Osama’s Coffee Zone, 11 North Ninth

Osama’s Coffee Zone, 11 North Ninth

Stephen Bybee
Columbia, MO
January, 2011

Once again, we find ourselves in the month of January 2011.  This was an artistically productive month for me because I was between jobs, I had a bit of free time, and the weather was phenomenal.  Winter had finally come to Columbia, and snowstorm followed snowstorm during the months of January and February.  This is a photograph I took of the window of Osama’s Coffee Zone at its most atmospheric.  My vague recollection of this particular evening is one of plummeting temperatures and an approaching snowstorm.   We started the evening taking photographs in the vicinity of Walnut, Ash, and Tenth Street.  The snow was falling by then, and I remember waiting on Walnut Street for the perfect shot of Ernie’s neon signs in the snow.  We wandered down Ninth Street and then east to Hitt Street, finding once commonplace Columbia street scenes artistically transformed by the snow.   As the night progressed the snowfall became heavier, and the wind grew colder and a bit more painful with each drop in temperature.  Halfway through the evening our trio of photographers sought refuge in the warm confines of Teller’s to bring some circulation back to our frozen fingers while nursing an Old Fashioned.  More photos followed after our medicinal sojourn in Teller’s that evening, and more snowy nights followed this one during that landmark Columbia winter of 2011.