Sunday portraits

I got to hang out with some good friends and met some nice people yesterday. Here are some portraits of those who crossed my path.

This is Becky. She is the bartender at Lucy's in McBaine, Mo. She is pretty much my favorite bartender. That little roadside bar has the best afternoon light ever. I made this portrait in the kitchen as she was preparing a double cheeseburger for one of the guests.

We made friends with her over the summer as we started going there almost every Sunday. She is one of those people who is hard to get close to. But once you are in, you are in for real. It is a quality that I admire in people.

After we became regulars at Lucy's, she lost her house to a fire. She and her family are still in the process of recovery. You are always in my prayers, Becky.

This is Han Cheung, a good, old friend of mine. He was in town to work on the Missouri Photo Workshop's website and to defend his MA project, which he successfully completed. He had couple free days before he heads out to Portland with his girlfriend. So we went for a hike in the morning, which was really refreshing for both of us, before we went to Lucy's.

Han and I started the program at the same time. And it took both of us a lot longer than our classmates. We both are hopefully graduating this December. Fingers crossed.

I hope your girlfriend and you find good jobs soon. Wish you both luck with everything.

This is Jimmy. We met him yesterday at Lucy's. While we were playing with the good light, making each other's pictures, he walked up to us and asked us to photograph him. He said he is an ex-Amish. He left the Amish community when he was 26. He said, because  he wanted to be a singer and make music, the community asked him to leave three times. And the third time they asked, he did it.

This is Martin Wulf, another new friend we met yesterday at Lucy's. He is certainly a character. He said he is married to his wife for over 50 years. He wanted to make sure that I wouldn't put his picture on the paper, because his wife would be really jealous. We talked about his farming and this year's drought that hit the Midwest. He lives down the road from Lucy's. When I asked him if he drove there, he said, "Heck, yeah!"