The sasquatch no longer has any pizza

Butler County (Rising City) (2007)

Rising City (2013)

It is with sadness that I bid adieu to the subject of one of my favorite photographs from ninety-three, the infamous Sasquatch Pizza sign that adorned a convenience store along Nebraska Highway 92 in Rising City.

The first photograph was taken in July of 2007 as I passed through on my way home on one of the first few treks I made to discover Nebraska. At the ninety-three show at Hot Shops, this was the image that got the most comments and smiles. I must have told at least a dozen people where it was located.

Unfortunately, since I last passed through Rising City in 2010, the little store had a change of ownership and became "Fergy's Cafe" which has now gone out of business. Poor ol' Sasquatch Pizza was defaced horribly at some point and now is just barely visible. The edges of his face are still there under the ugly black spray paint, sort of haunting and sad, with that goofy smile somehow still there in spirit.

I'm reminded of the work of one of my favorite photographers, William Christenberry, and his ambition to photograph some of Alabama's vernacular architecture over the course of many decades. If his photographs are any indication, this building will still somehow have several more lives over the next twenty or thirty years.

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A word of advice from someone who should know better. If you buy a new (or used) camera, run it through its paces before you rely on it for anything that is time consuming or that will be difficult (or impossible) to shoot again.

I picked up a refurbished Nikon D600 as a backup body and this little trek I made Friday was my first time out with the camera. Unfortunately, it has a problem stopping down lenses and consistently overexposed images by a stop or two (or three) and left me with much less depth of field than I expected. So it goes back.

Live and learn, folks. Even expensive cameras can be lemons.

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Also visited on Friday: Hooper, Scribner, Snyder, Dodge, Olean, Howells, Clarkson, Leigh, Creston, St. Bernard, Cornlea, Humphrey, Platte Center, Columbus, Shelby, Garrison, David City, Brainard and Weston, Nebraska.

May is finally here...

May started out with sub-freezing temperatures and a heavy, wet snowfall. At least it appears to have finally straightened out. I've been working through it, continuing to photograph the Loess Hills region of Iowa and Fontenelle Forest, and reworking my South Omaha series.

Here are three images from the past few weeks...

from

Fontenelle

from

The Magic City

Council Bluffs, Iowa

The train touched down in Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City, Iowa

My exploration of the Loess Hills region of Western Iowa continued Saturday as I explored its northern-most reaches. Much of my time was spent in Sioux City, a place I called home for four years growing up. It's always a bit strange to return to childhood haunts. Sioux City hasn't changed. A building or two is gone (most notably the Catholic grade school I attended with the hideous giant, orange doors) but the past twenty years have not done much to change the place. It's still a little run down and largely depressing to me, like running into a friend from years ago who hasn't changed a bit and appears to languish in a state of perpetual sameness.

That said, Sioux City makes for some pretty damn good photographs.


Also visited: Sloan, Hornick, Holly Springs, Climbing Hill, Bronson, Five Ridge Prairie, Westfield, Akron, Salix, Snyder Bend and Lewis and Clark State Park.

RESTAURANT, rest in peace

As I passed the Honey Creek exit on I-29 this afternoon, I quickly realized that something was missing that I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember. The giant red-roofed RESTAURANT, unoccupied for most of the last decade, has been torn down. 

I imagine the Missouri River flood two years ago didn't do the building any favors. It also doesn't help that exit 66 is an exit to pretty much nowhere not too far away from all the services and restaurants that the Omaha / Council Bluffs area provides. If a person actually wanted to go to Honey Creek, they'd be hard pressed to find it from this exit. There's a few miles of gravel in between and the town can barely even be considered a bump in the road.

Still, I'll miss seeing RESTAURANT when I pass by. Time marches on and so it goes.

RESTAURANT, May of 2009 

RESTAURANT, March of 2013

I spent the afternoon wandering around the central portion of Iowa's Loess Hills. It was the first great spring day we've had this year and I just couldn't resist. Today was a day of bearded old guys stopping me to say hello as I walked around. Three of 'em, all together. Us beards stick together.

Also visited: Modale, Mondamin, Murray Hill, Preparation Canyon, Moorhead, Turin, Castana, Hornick, Sloan and Whiting.