About the Kansas Flint Hills

According to the National Park Service’s Web site, there was once 170 million acres of tall grass prairie in North America.  Only about 4 percent of the prairie remains, all in the Kansas Flint Hills.  Today, the Flint Hills are dotted with small communities and homes connected by a network of gravel roads.  The roads are often lined with barbed wire to keep in grazing cattle.

Unbound is a cycling race on the Flint Hills’ gravel roads.  Each year, in late May or early June, thousands of cyclists, both professional and amateur, converge on Emporia, Kansas, to race one of five distances ranging from 25 to 350 miles. 

Each photograph was taken on the Unbound 200-mile course over the 3-days preceding the 2025 race.  I used a Nikon Nikkor-M 300 f/9 lens, which is generally considered a “normal” lens for 8 x 10 photography and comes close to a person’s field of view.  For a long depth of field, I used an aperture of 32 or 45, depending on the lighting.  Overall, my intent was to achieve an image that a cyclist might see if the cyclist was inclined to look past the road immediately in front their wheel. 

The house in photograph below that has photograph hung upon it is part of the Volland Foundation – a place for art and community.  The photograph on the house is from Deanna Dikeman’s series Leaving and Waving.  The photographs in the series were taken over 27 years as Ms. Dikeman waived goodbye to her parents after visiting with them in Sioux City, Iowa.  More information about that series can be found at deannadikeman.com.