Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next
198 images found

Loading ()...

  • Beef Empire Days ranch riding competition in Garden City, Ks., which is at the heart of the American breadbasket where farmers grow corn, wheat and sorghum and raise cattle. Over the last sixty years, two technologies have transformed production from rain fed-oriented agriculture to high-intensity irrigated agriculture, a change that transformed the local economy. Instead of relying on rain, Garden City farmers now use low-cost groundwater pumps and a technique called "center-pivot irrigation" to essentially mine for water locked deep underground. Garden City's current bounty is possible because beneath these farmer's fields is a vast reservoir of water, called the Ogallala Aquifer. This vast stretch of groundwater touches eight states, from South Dakota and Wyoming to New Mexico and Texas and so, because the semi-arid climate of the High Plains doesn't receive enough rainfall to support intensive agriculture, farmers pump this trapped water above ground to irrigate their fields.
    MM8249_20150606_00723.tif
  • A rainy night in Chicago on State Street.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345824.jpg
  • Abraham Lincoln once made an address at the Illinois State House, and Harry Hahn has been playing Lincoln since 1960.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515833.jpg
  • Flat River Grand Prix Motocross Race, St. Joe State Park, Ozark Mountains, Miss ouri.  Joe Little gets stuck in lead tailings muck and gets half of his body co vered trying to dig himself out.
    RANDY OLSON_06168_501252.JPG
  • State Street and the Chicago Theatre on a rainy night.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345813.jpg
  • Flashing lights of a railroad crossing light the night sky in front of the water tower on central village square in Riverside, Illinois. Riverside is the first planned community in the United States, and was commissioned for a design by well-known landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux. An affluent suburban community nine miles west of Chicago, Riverside maintains the original aesthetic charm that was planned to appeal to people desiring a “rural” location.<br />
<br />
The town might not have ever been popular had it not been for the disastrous Chicago fire of 1871 which served as an impetus for people to move away from the crowded, urban setting.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956182.jpg
  • The Niobrara River flows through farms and a wildlife refuge.<br />
<br />
The Ogallala Aquifer comes to the surface in Nebraska.<br />
<br />
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 568 miles (914 km) long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481043.JPG
  • Wind turbines in Kansas are the backdrop for the grain elevator in agricultural fields.<br />
<br />
Wind power supplies the state with almost half of its' electrical power. Farmers supplement their income by allowing turbines and that is attracted more than 15 billion dollars in investment to the state in 2022.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481135.JPG
  • The Window on the World amusement park in Shenzhen allows Chinese to travel the world in an afternoon. Behind “Mount Rushmore” in this photo, actors dress as Africans in huts and Egyptians at the Great Pyramids of Giza. Historically, during Mao, Chinese have not been able to travel, but for now they can look at the “Eiffel Tower” and “Mount Rushmore” at Window on the World. <br />
<br />
Because of China’s one-child policy, instituted in 1978, this is the first generation in the world’s history in which a majority are single children, a group whose solipsistic tendencies have been further encouraged by a growing obsession with consumerism, the Internet, and video games. At the same time, today’s young Chinese are better educated and more worldly than their predecessors. Whereas the so-called Lost Generation that grew up in the Cultural Revolution often struggled to finish high school, today around a quarter of Chinese in their 20s have attended college. The country’s opening to the West has allowed many more of its citizens to satisfy their curiosity about the world: some 37 million will travel overseas in 2007. In the next decade, there will be more Chinese tourists traveling the globe than the combined total of those originating in the U.S. and Europe.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7493_1176285.jpg
  • Beaver building a dam, Ozark Mountains area.
    RANDY OLSON_06168_501237.JPG
  • Man dangling baby in a stream, Ozark Mountains area.
    RANDY OLSON_06168_501173.JPG
  • Mennonite farm child with horse in water hole, Ozark Mountains area.
