give a fair number of speeches.

The people who would introduce me before I went to the microphone would often say a word or two about my background and experience. On more than one occasion, the facilitator would say something to the effect of, “Prior to becoming the Cabinet Secretary for Arizona Tourism, Greg served as a broadcast journalist and the Director of Kansas Tourism.”

What happened next?

More often than not, the crowd’s reaction would range from a few snickers to all out laughter. It was not out of rudeness that this occurred; it was because many of them sincerely thought the speaker was making a joke. Kansas Tourism? Isn’t that an oxymoron? “They can’t possible have any tourists in Kansas.”

Greg enjoying Stroud's fried chicken; Photo by Amanda (Gilstrap) Bradner

I have always found Kansas to be home to immense beauty. Often subtle, but dramatic in its own right. I arrived at this conclusion because I knew Kansas. I relentlessly traveled from border to border. I fell in love with the rolling green Flint Hills, the out-of-this-world barbecue in Kansas City, fried chicken served home style in small town restaurants/greasy spoons, the Old West and Bleeding Kansas history that was expertly displayed in places like Lawrence and Fort Scott, and numerous turquoise lakes and reservoirs found all over the State. Kansas doesn’t have a Grand Canyon or the resorts of Sedona, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Tucson. But, it has a lot to offer. And, it is a great place for photo-remedy. A place where you can get lost behind the lens in pursuit of both interesting and colorful parts of the State.

Because I was acutely aware of some of Kansas’ image challenges, I often thought to myself in the early 1990s when I was taking Kansas pictures, “If everyone could see what I’m seeing through this camera viewfinder, it would be clear that Kansas was indeed a great destination to see and experience.”

This January those same thoughts came back to me when we returned to Cloud County, Kansas to bury my beloved mother-in-law.

Nazareth Convent - Concordia, KS; Photo by William J. Gilstrap

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, travel often is very painful for me and can present some serious physical challenges. This was true for the January Kansas trip. To help combat an aching spine and an inability to sleep because of excessive pain, I left the family sleeping in bed at our hotel at about 4:30 a.m. and set out for some photo-remedy. An opportunity to be creative and to creatively get my mind off the pain I was experiencing.

I got some good black coffee and headed out without a defined plan. I simply decided to get in the car and drive– just explore the back roads of Cloud County and see what I could discover. I found awe-inspiring wind farms, pastoral little towns like Aurora and Clyde, and a myriad of great examples of America’s Rural Heartland. Once again, I found myself repeatedly saying, “If only everyone could see what I am seeing through the viewfinder.” It was a great little journey. It was great photo-remedy.

When I finished, I thought about another Carl Becker quote, “The Kansas spirit is the American spirit double distilled. It is a new grafted product of American individualism, American idealism…Kansas is America in microcosm.”

– Greg

Note: Additional photos from Greg’s Cloud County travels can be found at:http://explorationcommunication.com/cloud_county_ks . 

Nazareth Convent (2012) Concordia, Kansas

Faith often teaches us that the Holy Spirit is so strong that it can even give us the grace to travel through enormous sorrow.

Sometimes our life journeys back to places of joy are filled with multiple, confusing twists and seemingly unending turns. Occasionally, however, we are fortunate enough to find that delight is no farther away from grief than fragrant aroma is from a freshly-bloomed grandiflora rose.

Our family experienced the latter phenomenon this January.

On January 10, 2012, we laid my mother in-law to rest in Clyde, Kansas. Gevine Hoesli was a spiritual leader and role model to seven children, 16 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Her obituary clearly details the difference that one person can make in the lives of others–whether they be from her family, her community, or they were simply another human being who needed help.

The pain of her passing, while not removed, was almost immediately marked by the sparkle of new life here on earth and the continuation of the lineage of the late LaRoy and Gevine Hoesli. Just two days after Gevine was laid to rest, new life sprang forth when Emmett William Gilstrap came quietly into the world. This beautiful newborn is the son of Andrew and Katie Gilstrap.

Emmett is our first grandchild for my wife Mary and I. We are unbelievably excited at the opportunity to be grandparents. And, who knows, perhaps someday we will be like LaRoy and Gevine. Great grandparents.

– Greg

Note: The trip to Kansas also offered significant photoremedy. In our next blog posting, we’ll feature the subtle, often dramatic, beauty of January in Cloud County, KS.

