Day 25: Blurring the lines

Can you see where the number of my apartment building ends and the tree branches begin? Or, perhaps, vice versa?

Day 24: Details

Honoring the impulse. That's what this 30 Days/30 Photos project is all about. Removing the barriers that keep us from making a picture.

Today when I saw this, I was sitting at a red light and thought, "Huh. That's interesting." There was a moment's hesitation before I pulled over to make the picture. But that moment - those few heart beats within which I argue with myself over whether the energy to be spent will be worth it - was so brief.

The more I shoot, the fewer beats of hesitation.

What have I got to lose?

More importantly, what is happening Tonight? And when?

Day 23: One of the best reasons to live here

Anyone who sees "The Invention of Dr. NakaMats" will understand why its director, Kaspar Astrup Schroder, is asking audience members to pose with two fingers toward his camera after a screening of the movie at the Blue Note in Columbia, Mo. It's part of the True/False Film Fest, a long weekend's worth of documentary film and one of the best reasons to live in (or visit) this community in the middle of Missouri.



I was in good company: Brian Heffernan to my left, Clare Becker to my right. Both are Journalism School grad students who understand why Dr. NakaMats' method for picking out cameras is, well... unique.

Day 22: Meet Colleen

Colleen Thomas manages the J Café, a spot on campus to grab grub for a great price. As we students come crawling to the counter for a caffeine, sugar and/or protein fix, she greets us with a smile.

Collen and I found ourselves walking out of the building together this afternoon, and I found out she has been beading and blogging for years... Check it out.

Day 21: Inside the judges' chambers

Judging for Pictures of the Year International continued today with the portrait and portrait series categories. Rick Shaw (top) is the director of this ship, which will continue to cruise through this week and next. Donna DeCesare (second from top, left)of the University of Texas, Søren Pagter of the Danish School of Media and Journalism, and freelance photojournalist Lynn Johnson are three of this week's judges. Freelance photojournalist Pablo Corral Vega (not pictured) is the fourth. Matt Cavanah (bottom) is one of several volunteers (second from bottom) who help keep the ship afloat, while journalism students and faculty are welcome to sit in and observe the process.

The Drive

Ruth and Raymond are newlyweds in their 80s.

They recently celebrated Valentine's Day at Sunrise Baptist Church, which is a few miles down the road from their 240-acre farm east of Columbia, Mo. They also celebrated Raymond's 83rd birthday at his son's house in nearby Jefferson City, Mo.

I unexpectedly met the couple during a country drive last fall, and we've come to know each other over the past four months. The following is a submission for David Rees' Picture Story class. Instead of creating a traditional narrative, I approached this assignment as if writing a poem.

To learn more about the couple, please see "Young Love" and earlier posts "Kissing Contest" and "Ruth and Raymond, continued."


The Drive

This dirt road was quiet, until you tuned the radio.
While uncertainty lies ahead,
I will help you watch the road. You may fall asleep,
But not before I squeeze your hand.

-LJK, 2/23/10

Day 20: The light of day

I'm definitely not a groundhog, because I was excited to see a shadow of my building number near my living-room window. The sun came out today in Columbia, Mo., and I sense spring is right around the corner.

Instead of celebrating this fact outdoors, I spent time in Ellis Library, where you can see campus and Downtown Columbia from the north windows. With the hope of spring comes the hope of spring break...

Day 19: Ruth and Raymond, continued

"I want to help you, but I won't," he said.
"Don't help me. I want to do it all on my own," she said.
They both laughed as Raymond placed a card on the kitchen table and Ruth drew for her next move in their game of Rummy.

Raymond turned 83 today. The couple celebrated by attending Ruth's Sunrise Baptist Church for Sunday school and then joining Raymond's family in Jefferson City for lunch.



Today was the first day I shared my photos of Ruth and Raymond with Ruth and Raymond. I was nervous because Ruth hesitates to have her picture taken and still seems shy around my camera. However, my fears were unfounded and I was truly touched by their reaction.

After the family gathered around a laptop to watch the three-part piece, the three of us had a few quiet moments. Ruth and Raymond are not experts in photography. They did not see the technical flaws that, to me, are blaring from the screen. Instead, they were flattered that someone said, "You're important. Please, let me tell some of your story."