    RANDY OLSON_06168_501208.JPG
  • Slows Bar BQ in Corktown across from the abandoned Central Station.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457278.jpg
  • The bar scene buzzes at Michael Symon's Roast, a James Beard Award-winning restaurant.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457275.jpg
  • The Opera House premiered in 1922, claiming to be the world's fifth largest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457246.jpg
  • The Guardian Building doorman admires the vaulted Art Deco ceiling.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457241.jpg
  • Chalkboard doodles decorate a wall above a woman at Astro Coffee.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457239.jpg
  • The abandoned Beaux Art neoclassical style Michigan Central Station.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457234.jpg
  • A father and son skip rocks along Lake Michigan south of the Loop.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345830.jpg
  • The Wrigley building on the north bank of the Chicago River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345816.jpg
  • A wild mustang stallion chases studs away from his mares. Other horses in the herd graze, rarely stopping to watch.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222882.jpg
  • The horse herd grazes in the last hours of light, and a mustang mare locates and nuzzles her foal.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222879.jpg
  • Two gray stallions put their heads together to smell a territorial marking. Although it may look friendly, the mustangs are exhibiting behavior typical in a wild horse herd when studs are vying for dominance. At this point, they may fight or walk away to battle another time.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222872.TIF
  • Detail of the main on a colorful wild horse rescued from the Sheldon Wildlife Refuge.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222830.jpg
  • Bachelor mustangs spar and mock battle to practice their fighting moves and build up the courage to challenge a stallion to steal mares for their own bands. A thick blanket of fog made it tough for the dominant stallion to keep a watchful eye to protect his band.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222827.TIF
  • Two wild stallions eye each other and begin a ritual to establish dominance. They paw the ground establishing their turf and next they will either walk away or fight. Horses are prey animals with a strong "fight-or-flight" response where they flee for safety but they defend themselves or stand their ground when their hierarchy is challenged.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222816.TIF
  • A herd of mustangs move across the grasslands as a summer storm builds over the high plains. It is believed that over two million wild horses roamed the largely unfenced American West in the 1900s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222811.jpg
  • Scars and open wounds prove the fights are fierce. When wild stallions battle for mares and status in the hierarchy of a herd, the injuries can be brutal.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222793.jpg
  • Stallions kick up their heels as they spar in a battle for mares during the foaling season.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222791.jpg
  • Profile of a curious, young, fuzzy mustang foal.<br />
Foals are often born with a pale shade of their adult color. In the wild, the dull colored coat camouflages babies from predators. They typically shed their fuzzy foal coat at three or four months of age, however, and evolve into their adult coloration.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222790.jpg
  • If you are quiet, they may approach you. A trusting, wild mustang gently nuzzles a wild horse activist.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200576.jpg
  • Cattle branding at a ranch in North Dakota.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964863.jpg
  • Graffiti-marred painting of an angel in the West Baden Springs Hotel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_IR0538_658394.jpg
  • A cyclist on a 19th century style cycle pedals ahead of a thunderstorm.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515866.jpg
  • Roger Will prepares his fields for planting beans.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515798.jpg
  • Sunlight highlights grasses and sand dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06103_495811.jpg
  • Porch of the Bolduc House Museum with antique chairs and rakes.
    RANDY OLSON_T0261_86162.JPG
  • Two cowboys on horseback drive in cows to a cattle auction facility in Nebraska.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481141.JPG
  • A newborn calf is wheeled out in a cart at a dairy farm in Kansas.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481129.JPG
  • Cattle in a pen at a feedlot adjacent to a grain elevator in Ingalls, Nebraska.<br />
<br />
The main purpose of feedlots is to help animals reach a certain weight as efficiently as possible. Through providing a steady, high energy diet and managing the cattle, they attempt to minimize health problems and stress. A criticism of feedlots is that they are overcrowded which creates more challenges for healthy animals.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481125.JPG
  • Members of the singing Heygood family get dressed prior to a performance in Bra nson.
    RANDY OLSON_06168_501383.JPG
  • Every year 400,000 to 600,000 sandhill cranes arrive in flocks to roost in the shallows of the Platte River, and during the day they are out foraging in the cornfields and doing their dances.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481070-5.TIF
  • Sandhill cranes fly in to roost in the shallows of the Platte River.<br />
<br />
Every year 400,000 to 600,000 sandhill cranes—80 percent of all the cranes on the planet—congregate along an 80-mile stretch of the central Platte River in Nebraska, to fatten up on waste grain in the empty cornfields in preparation for the journey to their Arctic and subarctic nesting grounds. <br />
<br />
Sandhill cranes among the world’s oldest living birds and one of the planet’s most successful life-forms, having outlasted millions of species (99 percent of species that ever existed are now extinct).
