Bevier

I recently went up to the small town of Bevier. This was just after a midnight fire destroyed part of the downtown area. I spoke with a few of the residents about what was lost in the fire, what was saved, and where to go from here. Take a look:

Bevier, Missouri from Benjamin Zack on Vimeo.

Monster Bike Bash

Monster Bike Bash from Benjamin Zack on Vimeo.

In the spirit of Halloween, costumed cyclists descended on the Katy Trail for the annual Monster Bike Bask, a 20-mile bike ride/party/costume contest/concert series. I went out with a camera and put together a little film from the day. Enjoy!

I recently spent a week at the Missouri Photo Workshop creating videos about the photographers and editors from around the world who annually descend on one small Missouri town. Most of the videos from the week are now posted online. They range from short documentaries to conversations on the state of photojournalism to whatever strange things came up in the midst of a stressful, sleepless week.

Special thanks and credit goes to the other photographers on the multimedia team: Parker Miles Blohm, Tatiana Fernandez and Nick Michael.

Missouri River

Last weekend, I met up with some friends on the Missouri River. As the sun went down, a group of folks and a handful of dogs piled into a boat and headed up river to play around on the islands. I brought along the camera and here are the photos.

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.

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.

A weekend of fire

Once again this past weekend, I went out to help out with a couple controlled burns in Mid-Missouri. Friday started with the Tiger Fire Crew from the University of Missouri out at Tucker Prairie. Most of the day was spent burning at Tucker, a natural grassland near Kingdom City. Saturday followed with a burn on some private land near Centralia in a formally cedar-covered field. 

I know the blog is pretty fire-heavy right now, but I also have some pretty exciting non-fire shoots planned in the next week. Enjoy these for now.

Tucker Prairie

Tucker Prairie

Tucker Prairie

Tucker Prairie

Tucker Prairie

Tucker Prairie

Centralia

Centralia

Wild Haven Fire

Last weekend, I helped out with a prescribed burn at the Audubon Society's Wild Haven Nature Area just outside of Columbia. Twenty acres were burned as part of a plan to manage native glade habitats. The fire was calmer than last month's grass fire, but I did get a couple photos. Enjoy.

A New Generation at the Sawmill

"I guess it’s a worthwhile job you know. It’s kind of nice to see what you can make out of a tree. Take a tree and make something nice out of it. Work with it. Its just amazing what you can do with it."

-Wesley Rissler, R&R Forest Products

Wesley Rissler, left, and Ezra Rissler sort lumber as it is cut off the log at their family sawmill near California, Mo. The two brothers recently began working full time alongside their father and grandfather.

Logs from throughout Missouri pile up outside of R&R Forest Products. The Risslers produce everything from fences for the neighbors to logs for construction in China.  

“When I was going to school, I came down here to help when I didn’t have nothing else to do,” said Ezra. Around the time Ezra began working in the mill, business crashed as the economy and housing market began failing.

Wesley cuts the scrap wood down into foot-long sections that are bought by the local Amish community for firewood. Everything that goes into the mill is eventually used, even the sawdust and scraps.

Wesley and Ezra follow their father, Earl, to their truck for a lunch break. All three expect Wesley and Ezra to eventually take over the business. “I tell them, ‘Dad worked for it for me. I’m going to work for it for them. That’s why its here,’” said Earl.

“I’d like to take over sawing here,” said Wesley “Grandpa’s thinking about retiring here and being our maintenance man.” Wesley spends most of his time stacking lumber alongside his brother, but occasionally takes over control of the saw when his grandfather, Raymond, goes on breaks.

Work gloves rest on a pile of recently cut stakes. The mill is in a constant state of change as equipment, logs, and lumber come and go.

Ezra stacks lumber outside the mill. The Risslers recently bought a new mill to try and speed up production, but as business remains slow Earl sums up the goal of the mill in one word: survival.

Road Trip Video

Here's a short little video I shot on our trip back from a wedding in North Carolina last week. Lot of highway between Chapel Hill and Columbia.

Elephant Rocks

I'm taking a (very) brief break from California photos to try and catch up on posting images from the rest of the summer. In July, I had a few days of work down in the Arcadia Valley of the Ozarks. On a free afternoon, we went to Elephant Rocks State Park for some hiking and bouldering on the 1.5 billion-year-old fields of pink granite. Since we were camping nearby, I was also able to get out the next morning for some sunrise shots. Enjoy.