This Years Journey In Photography

This year has played a big part in my journey in photography. I've long had a passion for photography and this year that passion was accelerated as I shifted my focus from other interests.

Interestingly enough the year began as I closed out a bad experience centered around my photography. However, once that was put behind me I was free to pursue much more interesting and fun work that allowed me to grow by leaps and bounds.

In February of this year Missouri was blanketed with some 22" of snow. It was great! You would think that a photographer would record this "Epic Storm" with his camera, right? Well, you would be wrong. At least when it comes to this photographer. What was I thinking? Lesson learned, capture the big events. More on that later. . .but, I did take this great photo of 'My Friend Robin' in February.

The Robin started off a small obsession for birds this year.

With that out of the way let's move on with our journey, shall we? In April of this year I made a spur of the moment trip to the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park where I took the photo below.

'Malcolm's View' is a great one as he sits atop the Missouri River Overlook gazing over downtown St. Louis. This photo was later voted in as the profile photo for the VisitMO Facebook page. I thought that was a cool honor.

April was a turbulent month with tornadoes popping up everywhere. St. Louis was included with a direct hit on Lambert Airport and the surrounding homes and businesses. Did I capture any of this? No. But, I was keeping a close eye on the weather. Even on the day the tornado struck St. Louis I photographed the same storm system as it passed near my home.

South of this location the storm system pounded the area with hail. The Discovery Channels Storm Chasers were on the trail of this storm. I noticed several in the area as they chased.

Only a few days after capturing the menacing storm on it's way to St. Louis I captured this 'Rainbow Cloud' standing in the same location. This image came about because of my oldest daughter who pointed out the rainbow from our backyard. I left the house to search out a location in such a rush I didn't take the time to put on my shoes.

I ended April at Shelbyfest in Hermann, MO. Shelbyfest is a great annual event for car enthusiast. My favorite photo from the event was taken after my son spotted his favorite car and the owner of that car invited him to climb in the drivers seat.

I think Kyle may be a lifelong Mustang fan now. As a lifelong fan of the Camaro it pains me to say that, but I'd still go for a cruise in his favorite car.

In May my wife, Amy, and I visited New York. We met with friends, settled some business and enjoyed our stay at the Marriott in Brooklyn. On our last day in Brooklyn I woke up at 5:30am and made my way to the Brooklyn Bridge where I took the following photo.

While I took many photographs in New York my 'Morning Commute' photo emerged as the photo of the trip. The lone pedestrian using this iconic landmark as his daily commute to work struck a cord with family, friends and many others.

Overall May was a calm month in relation to weather. However, it would end with one of the deadliest tornadoes in 60 years. On the day this deadly tornado would strike I was photographing lightning. I was unaware the storm system providing me this great light show had dropped an F5 tornado on Joplin, MO.

I stood patiently with my camera focused on the McDonald's billboard waiting for the the perfect strike of lighting to ad a little punch to the "Sip this." copy. Then. . .there it was, click. . .I nailed it!

Shortly after capturing the photograph above I would return home and hear the reports on The Weather Channel about the tornado that struck Joplin. For whatever reason this really impacted me. I convinced my brother-in-law that we needed to travel to Joplin and photograph the damage the tornado had left behind. We left my house at midnight and arrived in Joplin early in the morning. Below is the scene the sunrise revealed that morning.

This photograph, out of all that I took in Joplin, would become the storyteller. This one photograph has had the largest impact on me. It affected me emotionally as I exchanged messages with friends and family members of those in Joplin over the few weeks that followed. It went viral on the internet and drove over a million views to my Flickr account. It led the ABC World News in the days that followed the tornado. This time I captured the big event.

Popular Science Magazine asked me to return to Joplin in early December to take a photograph from this same location. That image, along with the one above, will appear in the February 2012 issue of the magazine.

Much of my year was dedicated to the beauty of the State I live in. I spent many hours in my car driving to locations in the Show Me State or chasing down a sunset. I found my adventures to be close to home and far from ordinary. I have too many of these to share, so I'll just pull up my personal favorites and share with you with the beauty I found all around me this year.

