Fractured Beauty

There is a new oil rush in the vast prairies of North Dakota. New fracture mining techniques have made oil easier to reach and cheaper to produce. The oil drilling goes on day and night to pull this resource from the earth...to power the world. The trucks come and the oil gets shipped out while the prairie gets fractured and the animals learn to live with men and their machines. At night the natural gas gets burned off and the world freezes while the men drill and the oil flows. This set of pictures was taken over the course of three months in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. They are all long exposures taken in the freezing cold using only light from the gas burn off pipes or from the distant fracture mining sites. These photos are not retouched. They represent a surreal and strangely beautiful side of a cold, harsh, and dirty environment. I found a quiet peace late at night while taking these shots in the bitter cold. Using long exposures allowed me to explore the surprising sources of light that were available in this unique environment.

I am an avid photographer. It is my first love. I am a teacher by profession but a photographer at heart. I specialize in long exposure night and HDR work. My dream is to one day travel the world finding beautiful and unique shots wherever I go.