This past Sunday, I took a drive to a large area flat farmland just north of Interstate 70 in Callaway County, Missouri. I took pictures of the fast-moving cumulus clouds, gravel roads, and the surrounding countryside for my fine art photography portfolio.

I was curious about what the locals called that vast expanse of land. I contacted Harrison Backer, whose family owns Wise Bros farm equipment, which is situated in the area.

Harrison told me that expanse of land is called “Wise Bros Flats” by highway patrolmen. He also said the locals use the term “Grand Prairie” to describe the acreage. I liked the “Grand Prairie” phrase and decided to use it for the title of my photo series.

To take the photo above, I used a 61-megapixel Sony ILCE-7RM4 camera coupled with a Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II lens. I also used a 12-stop Haida Neutral Density Filter combined with a Haida 100 x 150mm NanoPro MC Soft Edge Graduated 0.9 Filter to slow the light down so I could capture the motion of the passing cumulus clouds. I shot in full manual mode at ƒ/8.0 with a 30-second exposure at ISO 100. I processed the RAW file with Adobe Lightroom CC.

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