Greensburg is the county seat located in Kiowa County, Kansas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 1,574. On the night of May 4th, 2007 a massive EF5 tornado, nearly two miles wide, destroyed 95% of Greensburg's homes, churches and businesses. Although the storm was devastating to their community, they are presented with an incredible opportunity to show the world their strength and commitment to create a new future for those who will live there.

      In February 2008, I decided to take a road trip from Kansas City, MO to Dodge City, KS for a weekend adventure or at least to take some "snap shots" of western Kansas. I'm not sure if I found Greensburg or it found me? The images I shot are a testament to the community and show the strength of the American people and their will to over come great hardships that I discovered on this little journey.

      I visited Greensburg for 2 days during my weekend trip and was amazed not just by the devastation that occurred 9 months prior to my visit but was inspired by the sheer kindness of it's residents and volunteers who are rebuilding a community from the ground up. At no time in my life have I ever experienced an entire community of people having to deal with the loss of everything they hold dear while still having to continue to live their everyday life.

      These photographs were created using an old Mamiya C33 twin lens reflex camera on BW film. This camera is my favorite to use while capturing my "character portraits" and am very excited to share them with you in the following galleries. The instant gratification of using digital photography in my business over the past 7 years has taken away some of the magic in creating photographs. I am rediscovering that magic through a more traditional process of image capture. Taking my time to compose an image rather than "snapping a moment" and seeing it instantly on the back of the camera.

      In the future I plan to visit Greensburg several times to document some of the rebuilding, but mostly to focus on the faces that makeup this rural community in the middle of Kansas. My goal in doing this personal project is to raise awareness of the "re-greening" of Greensburg and hopefully later to produce a coffee table book and gallery show of my work. Please feel free to email me with your comments and check back as I hope to update this website often. The website, GreensburgIsHome.com is dedicated to the town of Greensburg, KS and it's residents that call it home.

Thanks for visiting,
Matt Nichols
Photographer