Missouri Landscapes

Book excerpt: Setting up camp by moonlight amidst a chorus of tree frogs. Rising two hours before sunrise and taking a predawn hike through a dim forest into quiet isolation, into the total immersion of Nature's vast embrace. This book is the culmination of many such trips into the diverse natural areas of Missouri by professional Nature photographer Kevin Sink. A native of the Kansas City area, Kevin has traveled extensively across the United States to photograph the natural landscape. This, his premiere book effort, has focused on his affinity for the Missouri landscape. "As a youth in Missouri, I watched the rhythm of the seasons, year after year, and have a fond and special memory of these times. John Schaefer, an author of several books on photographic technique has said, 'Fine photographs are those that capture the spirit as well as the light and form of their subject.' Since the Missouri andscape has such a strong spirit of place for me, I thought I should take John's advice and earnestly look there for compelling photographs." Kevin's strategy is to look for those places that are remote from any evidence of man, and find natural communities that may still resemble their appearance prior to settlement. Many of Missouri's public lands are large and far away from urbanized areas, so they have a pristine character about them. Missouri's cutting edge conservation system of public lands called The Natural Area System identifies natural resources with relatively undisturbed native habitats and manages them to preserve the natural diversity and ecology of the state's native landscapes.