On a hillside above Creede, Colorado

We had gone to the hill above Creede because legend has it that the grave of Bob Ford, the man who shot Jesse James, was located up here somewhere.  And not only legend, but local history and a few early photos bear this rumor out.  But despite our searching, we never found the tombstone.  I later learned that Mr. Ford's remains had been moved back to Missouri to rest closer to his family.  Fortunately, the  vista and the remarkable sky helped me find a wonderful image of a tranquil summer day in southern Colorado.

Photographic exploration of Macon, Missouri

This photo outing in Macon last winter was about as pure as they come...handheld, two or three lenses, exploring the alleys and crumbling buildings of downtown Macon on a sunny afternoon in mid-December.  This is what photography should feel like...creative wanderlust free of expectations and encumbrances.

The end of the road trip--western Kansas

The last photo I took during our family road trip vacation to Colorado, back in July.  This was somewhere in western Kansas, just after sunset.

Triplett, Missouri

We are back in the very small town of Triplett, Missouri.  Before finding the opera house and talking with the farmer who owned it, described in my last post, I first stopped at this church on a corner of the highway through town.  I didn't find much to photograph on the front of the church, but this scene on the back side captured my eye.  The graceful arc of the silver, painted handrail glides effortlessly over the harsh but worn geometry of the staircase.  I don't make as many "standalone" images these days, having gravitate towards a more editorial approach in my photography, but this is one of the few images from the trip to northern Missouri that I would describe as standalone.

The opera house, the farmer, the desk, and more of its contents

After finding the Christmas card in the desk, we next pulled out an invoice from a Kansas City auto salvage company addressed to "Guillod's Garage and Auto Livery, Triplett, Mo." dated 1924.  Apparently the desk was from a mechanic's garage that used to be across the street, and when the business closed the farmer purchased the desk and brought it across the street to his storage building.  I really don't think that drawer had been opened in twenty or thirty years.  After taking a few more photos of the building and the environs, and then discussing local history, the farmer was kind enough to to direct me to a few more photographic locations in Triplett.  I think my stop in Triplett was the high point of the trip.

The opera house, the farmer, the desk and its contents

Back in October I took a two day photography trip up into northern Missouri.  Northern Boone, Macon, Randolph, Chariton, and Livingston counties were all on my agenda.  I took a chance on a tiny town called Triplett and drove the deserted streets looking for something to photograph.  I was astounded when I found a large, uniquely-shaped brick structure in fairly good condition, situated on what might have been Main Street.  I stopped to photograph the exterior when a combine and pickup truck slowly entered the building through a garage door on the side.  I spoke to the drivers of both and found out that they were a father and son who owned the building and who used it to store their farm equipment.  They told me that it was formerly an opera house, but could not recall the original name.  We went inside and I was able to take a few interior photos while the father told me what he knew about the history of the building and its contents.  Among the contents was a high legged desk. We opened the drawer of the desk and pulled out several documents and various items of ephemera.  One such item was this Christmas greeting card, dated 1923.  I carefully photographed the card while the farmer held it, using the light from the garage opening to illuminate it.  In this post I am only including the photograph of the handheld card, because it seems to be the most singular image of the five or six that I made while I was there.  In the next blog post I am going to post several of the photos together, in editorial fashion, in order to tell the entire story of the discovery.