Columbia, MO
2011
I started sequencing the images in my 2023 gallery show at Columbia College beginning with this image of the Broadway Diner…if this show were a book, the Broadway Diner photograph would be the first image in the book. The Broadway Diner is a location that I am fond of photographing in any season, in any kind of weather, and especially at night. When I first moved to Columbia the diner was located on the west side of Providence, between Streetside Records and Osco Drug. I photographed at that location many a time, fascinated by the play of light on the structure’s metal exterior, and of course by the neon, lit brilliantly each night. That location was a little more asphalt and parking lot than the diner’s more recent home on Fourth Street. The diner has everything that a night photographer wants in a location, notwithstanding the classical connection between diners and artists. It has neon, it has an iconic diner shape, it has a reflective metal surface. And on just the right night, when the skies are full of rain or snow or cold, the darkness of downtown Columbia surrounds the diner and seems to amplify its warmth and its glow.