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481070-4.TIF
  • Bread and other baked goods at the Findlay Public Market.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908619.jpg
  • Women look at a map at The City Flea, an urban market held in summer months.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908618.jpg
  • Kids play in a fountain in Washington Park in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908617.jpg
  • Public art being created via ArtWorks, an apprentice-model workforce development program for youth.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908615.jpg
  • Summer rain does not dampen spirits of loyal Cincinnati Reds baseball fans.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908613.jpg
  • People enjoying a riverboat cruise on the Ohio River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908456.jpg
  • The interior of 21C Museum hotel, a boutique hotel that collects and shows contemporary art.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908455.jpg
  • People sitting outside a bar in the Over the Rhine district of Cincinnati, Ohio.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1908454.jpg
  • Young women walk their dog at the Findlay Market in Cincinnati.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1777189.jpg
  • Visitors in the cellar of a craft brewery in the Over the Rhine neighborhood.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1777187.jpg
  • A couple samples pre-Prohibition brand Christian Moerlein beer at a craft brewery.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1777186.jpg
  • Zaha Hadid's Contemporary Arts Center, the first major U.S. museum designed by a woman, illuminates art in motion.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1777185.jpg
  • Washington Park is a picture of new harmony, drawing crowds for yoga and other alfresco events, although a few years ago, Over-the-Rhine ranked among the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6872_1777184.jpg
  • Tailgaters watch a Lions game on TV, parked in the erstwhile Grand Michigan Theater.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457277.jpg
  • A fountain on the newly designed Riverwalk along the Detroit River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457274.jpg
  • Artists paint the walls of Imagination Station, a house across from Detroit's abandoned train depot.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457272.jpg
  • Friends dance and listen to music at the bar at Cafe d'Mongo's Speakeasy.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457269.jpg
  • Tourists at Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457244.jpg
  • A vegetable garden in the Brush Park Historic District on a lot where a Victorian mansion once stood.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457242.jpg
  • Owner of 'Good Girls Go to Paris' creperie in Detroit.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457240.jpg
  • A Tiger head light on the outside of the Comerica Park building.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457238.jpg
  • A gilt figure on the Art Deco style Fisher building.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457236.jpg
  • A boat on the Detroit River against the skyline of Windsor, Canada.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457235.jpg
  • Women sing out 'Stop in the Name of Love' in the spot where Diana Ross recorded the song.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457231.jpg
  • People run on the Great Lawn under the canopy framework of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1564381.jpg
  • Visitors under Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate Sculpture.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1349692.jpg
  • Morning sunlight reflections dapple W. Adams Street near Berghoff restaurant.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345833.jpg
  • Cloud Gate or simply 'the bean' by Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345831.jpg
  • Visitors view an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345829.jpg
  • A freshly engaged couple on 150-foot-tall ferris wheel on Navy Pier.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345828.jpg
  • Joggers run northward along the shore of Lake Michigan.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345827.jpg
  • High school students at the Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345826.jpg
  • A view from the 103 floor of Willis Tower or the old Sears Tower.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345825.jpg
  • Cloud Gate or simply 'the bean' by Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345823.jpg
  • The Chicago river and buildings from the London Guarantee Building.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345822.jpg
  • Cocktails are shaken at the Frontera Grill.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345821.jpg
  • The Second City, a cararet style improvisational comedy club.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345820.jpg
  • Restored homes grace a street in the old Wicker Park neighborhood.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345819.jpg
  • A morning commuter along Wicker and the Riverwalk.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345818.jpg
  • View of the city looking south from the Hancock Tower at dusk.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345817.jpg
  • A pedestrian  heads for the Riverwalk along the Chicago River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5887_1345815.jpg
