Iowa – Page 2 – Different Isn't Wrong, It's Just Different

The final image submitted to the 2022 Iowa State Fair was Spring at Lacey. I entered this image in the Iowa Places and Landscapes class. Another class that I strive to have a photo chosen at least for display if not receive an award. Spring at Lacey is a favorite image for many of my followers.

This image is a favorite of mine too, the number one reason it shouldn’t have been submitted. But is the image or the story behind the image, that makes it a favorite of mine? I have made images at this location in the fall and winter. But a spring photo was what I envisioned. The different shades of spring green with just a pop of redbuds in bloom and hoping there would be water.

My fellow photographer friend, Stephanie, and I went to Lacey Keosauqua State Park to photograph the woodland wildflowers. We spent time in another location of the park and then I wanted to go to this location to see if my vision would come to fruition. Seeing the water made me giddy with excitement, however, the wind was not being my friend. The light was uneven, not at all what I wanted. Even light, no wind and a reflection, not much to ask for right? Not to mention to time it right for the different shades of green and the redbuds to be in bloom.

We waited to see if the light would even out and for the wind to hopefully die down. We waited for two hours, yes two hours! We chatted at length and watched what was either a small beaver, river otter or mink swim by. And then the magic happened! The light was even and the wind died down. Click, click, click went my shutter. Trying different shutter speeds until I was able to get the best exposure.

I will never know why not one judge liked this image enough for it to be on display. And that’s okay. Other people like it and so do I. Now you know the story, which do you like best, the story or the image? Let me know your thoughts on Spring at Lacey!

With much anticipation I toured the Fort Madison State Penitentiary, an infamous prison here in Iowa. The original state prison in Ft. Madison, Iowa opened as a territory prison in 1839. Iowa became a state in 1846. The prison was used until August 2015 when a new prison was built and the inmates were transported in about 6 and 1/2 hours, approximately 700 inmates. As the state still owns the property, they need to have a study done as to what needs to be done to the property before any future plans can be made. To help offset the cost of the study, they have on two weekends so far in 2017, opened the prison for tours. So today, I went to prison, well… only to tour the Ft. Madison State Penitentiary.

I had thought that touring the old prison would be creepy and somewhat scary. But that was not the case, and somewhat disappointing. I had planned to photograph the prison as if I was a new inmate and show all of the fear that I would be feeling with being a new inmate in a maximum security prison. That plan quickly changed as it was a beautiful sunny fall day and the feeling I thought I would feel didn’t happen. The gentleman that led our tour is a current guard at the new prison and was a guard at the original prison for about 30 years. He was a terrific tour guide, very knowledgeable, didn’t go too fast and answered all of our questions.

I took several photos inside and outside of the prison. In the gallery below are all images from inside the walls of the historic state penitentiary. I chose to process most of the images in black and white, not to hide color, but thought they were more interesting. A few are in color to show how some areas look in person.

In a future post, I will show photos of the outside of the prison. The architecture is quite interesting. So for today, a gallery of images ( you can click on any of the images to see a larger version) from inside the Ft. Madison State Penitentiary.

An area of the prison that was in use until the mid 1980’s.

For inmates who required medication and were able to get it themselves.

One of the cell houses for the general population

The cafeteria, the tables are bolted to the floor.

This small room was where the guard would watch the inmates during meals.

The menu for the first week of July.

The area in the cafeteria where meals were served.

Ice Water

Duties for inmates that worked in the kitchen.

An area of the kitchen for meal prep.

A can opener that remains changed to a prep table. Knives were also changed to the tables and at the end of the day, removed, counted and stored in another location.

At one time the prison was self-sufficient and made their own bread.

Another prep area of the kitchen.

How cleaning tools were to be put away.

The are where dishes were cleaned in the cafeteria.

One of the cell houses for the general population.

All cells in the old prison were single. The beds were either made of concrete or steal. Mattresses were provided.

Writing above one of the door inside one of the cells.

A cell for “honor” lifers. They kept their cells very clean.

Another cell house view.

This cell had a steel bed and the original porcelain toilet and sink. As prisoners would break them to hurt themselves or guards they were replaced with stainless steel sinks and toilets.