Hankins Equine Farm - Platte City, MO

I met Bill Hankins two years ago while I was attending the Missouri Photo Workshop in Platte City, Missouri, so I paid him a visit during my recent trip to the Kansas City area.   A retired high school photojournalism teacher and Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame member, Bill was instrumental in bringing the Missouri Photo Workshop to Platte City in the fall of 2015.

Each evening of the workshop, Bill would stop by to listen in on the critiques, spend time chatting with us attendees and offer insight into his town and it's residents.   On the last night of the workshop, he and his wife Marcia hosted all of us for dinner at their beautiful farm north of the city, where they raise horses and mules.

Since Marcia was out of town this visit, it meant I had the opportunity to do some photography while Bill did the afternoon and evening feedings.  It was nice to have the time to visit, hang out with the animals, talk shop and show each other the photo projects we are working on.

Silhouette  & Roscoe wait impatiently while Bill prepares the evening grain.

Due to the overly persistent flies, Bill applies a home-made repellent to give Monique's wrapped ankles for some relief.

Bill gives Lillie a brush while eating her afternoon hay snack.   Their coats get a bit dirty from rolling around in the dirt in an attempt to ward off the pesky flies.

Ropes hang from horseshoe hooks on the storeroom exterior wall while Bill retrieves grain from bins for the evening feeding.   Some of the aging animals are given a special diet for better health.

Desert eats her afternoon hay while Monique swats flies with her tail.

Bill waits for Lillie, Roscoe, Silhouette and Monique to finish eating their evening grain in the barn.

Being a mischievous one, Desert saunters out of the door after taking a nose around the storeroom looking for something more to eat.

Lillie decides that Roscoe needs some help finishing his evening grain.

Bill shows Monique some affection after finishing her evening grain.   Bill says that mules are quite intelligent and curious animals.   They are a cross between a horse and donkey and cannot reproduce.

John Carlson: Over The Road Truck Driver

Last summer, I spent 12 days traveling with John in his truck. We went from Madison, WI to New Jersey to Central California and back. John was gracious enough to participate in my ongoing personal project documenting over the road truck drivers. He travels with his cat Kota for 5-6 weeks stretches and returns home to Minneapolis for 5-6 days before heading out again. This slideshow is my first attempt at combining an audio interview with images. It lets you here his voice and his story in his own words. I think I will do more of these.

Saint Agatha Festival - Closing Ceremony

Fireworks explode over the Piazza del Duomo in the center of Catania during final procession of the candelabras to the Cathedral of St. Agatha.

In February of 2003,  I was nearing the end of my 6 month backpack through Europe. I decided to drop down to Sicily briefly before flying home from Rome at the end of the month.  I happened to arrived in Catania on the day of the closing ceremony of the Saint Agatha festival, a multi-day festival honoring St. Agatha (Agata) the patron saint of Catania.  It was quite the spectacle.

The Piazza del Duomo was crowded with people as fireworks exploded in the sky and men carried the lighted candelabras strapped to their back for one last procession around the square. It takes several men (I saw no women doing this) to lift up the massive and heavily adorned gold-leaf candelabras, walk them rather quickly for about a hundred feet and then put them down for a brief rest. Their destination was the Cathedral of St. Agatha.  Filled with devotees and tourists, this is where the silver reliquary with St. Agatha's remains is located. After getting a taste of the festival that night, I told myself that I must return to have the full experience of the festival, and I did in 2005.

Now twelve years after that first arrival on the final night, I return once again to Catania on the final night of the festival. Just as the event was kicking off, the rain started to come down. The locals say it had been a particularly wet and cold winter in Sicily, but it wasn't enough to keep people from coming out for the end of one of the largest religious festivals in Europe.

The procession of candelabras makes it's way to the entrance of the Cathedral of St. Agatha while attendees wait in the rain.  Before street lighting, the candelabras where used to light the streets during the procession

Inside the cathedral, devotions are yelled out as participants are overwhelmed with emotion of the ceremony. Devotees wear the traditional night clothes of St. Agatha's time consisting of white gloves, a black cap, and sackcloth robe.

A shrine to St. Agatha outside the old city wall is where devotees place offerings of flowers and candles.

Men carrying the candelabra through the Piazza del Duomo to the cathedral.  A young boy rides on the candelabra emulating the carrying stance with his hand on his head. It takes 8 to 12 men to carry each candelabra.

Padded burlap hoods are worn to help bear the weight of the candelabras carried on individual's back. 

The center person in the front and the back of the candelabras wear a heavy strap to hook onto the handles to aid in lifting and carrying the candelabras. 

Attendees stand outside the gates of the side chapel to get a glimpse of the reliquary containing St. Agatha's remains.  The reliquary is only brought outside the church once a year during the festival.

A barrier fence creates a larger parameter around the shrine to St. Agatha during the festival for devotees to light candles and pray.   The offering of wax is an integral part of the festival. The area inside the barrier is covered with sawdust  to absorb the wax after the used candles are tossed in the center.

Carriers taking a rest during the candelabra procession in the Piazza del Duomo.  There are eleven candelabras in total each in honor of religious figures and traditional food producers such as fishermen, butchers, pasta makers, bakers, etc.

The candelabra are decorated with many depictions of St. Agatha's persecution and martyrdom. The candelabra design originated from the baroque era and are referred to as "baroque moving through a baroque city". 