Their feedback was nourishment to my soul -- it provided the psychological completion of creation that is lacking when we make photos and leave them in our camera, on the film, on the memory card or in our computers. If we make photos, they are useless and we are left emotionally hanging as photographers unless we share them.

Yes, that's my Jeep, Daisy, you see through the window of Ruth and Raymond's kitchen.

Day 18: Where a kid can be a kid, continued

Laura, my 5-year-old neighbor, is taking her mother, Ginger, to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate her mom's 40th birthday.

I admire Ginger for retaining a child-like sense of play. Hmm... I may have 8 1/2 more years to go, but where and how do I want to celebrate my Big Four-Oh?

Day 17: Kissing contest

You may remember Ruth and Raymond from an earlier post called Young Love. They're in their 80s, and they're newlyweds.

They celebrated Valentine's Day at a banquet at Sunrise Baptist Church, where Ruth regularly attends Sunday morning services. Here, they're competing in a kissing contest where the couple with the most lip marks within the time limit wins. After donning some bright red lipstick, Ruth gave Raymond 19 smack-a-roos.

They didn't win. The contest.

They've become very dear to me, and it was good to spend the evening together. I hadn't seen Ruth and Raymond in about two months. Hope to see them again tomorrow...

Raymond turns 83.

Day 16: BYOV

It's Bring Your Own Vinyl every Thursday at Top Ten Wines in Downtown Columbia, Mo. MU students and POYi judges gathered after a long day to sip drinks, play ping-pong and spin records.

From left: Scott McKiernan, Jakob Berr, Michelle Peltier, Calin Ilea, Scott Strazzante, Josh Bickel, John Schreiber and Chelsea Sektnan.


San José State student John Russo speaks with judge Pedro Ugarte.

Day 15: Where a kid can be a kid

My neighbor, Ginger is turning 40. Standing outside our apartments Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2010, she told me her daughter Laura, 5, wants to take her to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate on Saturday.

Day 14: POYi, Week One

Rick Shaw, director of Pictures of the Year International, instructs the judges ahead of Tuesday's general news reporting category in the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., Feb. 16, 2010.

One third of the three-week Pictures of the Year International photo competition is over. Judges Scott McKiernan of ZUMA Press and Doubletruck magazine, New Orleans-based freelance photojournalist Kathy Anderson, Pedro Ugarte of Agence France-Presse in South Asia, and Scott Strazzante of the Chicago Tribune have put in several long days to judge a variety of categories. Each year, the University of Missouri hosts the contest, and here are the winners. So far.

Two more weeks to go!

Day 13: Mo

Mo -- which is short for Mohawk but I have lengthened to Mojo and Mojito -- and I have become good pals. I've been watching her and sitting the house where she lives in Columbia, Mo., this past week.

Mo's owner returns tomorrow. After looking at the other photos I made today and deeming them unacceptable to share, I went outside and made this image.

Maybe it's because she's 14 years old and doesn't move too quickly. Or maybe it's because she was raised by a photo family. Whatever the reason, Mo went along with the idea of being photographed. She's a great dog, and I'm gonna miss her.

Day 12: Notes

David Rees' Picture Story class has agreed to take on Columbia's Broadway as a group documentary project. This road cuts through most of town and offers a cross-section of this community of approximately 100,000 in mid-Missouri. There are housing developments on each end with a historic district in the middle. Here is a look at the middle -- where east meets west, where old meets new.


The historic Daniel Boone Tavern is on the left with a fresh building that's under construction on the right. I may take a look at the history of this this street, this town, by putting it in the context of development.

Day 11: Ivy

To know Ivy Ashe is to like her. Her joy, her laughter, her smile are infectious... We ate dinner together at Café Berlin last night.

Her New Year's resolution? To learn more about hockey.

"I figure it was one I could keep," she said.

That's right. It's not a vow to make or break a habit. It's not a self-criticism. Nope. It comes from a place of wanting to explore life for all it has to offer...


So, in honor of Ivy, I'm starting the official Adventure Club list. That's right, kids. If we've shared an adventure together, I'll add your name to the roster. No fees, just an obligation to enjoy life for all it has to offer.