With a late surge, the Verde Canyon Railroad pulled into the station as the winner of our 2011 Photo-remedy Photo of the Year. The photograph of the fabulous Sedona-area train was followed closely by our Angry Cat and Boxer Rush pictures.

Thanks to everyone for making this such an enjoyable contest. You can see additional train photos, along with shots from the surrounding Verde Valley in my publicly-accessible Facebook photo album at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150334029875781.392830.684865780&type=1.

Most of the slides in the Facebook album feature brief descriptions of the Railroad’s colorful history and of the many great attributes–like a growing wine industry and the ever-picturesque red rocks–found within a short drive of the train’s Clarkdale depot.

All the best to you and yours in 2012. For our increasing number of readers who are turning to Photo-remedy for inspiration, we hope you all will remember to ‘Keep Fighting with a Smile’ in the year to come.

– Greg

Verde Valley as seen from the Verde Valley Railroad

Vote Early, Vote Often. When it comes to internet voting, it is certainly the American thing to do.

As a result, we are asking our Photo-remedy audience to select our Photo of the Year. From a cat who flipped this photographer her middle claw to several stunning natural wonders, there are 13 finalists to choose from.

All you have to do is take a look at (and hopefully appreciate) the options, and then select the one photograph that is worthy of being crowned ‘Photo-remedy Photo of the Year.’ The poll is offered at the bottom of this post. Here are the finalists, obviously in no particular order.

1. Sueltz Butterfly Is that the type of butterfly featured here? No, it was simply hanging out in our brother-in-law’s rather impressive Denver garden. Therefore, we named it after him. Thanks Dapper Dan Sueltz!

Sueltz Butterfly

2. Dapper Ice Plants Again, a great garden produces lots of options and impressive amounts of photo-remedy.

Dapper Ice Plants

3. Explosive Wedding We had to feature at least one of Will Gilstrap’s Photoshop creations.This photo was taken in early 2011 when our oldest son, Andrew, got married to our adorable neighbor, Katie Coronel.  Will dressed up the groomsmen photo with some visual pyrotechnics. We are happy to report that Andrew and Katie are expecting a baby boy to join them in late January 2012. 

Explosive Wedding

4. Deer Creek Reservoir We had the good fortune of taking a scenic summer drive between Park City and Provo just after sunrise when this 2011 photo was captured. If you ever find yourself near Deer Creek Reservoir, bring your camera. Photo-remedy is offered in every direction.

Dry Creek Reservoir

5. Verde Canyon Railroad While living in Arizona, we have been blessed with the opportunity to experience a most interesting mix of domestic and international attractions and destinations. Yet, for the nearly twenty years we have lived here, we have failed to travel just an hour down the road to ride the scenic Verde Canyon Railroad. As part of our ongoing attempt to beat the 2011 summer heat, we finally corrected that omission. It was truly a memorable trip.

Verde Canyon Railroad

6. Boxer Rush When our daughter Amanda and her husband Stephen moved back to Arizona this year, they spent a couple of months living with us while they found a new home. Their time here gave us ample opportunity to fall in love with our first grandpup, Rush. Named after the famous UFC fighter Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre, this boxer loves to wrestle and run.

Boxer Rush

7. Blue Angels We had the good pleasure of visiting San Francisco during 2011 Fleet Week. The Blue Angels were the featured performers. Capturing the aerial acrobats in action was extremely challenging, but well worth the effort.

Blue Angels

8. The Alleys of San Francisco The Streets of San Francisco may be more famous, but there are plenty of alleys (like this one in China town) worth capturing.

9. Sepia Tree This tree, near Boynton Canyon and Sedona, cried out for photographic preservation. The color version was interesting, but the Sepia tone development seemed to give it the ‘voice’ it needed.

Sepia Tree

10. An Angry Cat Our beloved Stella is both a lover and a fighter. I believe, however, this is the first time she was so bold as to flip me her middle claw. I can’t say I blame her. I imagine she gets tired of me pointing and clicking in her direction.

Angry Cat

Prayerful Kitty

11. Prayerful Kitty Our daughter and son-in-law let me tag along this year when they attended the Phoenix Feline Association’s 19th Annual All Breed Cat Show. Cats are often accused of being aggressive beggars, but this little guy seemed to take it to a new level while on stage competing for ribbons and recognition. He certainly took a different approach than Stella.

