Main Street, Bunceton

A bird's eye view of the upper stories of Bunceton, Missouri.  I had the fortune to stop there during a road trip in mid-November.  I was attracted to this scene because of the architectural authenticity of the buildings on main street.  There has been very little revision here, and it is not often that you find a small town with nearly all of its downtown in such a vintage, if sadly disrepaired, state.

Fall Haiku Seen

A fallen fall leaf found during a hike in eastern Boone county. 

AAA Electric--Route 66, Joplin

A friend and I were photographing down in Joplin when he showed me this neon sign in, just off Route 66.  Shot on Fuji Velvia, because you still can't get this kind of neon color fidelity from a digital camera. 

Tiger Pawn on a Rainy Night

Tiger Pawn on a rainy night, down on the business loop.  It lacks some of the effortless grace of an older neon display, but is somehow fitting for a pawn shop at the east end of the loop.

Travelier Motel, Macon

The Travelier Motel, in Macon Missouri.  This neon lacks some of the poetry of the Noll Motel sign, but it makes up for it with a uniquely vintage color palate.  This motel sits near the junction of highway 63 and highway 36. 

Noll Motel, Moberly

The neon outside the Noll Motel, in Moberly, Missouri.  Located at the junction of highway 63 and the venerable old route 24, the Noll's neon sign has been lit since at least the early 50s.  I have a feeling that this post will be the first of several Missouri neon signs.

Salem Cemetery

I found this uniquely crafted tombstone in the cemetery behind Salem Presbyterian Church, in Randolph County, Missouri.  I was intrigued by the shape, the color of the stone, and the hand-carved lettering.  This is probably one of the oldest stones I've come across in a Missouri cemetery...I usually photograph in the cemetery after spending some time photographing the church and environs for my documentary project on the rural churches of Missouri. 

Hello, Tucumcari!

Last night my night photography blog decided it had endured enough of this summer's exorbitant heat and drought, and packed its bags for a week or two of the relatively cool, beer-friendly environs of Milwaukee.  In some sort of URL solidarity, my Missouri blog today decided that it, too, needed to leave town for a few posts.  Strangely enough, it is on its way to Tucumcari, New Mexico.  Coincidentally, I was out in Tucumcari a couple summers ago for a very-belated honeymoon trip to Santa Fe and Taos.  For me, driving into Tucumcari from the high plains of west Texas and eastern New Mexico is like stumbling off the street into an extremely fascinating visual/historical/creative/photographic garden of wonders and immediately being offered a smorgasbord meal and a chilled microwbrew.  I mean it is full of the kind of photographic offerings that a person such as myself dreams of encountering.  So let's all take a hiatus from the occasionally predictable surroundings of central Missouri and spend a few days in Tucumcari.  I think the change will do us all a bit of good.  The image above is somewhere on Main Street, a block or two off of Route 66.  The repetition of the square and rectangle, along with the muted color palette, are what drew me to this scene.

Tatts on Tenth

The tattoo parlor on south Tenth Street, taken while leading one of my Access Arts photography classes on a night photo session in downtown Columbia.

Broadway Diner Minimalism

For some reason, warm nights in spring and summer always inspire my appreciation for minimalism.  Here it is at work on the Broadway Diner, a few weeks ago during a night photo outing with one of my Access Arts photography classes. 

Oasis Cafe, Marshall Junction

A bit of architectural detail against a late autumn sky on the roofline of the now defunct Oasis Cafe, at the junction of old route 40 and highway 65, in southern Saline county.

Country School near Marshall Junction

A rusted pump stands weary sentinel outside a one room school building just off of old route 40, near Marshall Junction.  The warmth of the light does little to convey the bitterly biting wind on this frigid afternoon in late December.

March March--True/False 2012

A steampunk lassoing a robot in the middle of Broadway...only during the True/False Film Festival.

Exhibit opening at Tellers next week

Tony Irons and I will be hanging a show at Tellers for the month of March...the opening will be Monday, March 5, from 6-8 p.m.  Tony's color work examines surfaces and the meanings beneath them...somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Shore.  My work all comes out of my nightviewcolumbia blog project, searching the darkened streets and storefronts of  nocturnal downtown Columbia.  After the enjoyable madness of True/False has subsided, stop in to Teller's to take a look.

Columbia at Night

Ladora, Iowa

Ladora, Iowa on a windy, cold night in early December.  Driving back from my trip to see the David Plowden photography exhibit up in West Branch, I decided to take Highway 6 from the Amana colonies to Highway 21, which I then took south to Ottumwa.  Both highways were full of the very types of towns and objects that I enjoy photographing.  In fact, Ladora had been photographed by Plowden some 25-30 years earlier, as one of the prints in the exhibit had testified.  This is a view of the main street, with an auto repair shop in the foreground, charmingly advertised by a quaint neon sign, and an old high school building in the background, now apparently serving as a bistro.

Plevna, Missouri

Taken during my roadtrip up to Iowa in early December, this is one of the few remaining business/civic structures in Plevna, Missouri.  I stopped here to photograph once back in 2006, and I just couldn't resist coming back to see if this brick store building was still standing.  And, happily, it is.  After some investigation I found out that this used to be the bank building, many years ago.  And the name, Plevna?  Apparently it comes from the battle of Plevna, a Bulgarian city besieged during the Russo-Turkish war of the late 1870s.  The legend goes that the first postmaster of this town was nicknamed Plevna, and that is the epithet it garnered.  This building is a favorite of mine to photograph...the simplicity of the strucure is belied by the intriguing brickwork across the top, the hand-painted town name in the front window,  and the heavy patina of rust on the authentic tin canopy. 

Rural Church, northern Missouri

The interior of an abandoned rural church in northern Missouri.