Osa and Martin Johnson (photo borrowed from their website.)
Way before Marlin Perkins, Steve Erwin and other well known wildlife
cinematographers there was the
Johnsons,
Osa and Martin. Both Kansas kids they sought adventure, fame and fortune in the early
twentieth century filming regions that were just becoming open to the
industrialized world. Martin took off with Jack London to cruise around the world when he was in his early twenties, returned and married
Osa. They then set out together. In
Chanute Kansas I found their museum.
Here's an excerpt from their website: "
In the first half of the 20th century an American couple from Kansas named Martin and Osa Johnson captured the public's imagination through their films and books of adventure in exotic, far-away lands...Photographers, explorers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa studied the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific Islands and British North Borneo...They explored then unknown lands and brought back knowledge of cultures thousands of miles away through their films, writings and lectures.
From 1917-1936, the Johnsons set up camp in some of the most remote areas of the world and provided an unmatched photographic record of the wildernesses of Kenya, the Congo, British North Borneo and the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands...Their equipment was the most advanced motion pictures apparatus of the day, some of it designed by Martin Johnson himself.
When the young adventurers left their home in Kansas to explore and photograph these lands, little did they realize that they would provide the world with a photographic record of the African game of unimagined magnitude and beauty...The Johnsons gave the filmmakers and researchers of today an important source of ethnological and zoological material which would otherwise have been lost.
Their photographs represent one of the great contributions to the pictorial history of the world...Their films serve to document a wilderness that has long since vanished, tribal cultures and customs that ceased to exist." Read more here
Watching their films I did cringe once or twice when a lion or other animal was killed, I began to think about the difference in our attitudes about wildlife
conservation in this century. They had no zoom lenses so they were in close most of the time with a rifle ready for protection if things went bad, technology today frees us from making this decision. Teddy Roosevelt was a wildlife
conservationist whom I admire as was Audubon but both thought is very acceptable to shoot and stuff. The
Johnsons lived in a different time and left a record of work that influenced a changing world view in our
relationship with the natural world I think in a positive way.
They also influenced our view the whole genre of the great jungle adventure movies. Think about the Tarzan movies we watched as kids in black and white, right up to Indiana Jones. The Johnsons work influenced in some way all of these.
The museum also houses a wonderful exhibit of African Art including some really
outstanding masks. All donated by other folks to the museum.
Its a great museum if you are ever in
Chanute Kansas its worth the stop.
be sure and visit the
My World site to check out other participants and join in the fun.
The other morning I took a walk up to the back pasture to watch the sun rise. This past week the mornings have been cooler than usual for July.
As I hiked through the wet grass the wind picked up as the air began to heat up a bit to the east. The birds had already been singing for a while, the sun rose and I watched and listened.
The hike back provided some stops for a few photos in the early light.
For more skywatchers or to participate visit here.
This weekend we wandered around the four state farm show in Cherokee County Kansas. Every summer about 20,000 people descend on this festival to check out the newest in combines, tractors, sprayers, balers, and just about every piece of equipment you can use to farm these days. You could watch a haying demonstration, test drive a new mower, sign up for a new generator and collect a few grain and feed pens for free. We took advantage of going early on Friday before the crowds, the weather was beautiful here in Kansas an unusually cool sunny day for July.
Some of the equipment like this sprayer was so tall you could literally walk under it, bit of an overkill for my 3 1/2 acres I'd say. Besides being an organic mini-ranchodeluxe I really don't need this.
There were lots of places to stop and swap stories, "I remember in my day"..
Lots of little kids climbing the one story ladders to sit behind the wheel of a house sized combine, under moms supervision of course, I hope the keys weren't in it.
Clean up crews of frowning teenage boys roamed the several hundred acres of tents emptying trash cans.
Furniture, crafts, even chicken tractors (coops on wheels), small poultry cages, rabbit cages and other useful items could be found.
More Green ideas every year here was a way to heat you home with giant hay bales!
Old Tractors,
and fleets of new ones.
More stories.
Several variations on storm shelters popped up along the isles. This one was made of cast iron, it came complete with a reading light.
We also found hay rakes,
tools, tools and more tools,
flags,
The other morning I was outside doing chores the sun rose and turned everything a warm gold for a while. I turned and and spotted this rainbow in the west. Usually I see them in the east later in the day. I ran into the house and got my camera. It had started to fade when I returned , as the sun began to slip up behind the low clouds.
For a while it was an entire arch, a little faded in this photo.
Mostly gray skies this week, today looks to be a break from that, cooler temperatures and maybe a break from the humidity.
Random images taken while wandering around Chanute the other day.
The older buildings have such a character that seems different from the lack of character that we see in many modern structures.
I love taking photos of old brick buildings, they have an abstract quality that appeals to me. While in Taos we saw an exhibit of work by the actor Dennis Hopper which included some really beautiful images of walls from various cities, a million time better than mine but I had fun taking these just the same.
Grain Elevator near Erie Kansas
Osa and Martin Johnson (photo borrowed from their website.)
Way before Marlin Perkins, Steve Erwin and other well known wildlife cinematographers there was the Johnsons, Osa and Martin. Both Kansas kids they sought adventure, fame and fortune in the early twentieth century filming regions that were just becoming open to the industrialized world. Martin took off with Jack London to cruise around the world when he was in his early twenties, returned and married Osa. They then set out together. In Chanute Kansas I found their museum.
Watching their films I did cringe once or twice when a lion or other animal was killed, I began to think about the difference in our attitudes about wildlife conservation in this century. They had no zoom lenses so they were in close most of the time with a rifle ready for protection if things went bad, technology today frees us from making this decision. Teddy Roosevelt was a wildlife conservationist whom I admire as was Audubon but both thought is very acceptable to shoot and stuff. The Johnsons lived in a different time and left a record of work that influenced a changing world view in our relationship with the natural world I think in a positive way.
The museum also houses a wonderful exhibit of African Art including some really outstanding masks. All donated by other folks to the museum.
Its a great museum if you are ever in Chanute Kansas its worth the stop.
The skies in SE Kansas were cloud free and somewhat hazy yesterday.
The temps have been very hot, humidity is high so walks have been best at sunset along gravel roads.
The road is shared with cattle, nighthawks, meadowlarks and the sound of summer insects.
For more skywatchers visit here.