Missouri River Rays - Herman, MO

Field Of Dreams - Missouri

The One - Missouri

Pachyderm Sunset - Elephant Rocks State Park

Union Station - St. Louis, MO

Pine Lake - Missouri

Shut-In - Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park

Missouri Capitol - Jefferson City, MO

Painted Sky - Missouri

The last image I will share is a composite I recently created from my photograph of the moon, my photograph of silhouetted trees and stars created in Photoshop. I enjoy both the process of creating these works and viewing them. While they stretch outside the realm of possibility I believe that is the fun of the image, to create something you would like to see in person. I suspect I will explore composites further in 2012.

Lunar Sunset

I greatly enjoyed my year focused on photography and I hope you enjoyed viewing the photographs that resulted. I look forward to this continued journey into 2012 and beyond and I hope you will join me on the way. You can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You can view more of my photography on Flickr.

As always feel free to share with your friends and family.

Joplin, MO Six Months Later

I was in Joplin the morning after the F5 tornado struck. As the sun rose that Monday morning it shed light on unimaginable destruction.

Earlier this month, some six months later, I was asked by Popular Science Magazine to return to Joplin and take a photograph of the same location as the photo above. That photograph will appear, along with the photo above, in the February issue of Popular Science. During my visit I spent some time driving around Joplin and taking other photographs of the area.

These photographs show the long road to recovery which lay ahead for the community. I'm not sure if I had unreasonable expectations of the progress that could be made in six months or if the progress is as slow as it seems. I would guess there is quite a bit of red tape that blocks the path to rebuilding. It is easy to say "I will rebuild" during the emotional aftermath of a tragedy like this. It is another thing to actually rebuild.

I searched for real estate in Joplin while there and found scattered listings for lots where houses once stood. I took these listings as a clue that some had moved on. Rather they moved elsewhere in the community or simply moved away I don't know. I did find it interesting that Walmart had rebuilt and was open for business. Home Depot had rebuilt, but was still operating out of a temporary structure in the parking lot. Businesses like Taco Bell, which were near the heart of the swath of destruction, look much like they did in the moments after the tornado struck.

There were clear signs of both repairing and rebuilding scattered throughout Joplin. Among these efforts stood remnants of houses and businesses. ABC's Extreme Home Makeover have built seven new homes, which they built in seven days, referred to as the "Seven in Seven Days". These houses each have a distinctive style and beautiful landscaping. They sit among a contrast of cleared lots and ruins with a view of the heavily damaged St. Johns Mercy Hospital.

Below is a selection of my photographs from Joplin taken earlier this month.

I cannot imagine the effort it takes to restore your life after an event like this. I wish all the best to those in Joplin while they rebuild their homes and businesses.

"The Finger of God", The Destructive Force of the Joplin Tornado

As I begin to write this at 2pm on Monday, May 30, 2011 I reflect on last week at this time. One week ago at this time I was returning from Joplin, MO. I drove to Joplin on Sunday, May 22, 2011 after watching coverage of the Joplin tornado on TWC (The Weather Channel). When the reporter on scene broke down I told my Wife, Amy, I had to go photograph the damage. When I expressed this to Amy I had no idea what would unfold the following week.

My brother-in-law, Lee Myers, was at my home that Sunday. We were watching TWC because of severe weather in our area. We had taken shelter a few times due to the threat of tornadoes near my home. We had even ventured out after the storms passed and watched as a tornado tried to develop in the storm system that had just passed over us.

After spending some time watching the weather in our area we turned the television back on. It was already tuned to the TWC. The damage reports and scenes on the screen were unbelievable! Lee and I discussed going to Joplin. We spent the evening watching the reports and talked seriously about leaving soon. Around 11PM Lee, and my Sister Bethany, left for their home. I told Amy one last time that I was serious about going to Joplin and realized it was out of the ordinary. My wife seemed to sense the importance of going and told me to call Lee and express my sincere feeling about leaving. After a short call with Lee, who had pulled over a few blocks from my home to think about driving to Joplin, we decided this was important.

Lee and I left my home around midnight Sunday. Joplin is a four hour drive and we knew we would need to drive through the night to be in Joplin at sunrise. Along our drive we were passed by Task Force 1, a search and rescue team out of Boone County Missouri. Between Springfield and Joplin we were passed by seven ambulances traveling from the Joplin area towards Springfield on I-44. We were forced to exit I-44 at 71 North, the highway was closed. We drove North into Carthage and stopped at a McDonalds to get our bearings. It was there we saw our first glimpse of the media making their way to Joplin. A Fox 2 truck from St. Louis was refueling. We were in Carthage around 4:30AM.

