Dawson's Shoe Repair

Dawson's Shoe Repair, on an unseasonably warm night in a snowless January. 

Night in a small town in Iowa

Paul Simon has a song called "My Little Town", whose refrain goes something like this: "Nothing but the dead of night in my little town."  A requiem for the once economically viable and sustainable American small town.  This post-Hopperesque scene was photographed in the small town of What Cheer, Iowa, on highway 21, during a road trip back in early December.  I hope it doesn't seem completely hopeless, though.  Otherwise I would have cropped the Christmas decoration out of the composition.  I like it in there as a positive and somewhat ironic counterpoint to the defunct clothing store.

Otterville by night

Taken on an atmospheric night in late October, this is a glimpse of downtown Otterville, Missouri from across Missouri Highway 50.  In the right foreground is the vintagely-neoned Bixler Gas Company, a warm pink light emanating from the letters of its sign.  In retrospect, this image reminds me of some of the work done by O. Winston Link for his Norfolk and Western Railway commission.  Except that I was using ambient light, rather than lugging in several tons of lights, wires, and equipment.  Why am I posting this on my nighttime Columbia photography blog?  Well, I think part of the reason is that this fall and winter have not been that conducive to my brand of photography.  I think that by this time last year Columbia had already experienced two or three snowfalls, and was on its way to another 30-35 inches before spring arrived.  This winter has been kind of a dud, so I just haven't felt that moved by it.  I'm planning on spending most of my free nights printing for an upcoming exhibit at Teller's Bar and Gallery in early March.  More on that to come.  So in the meantime, my posts will at least be nocturnal, but they might not all be taken in downtown Columbia.  Let's treat it as a refreshing hiatus from the usual, and a chance to see something different.