Harrisburg, Missouri

After spending a stretch of this spring in Harrisburg, Missouri, I put together an essay on life in the small mid-Missouri town. If you haven't seen them already, you can view the collection here on my website.

You can find additional photos from Harrisburg on my blog, including more photos from the Harrisburg Elementary School's bike rodeo and Freeman Taxidermy. I've also included a few of the photos below that I enjoyed but didn't make it into the final project or earlier blog posts. Enjoy.

Harrisburg Bike Rodeo

Over the last few weeks, I've been continuing a project to document life in Harrisburg, a small town in mid-Missouri. Recently, Harrisburg Elementary School hosted their annual bike rodeo. While many small towns around Missouri have been slowly disappearing over recent decade, Harrisburg maintains an active downtown and community. Many residents attribute this to the strong schools located in the center of town. On a warm spring evening, 100 students from pre-school through sixth grade raced bikes and took part in contests ranging from obstacle courses to bike golf on the school playground.

Freeman Taxidermy

Yesterday, I photographed Clint Freeman as part of my project to document Harrisburg, Missouri. Over the last few years, Freeman, a Harrisburg native, has taken taxidermy from a hobby to a profession. On Monday, he was touching up two deer mounts.

Harrisburg Hazard House

For the next couple weeks, I'll be photographing in and around Harrisburg, Missouri. This photo is from the Hazard House just south of town. Named for the past owners, the home is flanked by a long fence filled with old scraps, deer skulls, dolls and more. For the last decade, Terry McBride has been renovating the 170-year-old farm house. When he bought the house, the previous owners had mostly abandoned the property and the home was filled with junk. This junk now fills the 50-foot fence, although McBride holds onto some of the more valuable pieces like an 1855 nickel. I'll be posting more photos from the Hazard House and Harrisburg in the coming weeks.  Enjoy this preview.

Early Morning

I wasn't planning on photographing anything this morning. However, when I stepped outside, it was too nice of a morning to pass up. I ended up running a mile through our neighbor's pasture to try and get to the wide valley in the second photo before the fog burned off and the sun got too high. Overall, a good way to start the morning.

New Year's Cows

When I got home yesterday afternoon, our neighbor's cows were up at our house with a nice sunset. My camera has been on the fritz for the last week or two, but I dug out my old camera and shot a few frames. Happy 2012.

And there was a brand new calf....