After a quick stop in Carthage we proceeded to Joplin. As we entered Joplin we could see some scattered debris. The street lights were not working anywhere in the city. We were careful as we moved through town and gave any vehicle that looked official the right of way. Near the center of town there were groups of ambulances and other rescue vehicles gathered. From the South we could see ambulances coming and going. We drove South into the middle of town until we reached road blocks at 20th Street. We drove down one residential block which was pitch black and had debris scattered across the road. The homes were standing, but it was difficult to see the homes due to the power outage.

On 20th and Main we stopped at a road block and asked an officer if we could park nearby. We were directed into the KFC parking lot. We parked next to a white Pontiac with all of the windows blown out. We arrived in the dark, around 5AM, the photo below was taken later in the morning as we were leaving.

Lee and I walked down Main Street South of 20th after receiving permission from the officers at that intersection. The scene was something out of a movie. Destruction to buildings was unimaginable. Rescue vehicles and police lined Main Street. It felt like walking onto a large movie set, which I've never done. We stopped at 26th Street due to a second road block. Lee and I felt we may be in the way if we moved any further South.

As the first sign of daylight filled the sky we walked back North to 24th Street. It was here that we would really enter the surreal world the tornado had left behind.

We walked East on East 24th Street into an area where the sunrise peeked over a distant horizon to reveal block after block of total devastation.

We were among only a few people in the this area as we made our way East. The first people we encountered were rescue workers checking homes once again for any signs of life.

One rescue worker was trying to find his way. I pulled up Google maps on my iPhone to pinpoint our location and try to help them find their way. Shortly after that we encountered a resident looking for their home. Again, I showed where we were on my iPhone. While it helped them realize what street we were on it was still difficult for them to pinpoint which direction they needed to go to find where their home once stood.

Lee and I moved East on 24th photographing the debris, about the only thing the tornado left behind. Only a few homes were left standing in this area.

After walking several blocks toward the School grounds we turned around to see just how vast the area was we had walked through. Destruction as far as we could see.

I cannot put into words my feelings while walking through this neighborhood. While there I was numb and no doubt in shock. A week later I still have a difficult time describing the destruction. Lee made this comment to me "There are machines designed to crush cars, the tornado did that in a matter of seconds!". That was so true. . .

I heard a report that the tornado received the F5 rating in part because of the damage to the technical building on the High School campus. The building, as I understand it, was designed to withstand a large tornado. It did not.

I've used a few of the images I took in Joplin to write this blog entry. All of the images I took can be found here: Joplin Tornado Damage

Of all the images I took in Joplin the image below seemed to "say it all" as it was passed around the internet. I've found this image on websites all over the world. I was contacted by CNN, FOX, ABC, NPR, and other media outlets about using the image to convey the extent of the damage.

The image can be seen here on my Flickr account: Joplin Panoramic

I spent the week of 5/22/2011 answering messages from the media first. Once the image was shown in several media outlets the image went viral online. After that I received messages thanking me for sharing my photos to tell the story. I had people contact me in their search for loved ones in Joplin. I answered every message the best I could to help those in their search. I answered the media by allowing them to use my image to tell the story. I was shocked by the response to my photographs. My Flickr account received over 1,000,000 hits in three days!

The most important messages to me were the ones thanking me for using my photography to tell the story in Joplin. As the end of the week approached the messages slowed and I had time to listen to or read a few of the interviews I had done earlier in the week. Each one succeeded in bringing me to tears. I had become a small part of the Joplin story by traveling there for the first time during this tragedy. The photos I took helped millions understand the severity of the situation, something I have a hard time comprehending.

At this point I would like to say it was never my intention to show the despair or the hurt to those in Joplin. My intentions were to show the powerful destructive force of the tornado. While a few people do appear in my photos I did not focus on the residents as they tried to pick through what was left of their lives.

Around 8AM Lee and I noticed several more residents returning to their homes. It was then we decided it was time for us to leave and give them room to move about and begin the process of putting their lives back together. Many have lost loved ones in unspeakable ways and I feel physically sick for them when I reflect on the damage in Joplin. I can only hope that my photography helped motivate others to help!

It is no wonder an F5 tornado is called "The Finger of God". The destructive force reaches far past personal and/or commercial property. It scars those involved mentally and emotionally as well. What is done in a short period of time can only begin to heal over an extended amount of time.