Like my previous post “Long Hall” I was exploring some old buildings in downtown St.Louis with my return to the area. “Rear Window” was my experimenting with perspective with textures like broken glass and angles.
The frosted glass made for some unique silhouetting in the distance, along with the contrast of one clear plate of glass. The cracks in the glass and old window frame also created more stark contrast to the frosted white array. This is another example of some of my earlier work with digital photography.
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In 2004 I returned to the St.Louis region and was living on the Illinois side. Whenever I got the chance I would explore some of the old buildings of downtown St.Louis. Wandering into a hallway I’m not sure I was allowed to be, I captured this “Long Hall.” It was part of a skywalk system between two buildings. The white brick and the frosted glass windows offered a great contrast with the black window frames and black door at the end of the hall. I always love to capture strong depth-of-field in order to have the viewer truly be drawn into the photograph.
This was also one of my first photographs captured with a digital camera, the Nikon E4500. With its rotating lens it provided alot of ease in capturing interesting angles that were more challenging with other cameras. Though the megapixels sizes it captured had limitations I did not have with film, it was a fun camera for my first digital.
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In March of 2008 I had the privilege to shadow 4 buses of middle school kids on their Easter weekend tour of Washington D.C. During this trip I had the chance to see some of the sights, while photographing their trip for a client. In honor of Presidents Day, I wanted to share a few of my photographs from the trip. Unfortunately, I did not travel with a tripod. I wish I had.
On Easter morning in 2008 we were able to witness the ‘changing of the guard’ at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You could have heard a pin drop during the reverent moment. Being a U.S. Army veteran, I was greatly appreciative of the opportunity to personally witness this event.
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In July of 2012 I worked as a photojournalist at the Edwardsville Intelligencer newspaper in Edwardsville, Illinois. I was granted the high privilege to fill the cover of the Saturday B-Section with pretty much whatever photo project I wanted. It was an enormous honor and a first for me, and I took that privilege very seriously. Because I love the rich history the Illinois/Missouri area has to offer, I chose to focus on the “Stops Along the Underground Railroad” in the Alton, Brighton, and Otterville areas. In honor of “Black History Month” I am sharing this photojournalistic work which was one of my proudest moments of being published. The following are the text and photographs from that B-Section cover spread.
Community Focus: Stops along the Underground Railroad
I would like to extend a big thank-you to Professor Eric Robinson, an American History instructor at Lewis & Clark Community College. Professor Robinson took his time to give me a personal tour of these historic sites during one hot day in mid June. To learn more about his historic tours, you can reach Professor Robinson via email at: jer1008@yahoo.com
Alton: Old Rock House apartment building, 2705 College Ave.
The house was originally a 1 1/2 story used for rooming students of Shurtleff College, now the SIUE dental school. Students would hide slaves in the basement by the central chimney. The slaves were most likely hidden during the summer months because the central chimney nook was used as a warming oven in the colder months.
Brighton: Thomas Brown House
Thomas Brown, from Alabama, was the town doctor before the Civil War and was also an Underground Railroad Conductor. Records have shown that there were three buildings in Brighton used to hide slaves along the Underground Railroad. This is the only building left. Dr. Brown would assist slaves along the Underground Railroad, traveling from Upper Alton, getting them on the stagecoach heading to Jacksonville, some 40 miles away.
Otterville: Hamilton Primary School
Dr. Silas Hamilton moved from Adams County, Miss., bringing slaves with him which he freed upon crossing the Ohio River, all except a small boy named George Washington, which he raised as a foster son. Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington originally met when Dr. Hamilton was riding a horse in Virginia and came across a slave aution where 7 year-old George Washington was crying because his mother had been sold. Upon Dr. Hamilton’s death in 1834, he willed funds to rect a monument to George Washington, while Washington was still a young boy, as well as to build a schoolhouse. Part of Dr. Hamilton’s estate also set aside funds to be used for the education of “colored children,” known as the George Washington Education Fund.
