Francis Quadrangle Snowfall
Stephen Bybee
Columbia, MO
2002
Because the images in my last two weekly posts explored a common theme, I decided to continue working with that theme while I have the material to do so. Much of my night photography revolves around documenting the streets, corners, intersections, structures and vistas of downtown Columbia in a solitary fashion. Every once in a while, a human intervenes, and if I can recall the circumstances of this composition, this time I was ready. This photograph was taken on the Francis Quadrangle in January or February of 2002. I was still using black and white film, and this image was made with the longest lens I had at the time, an 85mm f1.8. By means of historical segue, the fire that reduced the original Academic Hall to a now totemic grouping of columns also occurred on a snowy night in January, 110 years before this image was made. January 9th, 1892. The 132nd anniversary of this conflagration would have taken place on January 9th of this year. In this photograph, a solid line of night-darkened oak trees leads us into the composition, punctuated by an intervening series of brilliantly illuminated street lamps. Since this photo was taken, the oaks have been taken too…both stately rows of pin oaks lining the Francis Quadrangle were cut down and removed in July of 2022.