  • A yearling finds a low lying limb on a tree to scratch his back.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222907.jpg
  • After ritualistic pawing and sniffing, an aggressive gray stallion goes for the throat of another wild horse in a confrontation to establish dominance. Fur flies as the stallion rears back, caught off guard at the attack. Although many conflicts are short and not so brutal, serious injuries can occur as stallions fight. Many mustang studs have missing ears, and their bodies are battle-scarred from bite marks and strikes from front hooves. <br />
White Sands herd from the missile range in Utah have a rare gaited gene.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222894.TIF
  • A blue-eyed mustang mare is a descendant of horses bred in the Nevada's Sheldon Range. The horses were used as mounts for cavalry, and in later years, shipped to Europe to serve as war horses during WWI and WWII.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222881.jpg
  • A curious yearling approaches warily and wind-blown, shedding his shaggy winter coat. Although cautious, the horses’ ears are forward showing interest and openness. Horses are very social. Young ones play fight and gallop showing little fear as they test their skills while they navigate the hierarchy among members of a wild horse herd. These horses are descendants of a herd bred for the US Cavalry in the 1800s. Rounded up during WWI and WWII, they were shipped to Europe serving as "War Horses" pulling artillery and serving as mounts.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222880.TIF
  • Curious foals are drawn to a water hole making a reflective, pastoral scene as the herd grazes in early spring in South Dakota.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222877.TIF
  • Young studs playfully mock battle to earn confidence to battle a stallion. They practice their moves by chasing, biting, kicking and fighting.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222876.jpg
  • Two yearling mock battle to earn confidence to battle a stallion. As they mature, stallions fight for dominance in a herd.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222875.jpg
  • Ears pointed forward, a wild Palomino canters blurring at a fast pace through grasslands and prairie. Palominos are recognized by the color of horse distinguished by their cream, yellow, or gold coat and white or silver mane and tail. The Palomino horse is said to have originated in Spain around 1519, at the beginning of the Spanish New World and Cortez's reign. Although the exact development of these horses is unknown, their origin is rooted in Spain. Ears tipped forward indicate excitement or interest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222874.jpg
  • A Palomino mustang mare intently gallops with a blur and ears pointed forward.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222873.jpg
  • An illusive band of wild horses crests a ridge under a full moon and a night sky. Horse sleep only a few hours a night ever on guard for their safety from predators.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222870.TIF
  • A blue-eyed Palomino mare approaches for a closer look. The U.S. government released Thoroughbred horses at Nevada’s Sheldon range to mix with the Standardbred bloodlines making a bigger, faster “war horse.” During World War I and II, horses were rounded up from Sheldon, loaded onto railroad cars and taken to the East Coast where they were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. Horses that survived the journey had a bit placed in their mouths and began to pull artillery or serve as a cavalry mount. A shipment of 500 horses left every day and a half to supply American and Allied troops.  Nearly eight million horses died in World War I alone. <br />
Remnants of the “war horse” herds roamed free until they were totally removed from the Sheldon National Wildlife Range.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222829.jpg
  • A bachelor band of wild horses stick together to face into the wind picking up scents. Older studs join younger ones forming a family when none have mares or are accepted into another group.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222828.jpg
  • A mare and foal crest a hill under darkening gray skies of a looming storm in South Dakota.  The silhouetted pair are part of the Gila herd of wild horses with Spanish origin that came to North America with the Conquistadors in the 1600s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222825.TIF
  • Under a threatening storm, a herd of horses crosses a stream following the lead mare. In a wild horse herd, she leads them to food and water while the stallions follow behind to guard. A herd is similar to a neighborhood and made up of bands that are like families. These horses have dark dorsal stripes and primitive markings. They are genetic descendants of the Gila herd that came with Spanish Conquistadors to North America in the 1600s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222824.TIF
  • A pair of protected wild horse foals wander through tall grasses. The black and white orphan babies were rescued and later adopted after their herds were captured by the Bureau of Land Management.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222823.jpg
  • An animal activist watches a young mustang foal roll in the dirt. They were out for a walk when the young foal stopped and dropped. <br />
Horses roll for pleasure and to clean their coats with sand and soil.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222822.jpg
Next