This is continuing work from my long-term project of images made in The Badlands of South Dakota.

I have always been a frustrated fossil hunter, finding myself continually combing whatever ground I’m walking on for evidence of the past. As I’ve been cultivating this compulsion for several decades, I now see imaginary evidence of ancient animals and other beings in the landscape.

The countryside that most illicits my illusions are the parts of the world called “badlands.” The South Dakota badlands are actually full of real fossils. It is pretty hard to take a walk out there without finding little bits of fossilized bone and shell. There is one area in particular where long dead turtles festoon the land like buttons on a shirt.

The landscape at the “Trail of Turtles” is one of rolling hills and valleys, smoothed and shaped by eons of erosion. The sun has cracked the clay and provided a reticulated texture over all. In another landscape, more friendly to botanicals, grasses might have blanketed-over the shapely clay. Here though, all is exposed and late in the day illusions dominate and creatures emerge.

Using the clay of the earth combined with the rendering ability of a camera and the transformative power the digital darkroom I make images that match the visions I see in the badlands. These are presented in close to but not final forms as the images and titles are works-in-progress. As always I welcome your feedback.
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