Lineville Again

As the name implies, Lineville, Iowa sits on the border of Missouri and Iowa.  I've posted a photo from this town on the blog back in March or April.  The post office I posted sits just to the left of this group of buildings.  I think that if you printed out the two photos, got a pair of scissors and a straightedge you could probably seamlessly connect the two images to create a panorama of downtown Lineville.  The scale might be a little off, but I was doing my best.  Once again, I found myself fascinated with the brick architecture that the average midwesterner drives by every day and ignores.  And of course, the interaction between the aged, detailed, patina-rich brickwork and the bright, empty negative space of the sky above is also a visual beguilement.  To me, at least.

Lumber Yard in Eminence, Missouri

Once again, I was enamored with the rustic simplicity of the architecture.  Eminence, Missouri.

Hannibal VFW

The faded blue door of VFW post 2446, in an alleyway in downtown Hannibal, Missouri.  It was the subtlety of the color palette that drew me to this scene, along with the fading stencil on the window above and the richly textured stucco wall.  There is the potential for a haiku here, or maybe a William Carlos Williams poem.

Hannibal Jail and Police Station

My family and I took a vacation in Hannibal last week.  In between camping in a thunderstorm and touring caves and museums I managed to take a few photos while I was there.  For my purposes, the best material lies just to the north of the downtown area.  Built in the late 1870s, the now derelict Hannibal jail and police station building still exudes character and visual magnetism. 

Malta Bend as it was

This building formerly stood alongside 65 highway in the center of Malta Bend.  We drove by as we were heading back from an October visit to the orchards in Waverly, and I stopped to take a few photos.  For a while there was an art gallery on the first floor, and later an antique store.  I drove by the same spot back in April, on my way back from Iowa, and the building was gone. 

Lineville, Iowa

Lineville, Iowa sits on the northern edge of the Iowa/Missouri border.  Hence the name.  I stopped there long enough to take a few photos during a rainy drive back home from Iowa City.  The post office had that certain noble, rustic, architectural quality that so many Iowa small towns are still rich in.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that David Plowden had photographed this scene before.

Grinding for True/False

Welder and metal artist Michael Marcum carefully grinds and polishes a metal disc as he prepares another metallurgical work of art for the 2017 True/False Film Festival during a work day at the Lab.