These words are scribbled outside my living room window, serving as inspiration for the club's creation and marking HQ.

Day 10: New day

Many of us, when we wake, face a new day with a demon on our shoulders. For some of us, it's Self-Doubt. For others, it's Worry or Fear or Shame or Fill-in-the-Blank with Your Favorite Negative Thought. On some days, more than one voice whispers to us to pull the sheets over our heads and block out the world.

But not this day. This day, I woke with sunshine on my face and hope of recovery from a sinus infection, which had kept me isolated for most of the week. These past days, I've been too much inside... the house I'm sitting, my own head and my comfort zone. Time to break these membranes. Time to put that Demon of Self-Doubt in a box and go see what else is going on in the world...

Day Nine: Inside looking out

Confined for yet another day, I see a tree house that must be explored.

Day Eight: A la David Kennedy

While fighting a fever, I watched squirrels take part in the bird-feeder bounty of a porch in the East Campus neighborhood of Columbia, Mo.

David Kennedy is a classmate who specializes in nature photography. I'm sure he'd cringe at my use of a 50mm lens and lack of patience.

Day Seven: Proof

Finally, I have cleaned my dishes.

Day Six: Classmates

Liz Lance shares about her work as a Fulbright scholar in Nepal during a lunchtime lecture in Tucker Forum, Feb. 8, 2010.

Zach Siebert and Phoebe Sexton ponder the world's political problems, as they have promised the world peace by dinnertime, Feb. 6, 2010.

Day Five: Like a good neighbor

Ginger knocked on my door this afternoon and handed me a plastic container of homemade chili and this cake. (Had I been quick enough, I may have made a photo of her! I was distracted by the smell of beans and chocolate.) I've had some pretty good neighbors in my day, and she is, by far, one of the most thoughtful.

This is as far as I went in one sitting. Round Two commences tomorrow morning with my tea.

Day Four: Forest for the trees, or the other way around

"There is ecstasy in paying attention," Anne Lamott writes in her book "Bird by Bird."

Before taking up this 30-day, 30-photos challenge, I had allowed my self-editor to take charge and diminish my sense of play, my sense of exploration, my sense of adventure. Yesterday, I jumped out of my Jeep, looked up and saw this sunburst through the trees in the East Campus neighborhood of Columbia, Mo. "Nice," I thought.

There was a brief moment where I hesitated. Yet, by picking up the camera and clicking the shutter to make one frame, I silenced the voice of my self-editor who was whispering, "Why waste your time? You're not here to make pictures. Besides, this image is cliché."

So, what? I look at it now and still say, "Nice."

Day Three: From the heavens

Like other parts of the United States, Columbia, Mo., is covered in snow. On my way home from campus to collapse with a cold, I passed the Islamic Center of Central Missouri.

Please say a prayer for my sinuses.

Day Two: Seeing red

Mid-winter in Mid-Missouri, yet there's still a hint of color on the naked branches outside my door. When I start to fear the green may not return, I’ll stop.

Only 44 days until spring.

Day One: Meet Doris

“What part of New Mexico are you from?” A voice interrupted my concentration as I raised my camera to make yet another picture of Jesse Hall on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia. I lowered my lens to meet Doris Barnhart.

She spent the early 1960s in northwestern New Mexico, the area where I grew up and spent more than 20 years of my life. The 73-year-old is a Boone County native who works with MU’s Scholastic Journalism Programs, where she helps prepare high school students for careers in journalism. Her father was a newspaperman, and she says news ink is in her blood. After having worked for two newspapers myself, I can relate.

While I was parked outside Neff Annex last night to make a photo of a boring ol’building, I’m grateful Doris readjusted my focus. “It was your license plate, not your camera, that drew my attention,” she said of the Land of Enchantment’s yellow and red design. Had she kept walking without initiating the conversation, I may have missed out on meeting one nice lady.

As a student in David Rees’ Picture Story class, I’ve agreed to make (and post) a photo each day for the next 30 days. If last night’s experience is any indication of what can happen when I explore my world with a camera, I say “Bring it on.”

And I wonder whom I will bump into next…