Two devotees in the cathedral paused to ask me where I was from, so I asked them if I could take a photo.   Many wear a large pendant with the bust of St. Agatha as part of their outfit.

Fireworks explode over the Cathedral of St. Agatha at the beginning of the closing ceremony of the festival. Numerous fireworks displays occur throughout the city on a number of different days during the festival.

Mikey & Keith - Over The Road Team Truck Drivers

Mikey and Keith stopped in Madison for breakfast after picking up a military fuel truck bound for California. Keith and I have had a few near misses. He's been in the area before, but at times that I wasn't available. I'm happy that it worked out this time, and they let me make some photographs after breakfast.

They have been team driving for over a year, and not long ago started driving for Bear Leather Transport.   A relatively new start-up by Brian and Amos, who have appeared in a previous post.  Driving as a team has the advantage of running the truck around the clock. One drives while the other takes his required 10 hour break to sleep.   They can cover more ground,  make more deliveries, and share expenses of the truck as well as earnings.    They literally stay out on the road full time without a permanent address.   Riding along with them is Mikey's rescue pit bull named Justice. A sweet and happy guy who has taken to the road quite well.

I appreciate them taking the time to stop and have breakfast before heading back out on the road.  It was great to finally meet.

  

John - Over the Road Truck Driver

While on a weekend trip to Minneapolis, I connected with John. He was on home time from a 6 week run in his truck.   He's been driving for over 26 years and is usually out on the road for 5 to 6 week stretches with about 5 days home. For company on the road, he travels with his cat Kota. It was great to meet John and hang with him a bit in the Twin Cities. He's also open to a possible ride-along as subject in my ongoing project documenting life on the road of over the road truck drivers so stay tuned!

Exedra - Italian Baroque Furniture Manufacturer

While photographing Riccado and his brother in their workshop Sicilia Intarsi, Riccardo offered to take me to visit Exedra, a family-owned baroque style furniture maker the next day.   Baroque furniture is an old style that came out of the Baroque era from the 1700 to 1800's.  It's a furniture style preserved by Exedra in the shadow of Mt. Etna in Belpasso, Italy.  Though much of the process is automated, the detailed carving and upholstery is still done by hand. 

Furniture makers carve the intricate baroque details on pieces of wood that will be used to make a chair.

Wood carving tools and shavings on a workbench in the Exedra workshop.

Furniture makers at their individual workbenches work on carving and shaping pieces of a baroque chair.

A furniture maker works on carving out the find details of a baroque chair at his workbench.

After details are carved out, the pieces are sanded and buffed using a rotary sander made of strips of cotton and sandpaper.

A baroque chair leg is sanded smooth with a handheld rotary sander.    Much time is sent to get the finish just right.

Assembled chair backs are glued and clamped together awaiting further assembly.

Chair backs are fitted with additional embellishment by a factory worker taking great pains to insure a perfect fit.

Assembled and painted chair frames waiting to be upholstered.

Upholsterer cuts fabric by hand the fabric that will be used to cover a chair.

Sewing and final touches of the upholstery fabric are done by hand.

Upholstery thread unwinds from it's spindle while the upholster sews the fabric at his sewing machine.

Upholsterer's tool drawer.

Fabric is trimmed after being secured to chair.

Upholsterer secures fabric to chair using a power stapler.

Handmade piping laying in the seat of a chair awaits installation by an upholsterer.

Studio Le Nid Ceramic Workshop - Paternò, Sicily

After visiting Exedra furniture factory,  Riccardo took me to the ceramic workshop of Le Nid Studio in rural Paternò with Mt. Etna serving as a snow-capped backdrop.  Founded by renowned ceramic artist, Barbaro Messina and now directed by his sons Vincenzo and Fillipo, I was given the tour of the facility and Barbaro's second floor gallery featuring an abundance of his creations.   Barbaro's many works consists of glazed slabs of Mt. Etna lava rock with depictions of the Sicilian physical and social landscape.

When we arrived, they were just putting the finishing touches on a set of glazed cut lava stone city markers for the communities surrounding the Mt. Etna UNESCO World Heritage Site, while artists were working on hand painted ceramic pieces depicting the Stations of the Cross.

Vincenzo Messina, director of Studio Le Nid brushes on a protective coating of lacquer on glazed cut lava stone pieces of lava rock signs to placed in the communities surrounding the Mt. Etna UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vincenzo Messina, director of Studio Le Nid brushes on a protective coating of lacquer on glazed cut lava stone pieces of lava rock signs to placed in the communities surrounding the Mt. Etna UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vincenzo Messina, director of Studio Le Nid brushes on a protective coating of lacquer on the glazed cut lava stone pieces of lava rock signs to placed in the communities surrounding the Mt. Etna UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Studio Le Nid artist paints a design on a ceramic tile to be used in a Stations of the Cross installation.

Le Nid Studio artist work on hand painting ceramic pieces to be used in a Stations of the Cross installation. 

Le Nid Studio artists' tools and paints.

Small souvenir pieces of cut lava stone from Mt. Etna with a ceramic veneer and hand-painted design.

Barbaro Messina talks about the process of creating his cut lava stone and ceramic glazed artwork in his Le Nid upstairs studio and gallery.

Barbaro Messina shows off his cut lava stone and ceramic glazed artwork depicting the Sicilian landscape in his Le Nid upstairs studio and gallery.