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Life in Oklahoma

Since around 2010, I’ve been taking pictures of life in Oklahoma. My photography has been featured in several publications including Oklahoma TodayThe Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma Gazette. Also, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and many wonderful websites. To that end, I welcome the opportunity to share my photos of life here in the Flyover Country, which we affectionately call the Heartland. 

Flyover Country: Pictures of Life in Oklahoma

I was born in East Los Angeles but have lived in the nation’s Heartland since I was nine years old. From Texas and Arkansas to Kansas and Oklahoma, the majority of my life has been spent in Flyover Country. My brother still lives in L.A. and he told me many years ago that many people on the east and west coasts dismiss people in flyover country. Basically, their opinions, passions, pains, and stories are somehow deemed by coastal counterparts as less important because of seemingly less desired geographic location.

Therefore, through my photography, I strive to tell stories about life and those people and things that struggle to be seen and heard. As such, much of my work can be categorized as street photography. Also, candid photography.

I am a hobby photographer and the majority of my work is amateur. Nevertheless, many of my photos have been featured in some great magazines and on some wonderful websites. A picture I took of the Oklahoma Capitol was featured on CNN.

Mostly, I just love to take pictures of life in the Heartland, and that includes lots of pictures of the people and places I love.

Irony in Photography

I like contradiction and irony in photographs. Sometimes, photos reveal what we don’t see in person, freezing a frame of life that is so brief it can’t be forgotten because it never registered. Ultimately, irony and contradiction give us new perspectives on old stories and they help unravel misconceptions.

Daily Photo of Life in Oklahoma

In addition to taking pictures of life in Oklahoma, I also collect vintage pictures — old snapshots, portraits, photographs, and 35 mm slides. I love to share them with readers of this blog and on Facebook. Basically, I have relatively few pictures from my youth and childhood, so I’m always looking to find myself — or at least my experiences — in other peoples’ photos. I cherish high-quality pictures from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s that feature Gen-X subjects. For me, there will never be enough, for they particularly tell the story of our days and times. In addition, they contribute to this archive, which now represents about a decade of my life’s work. 

Copyright Notice

© The Jennifer Chronicles | Are You There, God? It’s Me, Generation X, 1999-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any content on this site including images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to jenx67.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Also, please check out the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects original content online.

Photography Posts

ANEMAL Graffiti Tribute Is Chance Discovery in OKC

ANEMAL Graffiti Tribute Is Chance Discovery in OKC

Across trains and bridges, rooftops and billboards, the graff writer purges his pent-up emotions. His tragic losses unravel in streams and clouds of colorful paint. The nozzle becomes a vehicle for his catharsis, and he might as well be cutting for the paint is a...

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How To Play Clue During An Ice Storm Power Outage

How To Play Clue During An Ice Storm Power Outage

Three days equals 72 hours, unless an ice storm knocks out your power and then three days equals 234 hours and you have to play CLUE for every single one of them. Because, umm, Parcheesi was not happening and the batteries to Operation were, of course, dead. Every few...

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Oklahoma Ice Storm Pictures (Roses)

Oklahoma Ice Storm Pictures (Roses)

In early December we had another ice storm that killed our electricity and put us out of the house for six days. Here are some photos I shot in Teresa's garden at the start of the storm.

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Carnival Birthday Party (With Pictures)

Carnival Birthday Party (With Pictures)

Back in July, I threw a carnival birthday party for my daughter Bridgette. We rented a dunk tank and a miniature pony for the kids to paint. Bridgy loved it all, but the dunk tank would have probably been enough! I underestimated how much the kids were going to like...

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How To Keep Dreaming When Your Hope Is Boiling In The Sun

How To Keep Dreaming When Your Hope Is Boiling In The Sun

I was 10-years-old and life unfolded like laundry on a line. We were sheets baked in the wind, our dreams heavy like wet, pilling blankets pinned to a wire. I was pulled taut between two poles, my mother, my father. Fastened in 15 different places -- to shame and...

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Guest Post: 5 things you can do to prevent child sexual abuse

The following is a guest post from Joelle Casteix, author of The Well-Armored Child: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Sexual Abuse, due out September 15. I've written about childhood sexual assault many times on this blog, particularly as it relates to Generation X, so...

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A Daughter’s First Communion

A Daughter’s First Communion

It's a joy to share with you pictures of our daughter Bridgette's First Communion. It was one of the best days of my life as we celebrated her receiving the wine and the bread and the gift of everlasting life. In keeping with tradition, the first grade moms at...

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Laura Nelson’s Grave (Lynching Victim)

Laura Nelson’s Grave (Lynching Victim)

At night in dreams he sees their souls rise Like dark geese into the Oklahoma skies Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed --Springsteen Down an old dirt road in Okfuskee County is a gravel turn-out that bends in a half circle right by a stand of trees....

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How To Leave A Legacy For Future Generations

How To Leave A Legacy For Future Generations

The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don't see the results. --Fr. Henri Nouwen Every spring, wildflowers spill out across the rural routes of Eastern Oklahoma County. The roads Peebly, Luther, Dobbs, and my favorite,...

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How To Prepare For Battle

How To Prepare For Battle

In 1974, our family moved from Los Angeles to Colorado Springs. Our new house was a yellow split-level on London Lane in Southboro. The house next door was bright blue and there lived the family Barlass. Peggy was the youngest of four kids and lucky for me, we were in...

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Oklahoma Canola Fields

Oklahoma Canola Fields

Sometimes, my work takes me to rural towns across Oklahoma. I love being on the road, traveling down the old state highways, thinking about how people in wide-open spaces live. I breathe better in these parts, even if I white knuckle it across narrow, two-lane...

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You Don’t Have To Be Everything To Everybody

You Don’t Have To Be Everything To Everybody

Robert holds me in the last perfect peace of morning. Those moments before the sun steals the amber of porch lights and conquers the winding rum of dawn. Outside our bedroom window I hear my new neighbor clearing snow from his sidewalk. Scrap-scrape-toss....

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Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner

Do you fix a traditional Sunday dinner for your family? What are some of your go-to recipes?

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Beautiful Handmade Valentines

Nothing is better than handmade Valentines from a little child! These Valentines were made by Bridgy's Brownie Troop for the Vets for Valentines program through U.S. Departments of Veterans of Affairs. I hope you had a special Valentine's Day!

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Prelude To Spring

Prelude To Spring

There are days your chest constricts so tight, claws of stress reaching through you, twisting your valves, breaking down your artery walls. These are the days to shrink from superficial social networks so the walls of fear -- the walls that surround the space you were...

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Red Leaves, and thoughts on Winning and Losing

Red Leaves, and thoughts on Winning and Losing

Both winning and losing are only for a season. In my life I have won and lost -- people, places, things. When I was losing I was actually gaining endurance for much bigger races ahead. Here are some beautiful words from St. Paul: Now we see things imperfectly, like...

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Life in Oklahoma: Everything Will Be OK

I spent a few years photographing graffiti and street photography around Oklahoma City. Eventually, I got too busy with work and finally had to move on from these adventures. Nevertheless, I learned a lot and made quite a few acquaintances with guerilla and graffiti artists. See Everything Will Be OK.

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