Otterville: Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington Monument
Inscribed on the Dr. Silas Hamilton and George Washington monument it says “Erected by George Washington, born a Virginia Slave. Died in Otterville, ILL Apr. 18, 1864, A Christian Freeman. To the memory of Dr. Silas Hamilton, his former master. Born at Tinmouth, VT. May 19, 1775. Died in Otterville, ILL Nov. 19, 1834. Having in his lifetime given freedom to twenty-eight slaves, and at his death bequeathed four thousand dollars for the erection and endowment of the Hamilton Primary School.”
Alton: Enos Apartments, 325 E. 3rd St.
The Enos Apartments were built in 1858, the same year as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, originally with a basement, a ground floor, and an attic. The third story was added later on in the 1870’s, bringing with it a turret orginally from the tp of the second floor. The building was originally built as a tuberculosis sanatorium. Records indicate that a woman by the name of Priscilla Baltimore, who was a former slave from Burbon County, KY., was an Underground Railroad Conductor. She was also the founder of the Lovejoy, Illinois and the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the St. Louis area. Upon her death in 1881, she was credited with helping 300 slaves escape to the north. Stories describe a tunnel that was suspected to begin at the Mississippi River, leading up the hill in Alton through the Enos Apartments, and then continued to lead up the hill to Brighton, ending at the Thomas Brown House. When you understand that “tunnel” refers to “path,” it begins to make more sense.
Alton: In this house, built in 1820’s, the priest from the old Catholic church St. Mathew’s hid salves in his home in plain view, according to research done by Irene Pittermire. This house has no secret rooms or secret spaces, so what is believed is that this home, like many religious buildings at the time, was considered above reproach which allowed slaves to be concealed seemingly in plain sight. Other examples of these kinds of buildings which were not searched for slaves were churches and convents.
Quite alot has happened since my last blog entry here. There have been job changes and a major move back into St.Louis, Missouri. However, what has remained constant has been my work and love of shooting and capturing the moments and places in life where I find beauty.
Among those changes was accepting a position at Concordia Seminary in St.Louis as a Web Developer and Photographer. This has granted me a wonderful opportunity to see everyday the very place that inspired my love of architecture in high school, which is where I first picked up a camera. What many of you may not know is that my family lived just a block from the campus in the 1980’s when my father attended the school to become a Lutheran pastor, so working at my father’s alma mater and at a place where I did alot of growing up has been a real blessing. Over the years I have returned to this place again and again, if only to walk on its campus or gaze at the Luther Tower. This was a place I always found so beautiful, especially at night and so having the chance to see it everyday, and to study it, has given me the opportunity to capture such images as found in my Concordia Seminary portfolio.
Chapel of St. Timothy & St. Titus on Call Day when student receive the assignment as a pastor of thier first church. “City Stream”
With my recent relocation back into St.Louis, I have also gone after more low light or night time subjects. Cities have always fascinated me with its variety of colored lights from signs and traffic piercing through the darkness. Capturing that either still or in motion to me was always a way in which ‘life paints with light.’
It is that fascination that lead me to capture two images I am quite proud, “City Stream” & “Moon Over St.Louis,” which were featured in the Sheldon Art Gallery, here in St.Louis for the city’s anniversary art show “St.Louis at 250.”.
“The Divide”
In an effort for more visibility for my work, I am happy to announce that my photographic artwork is now featured on both Saatchi Art and Amazon.com. There you will find select autographed artwork along with unsigned unmounted prints ready for your framing options. The response has been wonderful so far and I look forward to offering more of my recent work in the future.
On April 2nd I received an email from the Director of the Sheldon Art Galleries in St.Louis, MO.:
“It is with great pleasure that I inform you that your entry, “Moon Over St.Louis,” is one of the 100 images that has been accepted into the upcoming exhibition and book project, St. Louis at 250, the Sheldon Art Galleries/St. Louis Beacon citywide photo contest!”
I am deeply honored and excited as I have rarely submit my photography to photo contests outside of strictly web-based contests such as those at ViewBug.com, however it is something I plan on changing in the future. I am also humbled that one of my photographs would make the cut for a contest such as this for the city that I love. And with my lifetime of moving around the U.S., it is St.Louis that has always been the closest in my heart to having a “home town.”
For more information on “Moon Over St.Louis,” see here.
