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.

Underneath a parking lot in Ottumwa, Iowa

Yes, this place was literally located beneath a parking garage in Ottumwa, Iowa.  Not Missouri, I know.  But I was on a road trip up to West Branch to see a David Plowden show, and was amazed to find this neon-bedecked diner crouching in the shadow of a downtown parking structure.  I assume the lot had been built up around and over the canteen.  Its lunches must be notable, to eschew demolition and preserve a most unlikely piece of commercial real estate in Ottumwa.

Graveyard and trees

The juxtaposition of the brightly-colored plastic flowers and the bleak, November day was the hook that compelled me to compose this image, but it is the fascinating contortions of the trees along the fence-row that turned out to be my favorite element in the composition.   Something about it reminds me of a Thomas Hardy novel...

Missouri River Hills in November

A moundlike hill overlooking the Missouri River, south of Rocheport.  This was around sunset on an exceptionally pleasant day in late November.

Front yard maple

The maple tree in my front yard, on a dark afternoon in early November.