Pics for Feast from the Cherry Picker + Fare in Springfield. This is literally on the block where I grew up and my parents still live. It used to be a tiny Brown Derby liquor store that was robbed about every other week. In Springfield, old neighborhood storefronts are rare but this spot has some good ones. Even as a kid I knew they had a ton of potential and I'm glad to see it finally realized.
Startup Weekend, Springfield, Mo.
Pretty late to the blog, but I wanted to post pictures from Startup Weekend at the eFactory in Springfield that I shot for for Biz 417. It was cool hanging out again with the folks from Originate, where I co-worked all last summer, and it was inspiring to see people try and launch new businesses from just an idea in their heads.
Best Startups for Biz 417
I had my first feature in Biz 417 this month with their story Best Startups 2016. I've been shooting events for the magazine for the past month and I was excited when they asked me to take on this story.
Tim Dygon and Andrew Goodall, of The Daily Scholar, left, and Robb Woosley, of Rural First.
Josh Holstein, of CellARide.
Alex Scott, of Metro Shine, left, and Caleb Arthur, of Missouri Sun Solar.
Britain Mill in Halltown, Mo.
One of my favorite assignments this year was photographing Clyde and Janet Beal at their historic Britain Mill on Turnback Creek. It was a feature for Feast and you can read more about the mill on their site. Clyde and Janet purchased the mill, which has been there in one form or another since 1840, as a retirement project and have done an amazing job restoring it. I have a big interest in old houses, barns and traditional buildings so it was a joy to spend the afternoon at the mill.
Service station
Danny's Service Center in Springfield, Mo. from a bit earlier this year. I'm happily surprised this one is still chugging along.
Coffee Ethic
A quick assignment to photograph the Coffee Ethic in Springfield, Mo. for Feast Magazine.
Public House Brewing Company food
Pictures from a (relatively) recent food shoot for the Public House Brewing Company in St. James, Mo. Chef Alex Giger makes super tasty food and did a great job with the presentation.
Feast food trucks
I was very excited to get more work from Feast Magazine this summer for their August issue celebrating the best food in Missouri. I shot two Springfield food trucks that were recognized: from London Calling Pasty Company and Hurts Donuts. It just so happens that the owner of the wildly successful Hurts Donuts is my old high school pal Tim Clegg. It was great reconnecting with him and learning about how his business has blown up over the past year.
Drew's senior pictures
in photography
I've known Drew since he was little and now he's a senior at Parkview, which kind of makes me feel old. I've had these senior pictures on my radar all summer before finally locking it down in August. The whole shoot was super relaxed and a lot of fun, not least because Drew was so comfortable in front of the camera.
My coworking summer
I haven't added a lot to the blog this summer, but I'm happy to say it's because I was too busy working, and not because I didn't have anything to post. More on the work later, but I spent the summer down in my hometown of Springfield, Mo. where my girlfriend (and now fiancée) Christina had an internship. I didn't feel like the place we were staying was great for a home office so I went looking for some coworking locations in town, and that brought me to Originate.
I've never used a coworking space before, and there are a lot of great things I could talk about with this one, located in Missouri State's tech incubator, the eFactory. The free coffee from Brick and Mortar, the great security for my computer and hard drives, the monthly barbecues, the friendly atmosphere and not spending the day sitting alone in my grandma's old house. So many things.
Originate offers all those coworking benefits, but goes a lot further by plugging you into Springfield's entrepreneurial tech scene in a real and immediate way. It may seem crazy to talk about Springfield's tech/startup scene, but it's there, it's growing and there are people working really hard to build it up. Many of them are at Originate, or working next door in the eFactory, or passing through for a meeting, or swinging by on Wednesday morning for 1 Million Cups or for the monthly IdeaWakeup. There is a lot going on.
I was only at Originate for two months and I'm super terrible at networking, so I didn't take advantage of half the benefits that came with working there. But joining up definitely felt like I was part of something very real and active in town and I'm going to miss it.
Jeremy Adams runs Originate and works there with the team from his other company, Verv.
Chad Boyd working on his startup, Txt2Give.
A meeting of the minds in the eFactory lounge. Free coffee on the right.
Eric Chambers, left, and Nick Wilczewski with Torrent Consulting.