Boonelife’s Weblog

Boone Life is a photo column in transition. One of the great aspects of being at a university is the pervasive creative energy and the opportunity for experimentation. Zach Siebert has been exploring the definition of Boone Life all semester and I am proud to present this, his final Boone Life for the season. It has been a pleasure collaborating with him and Boone Life would not have been as rich and captivating without him. Thank you Zach and best of luck in St. Joseph.

- Meghan Krane

Senior Prom Blog

What a lovely setting. Meghan (my photo editor) and I walked into the senior prom with an excitement for what visuals we could get. With our camera bags strapped on, we walked underneath the lighted arched and through the red and white colored balloons. Flashbacks of my high school proms started to run across my mind until I entered a gymnasium full of Merle Haggard lyrics. At that point, I looked at Meghan knowing my prom was nowhere near this.

My favorite part of the shoot was listening to the couple’s story on how they met one another. One couple met at a bar, another at dance, and the other couple were neighbors. All of these stories had humorous story lines and witty remarks. The cutest part was that all the couples, who were married for 50 plus years,  smiled at one another with enjoyment as they reminisced. This gave me the desire to dial up my grandparents and listen to their story again. I am a cliche’ girl who loves to hear life stories especially romantic ones.

- Kathleen Buhrmann

Dear Boone Life Readers,

     We are performing some technical maintenance on the blog so that we can be linked to the Missourian homepage. Please check back on Tuesday for Zach Siebert’s blog post about love song duo Satin & Chenille.

Thanks,

Meghan Krane

Boone Life Editor

Columbia Missourian

Lately I’ve been finding more and more that the people I’m drawn to shot are those are trying to make a difference with their life.  I also like to use my time to better the lives of other but the days are not longer. Christina McCullen on the other hand, always makes time for others. She feed these cats twice day. She organizes fundraisers for them, provides medical care, and builds Rubbermaid homes for them. Her heart is filled with love for these cats, her pets and the other animals she fosters through the Columbia Second Chance shelter.
As a photojournalist, it’s easy to shoot people after people after people. However, animals and the environment also have stories to tell. It was great practice at shooting an sensitive issue that needs its location protected.  I also had to be quiet and sensitive to the cats, so they would not run away from me. Surprisingly, a few cats came right up to me, while others steered clear of me. This shoot opened up my eyes to animal photography.  Since this shoot, I’ve been looking into other animal stories to tell, so do not be surprised if you see another animal story from me in the future.

- Kathleen Buhrmann

As a journalist I am always looking for stories. The ones I enjoy the most are never the ones I go looking for. Originally, I went to Ashland to cover the annual Ham and Bean dinner at the American Legion. It was going to be a cute story about a community event, but not one with any emotional context. After arriving I began speaking with folks in order to get a feel for the place. It is when out talking with people that one usually finds the best stories. That’s how I came to know Belva Crane and her family’s tale.

How do you show in pictures a family’s generational connection to a place? Belva met her husband, Frank Crane, at the American Legion and raised two generations in and around the same building. The idea was good, but, unfortunately, I do not believe I was able to capture it in pictures. I hope the text fills in the blanks. Above, I have posted two outtakes that I like quite a lot. The first resembles the published portrait of Belva, her daughter Marla and her granddaughter Heather, but with a different perspective. The second is a photograph of Belva and Heather as they are about to open up the cedar chest in Belva’s bedroom where she keeps all the family heirlooms such as her wedding and prom dresses. Thanks for stopping by. Zachary Siebert

The most valuable lesson I learned from this assignment is that I must double-check the ‘gain’ setting on my audio recorder before recording anything. Anyways, my editor Meghan Krane did an awesome job on the slideshow. I love the way she edited the audio and put it together with the photographs. She also made a key contribution to the text and should be credited for that. I believe what she has done overall was creatively way above standard editing. Thumbs up!Again, the best part about doing a Boone Life story was to meet new people. It was a joy visit Jianhua, Yichun and Lisa at their home. They were very hospitable. Her teacher Ms.Partington has been very kind and helpful, too. She was very natural even when I was recording her voice. Lee School is a fun place to work. The school administration, the staff and the teachers made everything easier for me. Lisa was a little shy at the beginning but eventually she got used to my presence. She is a fabulous child and also her classmates are. Working with children certainly requires a little more patience. It takes time for them to acknowledge you first and when you are acknowledged, you have to deal with their curiosity. But it is fun!One last remark I would like to make is about the layout. Our designer Trish did absolutely great. I especially like the way she dealt with the title. It really adds to the presentation.- Serkan

