62 Nebraskaland • March 2026
By Jeff Kurrus
COME BACK WITH SOMETHING
I started at Nebraskaland Magazine in August 2006,
and there aren't many photos of mine that survived
that first year. During those days, we backed up
everything on CDs and DVDs, and there weren't many
of my images that survived the transfer from camera
to disc. Bad composition, bad light, bad everything.
Then, in 2013, the magazine staff began uploading
photos to a cloud-based system named Merlin. Since
that day, every photo the magazine staff keeps ends
up in this database. Currently, there are 323,114
images searchable by Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission staff and the general public.
One of these photos is this sunrise from Memphis
State Recreation Area from Nov. 1, 2006. Just
beginning my fourth month on the job, I had been
given Nebraskaland's No. 1 rule for time in the field.
"You better come back with something."
Sometimes the photo you're chasing doesn't work
out. Sometimes the angler doesn't catch a fish, and
there are no birds being retrieved. But that doesn't
mean you don't continue to shoot. You must find
something that an audience will find appealing.
On this particular morning, I was introduced to the
notion of reading clouds. They had formed way before
sunrise and, as I drove from my hometown of Gretna
to the closest public area I could find, Memphis State
Recreation Area, I prayed they held up.
When I arrived, the sun was just about to rise as I
stood on the northwestern end of the lake, wondering
what my first real sunrise photo for Nebraskaland
Magazine was going to be.
Was I going to pass my first real test? Was I going to
come back with something?
The photo made it to the database and, 20 years
later, is still there. That says enough for me.
THE LAST STOP
A 2006 sunrise at Memphis State Recreation Area in Saunders County. JEFF KURRUS, NEBRASKALAND
Celebrating 100 Years of
Nebraskaland Magazine