12. Irish Arizona Being a ‘wee bit Irish,’ I’ve always dreamed of tipping a pint or two on the Emerald Isle. Not sure I’m up to traveling that far these days, but I’m holding tight to my dreams. Minus the coast and waterfalls, parts of a December drive through Arizona’s Tonto National Forest reminded me of some of the rocky Ireland scenery I’ve seen in photographs.

Irish Arizona

Big Cactus

13. Big Cactus I must admit I love the Sonoran Desert. Many people don’t realize that Arizona is home to the world’s greenest, most flowering desert. This photo was taken during my December Tonto National Forest drive.

We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity–in the poll below–to rank our Best of 2011. Please vote early, vote often, and invite others to participate in this clearly un-scientific poll! We hope you had a great 2011, and that you are looking forward to an even better 2012.

– Greg

I’ve been living on the edge this Christmas season.

While I love the reason for the season and all the blessings associated with celebrating our savior’s birth, I must admit there have been some significant circle of life issues that had stopped me short of wanting to go ‘caroling on main street.’

In an attempt to get myself headed in a better direction as we round the corner for Christmas, I grabbed my camera Thursday morning and went for a December sunrise drive in the desert. Once again, a little Photo-remedy was just what the doctor ordered.

Recent rains have brought renewed life to our little slice of the Sonoran Desert. The barrel cacti were as plump as Jolly Old St. Nick and the arms of our beloved saguaros seemed to have renewed vigor as they stretched toward heaven.

My drive took me into the Tonto National Forest, just east of Carefree, before I basically hit a dead end at Bartlett Lake. The irony did not escape me. Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to us in the desert. He came to give us new life. He was born in the most humble of settings, but he became our living water.

This Christmas, I pray that we all recognize there are no dead ends with Christ. As he promised the woman at the well in the Fourth Chapter of John, “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

God bless and Merry Christmas!

– Greg

For long as the human race has been bringing pets into their caves and homes, there has surely been considerable debate as to the virtue of cats versus dogs. And, just as dogs are so frequently bewildered by the feline species, so are we humans. A small percentage of us might indicate we love both dogs and cats, but most tend to side with one or the other.

 “I’m a dog lover. Cats? Stacking greased pool balls with boxing gloves would be easier to accomplish than figuring out a feline.”  Such comments by the dog folks are often contradicted by those waving the cat banner. “Little fluffy brings laughter and joy to our home every single day.”

Great minds are often divided on the matter. Such noteworthy thinkers as Albert Schweitzer and Sigmund Freud have talked about what millions of cat lovers believe. Schweitzer said, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” While Freud rather simply explained, “Time spent with cats is never wasted.”

Meanwhile, popular author and illustrator Skip Morrow rode the anti-cat theme all the way to ‘international best-selling status’ when in 1980 he took a satirical look at the dark side of the timeless love-hate story of humans and cats. The Official I Hate Cats Book was so successful he revisited the theme in 2000 with I Still Hate Cats. Shortly after Morrow first started making fun of cats in his illustrations, he described the effect these drawings had, “When people saw it, they told me: ‘I’ve always wanted to do that to a cat.’ I thought that I might be onto something, so I drew a series of cats being compromised.”

The good news for us photographers is you do not have to pick a side. There is simply no debating the fact that, love ’em or hate ’em, cats are fun to shoot. Shoot with a camera (for those of you that were getting other ideas)!

Our daughter and son-in-law, Amanda and Stephen Bradner, recently let me tag along with them to the Phoenix Feline Association’s 19th Annual All Breed Cat Show. Amanda and Stephen ended up with an unbelievably cute kitten out of the trip, and I ended up with some fun pictures and a lot of photo-remedy.

New Bradner Cat - Killarney

I’ve posted a Picasa album that features the top ten ‘Best of Show’ cats, along with some of my personal favorites. The album features my commentary, but please feel free to leave yours as well.

The comments don’t have to all be positive. Making fun of cats–even when you love them like our family does–is always in good taste. Well, accept when talking about the little guy pictured to the right. I was delighted I was able to capture him when he appeared to be praying for a blue ribbon. How can you not love a cat like that!

– Greg