Column

A winter storm on the Francis Quadrangle.  Love or hate them, it is hard to photograph the columns in a non-postcard fashion.  This is an attempt.

Chain

Subaru

This was taken at the end of a snowy walk on a February night, 2010.  It has become one of my favorites, probably because it represents a new way of seeing.  This is not the kind of image I usually make on a winter's night...I generally don't do much work in domestic neighborhoods, and I don't usually look for or find this kind of scene.  I'm glad that I found this one.

Locust Street

Tenth & Locust

Full moon, cemetery

Full moon over Columbia's hilltop cemetery.  Late October.

Russell Gunn at Murray's

Jazz trumpeter Russell Gunn playing at Murray's.

Pinball at Shakespeare's

Kim and Casey at the pinball machine in Shakespeare's, softly illuminated by the Rolling Rock neon.

Ernie's

My favorite item here used to be the bacon-wrapped filet mignon.  I don't even know if it is offered any longer...that was back when a man who looked a lot like Walt Whitman used to be seen sitting in one of the wooden booths near the front, drinking coffee and looking timeless.

Heidelberg in snow, Ninth Street

This was the Heidelberg as I fondly recall it, before the fire and the nearly to-the-letter rebuild.  Now it is much taller, but a little less rustic.  It's hard to replicate 50 years of cigarette smoke, grease, and spilled beer.  Taken when Osama's coffee shop still held sway over south ninth street.

Ninth Street in fog

Another view of the Peking neon that once graced Ninth Street, after closing time.  This particular stretch of Ninth really lost some magic once the sign came down. 

Lucy's Cafe

I was lurking around Fifth Street one evening, looking for something that I wasn't seeing yet.  Then I found a set table inside of Lucy's Cafe.  Perfect.  It was an existential moment for me. 

Bicycle, University Avenue

Ron's Country Boy, Broadway

Ron's Country Boy diner, where Lucy's now resides.  Lucy's is as good now as Ron's was then...although I believe that Broadway Diner has a slight edge on them both.

House party jazz II, Dave's house

Another image from the jazz party at Dave's house.  I wish I knew who the trumpet player was, as I'd like to give him a print.  I think he's a local musician here in Columbia...

House party jazz, Dave's house

A jazz combo plays during a party at a friend's house.  A very comfortable evening.

December

A view of December through the window of a modestly insulated bedroom.  That vaguely seen silhouette of a tree in the backyard was reputed to be one of the largest oaks in Columbia. 

Ice on Parkway Avenue

Another image taken on East Parkway, near the library.  This was just after an ice storm in December...very difficult setting up a tripod.  I was initially attracted by the weblike, labyrinthine pattern in the branches around the street lamp.  Later, after printing, I also began to enjoy the subtlety of the tire tracks across the ice.

Walking home, Parkway

I had walked past this lamppost and tree, on my way home,  dozens of times before I found a way to photograph it.

Sudden Service Cleaners, Graffiti

I found this scene downtown one rainy, freezing night in early December on a small, dead-end alley.  Beautiful, like an illustration from an Ezra Jack Keats book.  I think I caught a cold after being out that night.

Adam's Books

The painted wall outside Adam's Books is as much an icon of downtown Columbia as anything else.  Much more visually interesting than the courthouse, one block away.  Next door, the office of the We Always Swing Jazz Series, an institution Columbia is very lucky to have.

Rick's, Walnut Street

Ricks, formerly Cornerstone Cafe, later Otto's, now something else.

Somewhere in Columbia

I've always been mesmerized by manhole covers, especially when they have a bit of character.  Like this.

Ellis Library, MU Campus

Yet another image from the campus at MU, taken after a late February rainstorm outside the library.  This image epitomizes what I am after with night photography, but it is rare that I come across, or see, something like this.

Peking Palace, 9th Street

Most residents of Columbia will remember Peking Palace, a Chinese restaurant downtown.  Sadly, Peking closed its Ninth Street location in the late 90's.  Too bad, its neon was a fixture and a beacon in downtown Columbia.

Lowery Mall, MU

I am starting my blog with this photograph taken on the campus at MU in order to set the tone of the forthcoming posts.  This blog will function as a personal, nocturnal study of my city at night, Columbia, Missouri.