Forging a Relationship and a Business with a Collective Passion

For the first time in four years, I ventured passed the A-frame of BB road and found myself in the midst of lovely small town, Rocheport. Before heading over to the Art/Antique and Blacksmith shop I walked around the town and tried to capture a place I had never been to before. The silence on a Sunday afternoon was a wonderful contrast to the loud hustle and bustle of Columbia. After a few minutes in the fresh air I felt like I was miles and miles away from Columbia and it felt great! Who would have thought peace of mind would be so close? Anyways, the reason I came to this town was because I had seen the Art/Antique and Blacksmith shop on Rocheport’s town website. A working blacksmith, I thought, that could be visually interesting. The shop was neatly organized and elegantly displayed with elaborate art pieces and antiques. What really grabbed my attention though, was the passion Christina and George had for art and the adoration they had for each other. George was took me on a tour of the store, proudly pointing out his wife’s splendid art pieces and talking of the “remember when’s” they have had together. So the conversation flowed on, the original story idea was thrown to the backburner, as a new more exciting one was taking place in front of me. I didn’t even venture into the Blacksmith garage but I did get to look at pictures. If you are interesting in seeing George’s blacksmith work, take a walk over to the Columbia Public Library and check out the gates by the secret garden.What non-photographers don’t know is that photographers go through slumps. There have been times where I’ve felt that I lost that creative touch that make a photograph a picture. The only way I can ever get out of a slump, it to stumble across inspiration and this assignment was inspirational. It was neat to see the Robbs’ strong passion and honest enthusiasm for art. The atmosphere reminded me of a phone conversation with my grandmother, who always makes me feel welcomed.What I struggled with on this assignment was balancing my flash with the setting sun. The shaded store was too dark against the saturated blue sky. It took several attempts to change aperture and flash positions. I’m still not that thrilled with the outcome of the outside shots. I wish I could have taken some prior to sunset. Another struggle was which antiques to shoot as close, detail shots and which ones would be shot from a farther distance. Mirrors and shining silver pulled my attention towards closer shots where as interesting furniture and tapestry pulled me towards farther distance. If I had more time in the shop, I would have liked to play around more with detail and distance. On the whole, I think this shoot was successful. And if you are ever seeking peace and quiet, take a drive into Rocheport. I can assure you it will relax your spirit.

- Kathleen Buhrmann

Disc Dude

Out searching for Boone Life material on a short deadline I found Skyler Babcock playing disc golf alone on his lunch break from Play It Again Sports, a used and new sporting goods retailer in Columbia. The day was cold, snowy and bright. I thought it out of the ordinary and charming that a guy would love playing the oddball game of disc golf so much that he would chance to do so even when the weather was more accommodating to playing Playstation. Here are a couple of photos I liked for aesthetic reasons but did not make the print edition.

He was nice enough to let me photograph him while he waddled along chasing his plastic discs in the snow. During this time we talked and I came to find out that he is a really interesting guy at a critical juncture of life. Still a young man, he and his wife are expecting their first child. While we were talking his wife called and asked him how much to bid on a house they would like to buy. Yet with so much on his mind (and a photographer following him around) his attention never strayed far from his round of disc golf.

If someone asked me what this Boone Life story is about, I would say it is about a young man finding a bit of solitude in a place he feels most comfortable.- Zachary Siebert 

I spent the winter break in Turkey and arrived to Columbia on Sunday, Jan. 20 at night and the initial deadline was the morning of Jan. 24. I had very little time to come up with a story idea. Meghan, my editor, was very kind to offer her help but it was still tough. Although it was later relieving to learn the deadline was moved to Monday, I was already done by the previous Wednesday night.

Gulden and Ihsan are very nice people, I’m glad to have met them. I think that’s the best part of doing a story; you meet new people. They had an interesting story about how Gulden got a visa to the US but that was already published in the Columbia Tribune 28 years ago. When they showed me the clips from the Tribune, it was a nice surprise to see that some of their photos were taken by David Rees!

I found out that how Gulden and Ihsan met was at least as interesting as the visa story, so I decided to have that as my arc. They were quite comfortable with the camera but since I did most of my shooting in the hair salon, I had to make sure none of the customers weredisturbed. Another point I’d like to touch upon is that I called Ihsan several times to check the facts while writing the captions. He was very nice but I think it’s better to make sure during the interview, you ask more than you think you’ll need.

- Sait Serkan Gurbuz