Altenburg Museum Archives

September 20, 2012

Exhibit Sneak Peek

Here are layouts of some of the photos you’ll see at my exhibit in Altenburg. I ran a press release for the event yesterday.

Exhibit when and where info

Watch this space for a date and time when I’m going to be doing a dry run of the presentation I’ll be giving at a conference on October 25. Think of it as a war story blooper roll. I have way too much material and need to figure out what works and what doesn’t before I turn it loose on a real audience.

Photo Gallery of layouts

Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

September 19, 2012September 16, 2015

My Exhibit in Altenburg

The kind folks at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum were kind enough to send out a bunch of press releases today.

For Immediate Press Release:

The Perry County Lutheran Historical Society’s, Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum is pleased to open a new exhibit: “Ordinary People Doing Ordinary Things: Ken Steinhoff Photojournalist, 1964-Present,” featuring nearly 50 years of photography from: Cape Girardeau County, Perry County, New Madrid, MO; Tower Rock, portraiture, and other rural documentary photography.

Steinhoff’s take on his work is, “I’ve covered popes, presidents, and the Queen of England, but I really like to shoot ordinary people doing ordinary things: the invisible folks whose names only appear in the paper when they are born, when they die, when they get married and when they get a speeding ticket.”

Open Daily Now- through November 2–10:00am-4:00pm-. Free Admission

Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum, 75 Church St., Altenburg, MO 63732

573-824-6070

Sneak Preview

You can see more layouts here.

I’m going to be doing a photo and video presentation at a conference at the museum on October 25, but I’m setting up a “dress rehearsal” a week or so in advance of that. I have way too much material and want to know which babies to throw out of the lifeboat. I’ll post more info when I get to Cape around Oct. 10 or so. I’d love to see some of you up there so you can hear my war stories in person.

July 19, 2012January 29, 2016

Mother Nature’s a Tease

Mother and I took a swing over to Jackson so I could get my Wib’s BBQ fix. The sky to the west looked dark blue and the radar was painting lots of reds and yellows. As soon as the server had taken our order, there was a brilliant flash outside the window. To be on the safe side, I went out to the car to get the umbrella.

That probably doomed Mother’s corn crop down at Dutchtown. It didn’t rain at Wib’s. This guy’s field doesn’t look all that great, either.

I stood on a high piece of ground in Fruitland trying to get a look at a controversial quarry there. I missed a couple of good lightning bolts (they missed me, too. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this). No rain.

Egypt Mills Trinity Lutheran Church

After my presentation at the Altenburg Museum Tuesday night, Tom Neumeyer mentioned that he had seen a large Steinhoff headstone at the Trinity Lutheran Church at Egypt Mills.

So, we went out past the KFVS TV tower (once the world’s tallest structure), to check it out. We found several stones and recognized some of the names, but they weren’t part of our immediate clan.

I liked the look of this small outbuilding and took a couple of frames while being teased by rumbles and flashes. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

Heat records shattered

Heat records are being shattered as are records for the number of days in a row the temperature has hit 100 or higher. The last time St. Louis was this hot for this long was in 1936, said Jim Keeney, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. Then, the city recorded 13 days in a row of temperatures 100 degrees Fahrenheit or over. That devastating heat wave of the mid-’30s killed thousands of people and destroyed many crops.

We see clouds build up, hear thunder, see impressive radar returns, then the storms dissipate or split, going around Cape.

Hoping to walk to Tower Rock

The Southeast Missouri Geocaching folks are keeping a close eye on the Mississippi River gauges at Chester and Cape Girardeau. When the Chester gauge reads 0 and / or the Cape gauge reads 7, the water is low enough to walk across to Tower Rock, just south of Wittenberg. The gauges are at 5.39 and 11.23, with a gentle rise predicted.

Brother Mark and I picked our way to it October 12, 2003. He climbed to the top of the rock with his bicycle for reasons only he could explain.

July 18, 2012July 18, 2012

No Tomatoes Were Thrown

Perry County is experiencing a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer, so I was a little uneasy about facing an audience at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum in Altenburg. Folks up in the ridges aren’t shy about expressing their opinions, and I was hoping not to come home dripping rotten tomato juice.

The purpose of my visit was to have the audience help narrow down some print selections for an exhibit this fall and for me to gauge response to to my talk about regional photography.

I didn’t do a head count, but museum director Carla Jordan said about 40 people attended, about twice what we had anticipated. It was a good group. I went longer than planned, but I didn’t hear any snoring and I didn’t hear any boards creaking that would have given away anyone who tried to sneak out early.

Brother Mark and his friend Robin Hirsch came down from St. Louis. Robin was kind enough to shoot a couple of these photos.

Last resident of Wittenburg

Joanne Holley, in the front row, left, is the last resident of Wittenberg. Her husband, Dave Holley, storyteller extraordinaire, died April 11, 2012. Two of the videos featured him and one was dedicated to him. Her daughter, Kristie, and her grandson are also in the row.

Talking photo technique

Cape photographer Tom Neumeyer stopped by to talk technique and share shooting war stories. Central High School Class of ’66 classmate Dick McLard reminded me that Thursday is the monthly brunch, but I have other commitments that day. Wife Lila would certainly be there if she was in town.

Carla’s introduction was so flattering that I wondered if she had grabbed my eulogy by mistake. Warren Schmidt was equally kind at the end of the evening. Gerard Fiehler humped stuff out of my car and helped get the speakers working.

Sick cat excuse

Mother is an old hand at the museum, but this was Friend Shari’s mother’s first visit. LaFern Stiver admitted that she didn’t know how she was going to occupy herself in what she thought was going to be a tiny, small-town museum since I had to go a couple hours early to set up. She was pleasantly surprised to see what a great job Carla and her staff do in pulling together the exhibits.

If you’re in LaFern’s bridge club, don’t be surprised to find yourself being hauled up to Altenburg one of these days. (Shari couldn’t make it down from St. Louis. She said something about a sick cat. That sounds vaguely familiar. I think she may have used that same excuse when we were in high school.)