Nebraska Nellie

Why Nebraska Nellie? My family started calling me Nellie (at least for the most part) when I was about 29 years old and my two oldest nephews, Chad and Ben, were just learning to talk. Nellie was easier than my real name for the little ones and I thought of it as a term of affection. Eventually, almost everyone in my family started calling me Nellie. It does seem perfect for the spinster aunt, doesn’t it? To the children in my family, they knew me by no other name. I have 11 nieces and nephews and now two nieces in law (if that is a proper term), and a grand niece and nephew. When my oldest niece, Lindsay was between 10 and 12, she heard some of the family at a family get together talking about Jeanelle and she asked, “Who is Jeanelle anyway?” All of us roared with laughter and we still ask the question, “Who is Jeanelle anyway?” Now some of my close friends and their children also call me Nellie.

Recently my grandniece, Jordyn has heard me referred to as Jeanelle and she asked who that was and when her mother, Laci, explained that it was Aunt Nellie’s real name. Jordyn just turned 5 and she was not about to fall for that one. I love it.

In 2000, I traveled to Alaska with some friends and we found a little cabin with a sign for Alaska Nellie. We went in and it was quite a primitive place. There was a small shop which sold a number of items about Alaska, but among them was a paperback book about Alaska Nellie. I bought the book and it was the story of a woman born in the late 1800s in Missouri and who, through a series of moves, made her way to Alaska. She was single and alone. There were few people in Alaska and it is a beautiful but harsh place to live. She learned to hunt and she had a road house where travelers including one of our presidents came to stay. She even had a pet bear cub. I majored in women’s studies at UNL and I enjoy stories about strong women. I found the book totally inspiring.

I don’t hunt with a gun and cannot claim to have been quite as adventurous as Alaska Nellie, but that trip got me reinterested in photography. I hunt with my camera. I took two years of photography classes at the University of Nebraska. I took lots of pictures on the Alaska trip and have taken lots more since. I like to photograph nature the most, but have also taken people and archetecture. Photography has changed a lot since I took classes in the 70's. No film and you can take thousands of pictures and decide later what is good. I was fortunate to learn about the history of photography and how to develop black and white film.

I’ve taken thousands of photos over the past few years and I will be showing some of my work here.

I have a trip planned in the near future and will do my best to try to include some photos and information on my trip as I travel as I learn to blog.