Steve Hebert Photography 

A few months ago I posted a handful of panoramic photographs I had shot the days following last year’s Joplin tornado.

Over the days I was shooting these panoramic photographs, I was also recording the spoken stories of some of the people who had survived the tornado.  The interviews were quick. I just asked people to describe that Sunday afternoon as many people on the south side of Joplin, MO huddled in their homes or rushed to the scene to check on friends and family.

These are some of the stories I heard.  

I think the gentleman at the end, Stewart Cannon, sums it up pretty well when he says, “A photograph just doesn’t do it justice.  There is thousands of tons of rubble just scattered.  The only thing I can compare it to is a city being bombed or something.  It’s just huge.”  

Being a photographer who “speaks” in photographs I would like to disagree, but I can’t.  The size of the destruction is enormous. A photograph can do it no justice.

The panoramic photographs you see here are from a collection I made over a 2 day period.  The photographs are all “stitches”, that if I printed would all be about 10 feet wide. Since this series of photographs will probably never be shown anywhere, I thought it would be good to pair up the two, panoramic images and the voices.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since that Sunday afternoon in May.  I have been back to Joplin multiple times since the storm and am amazed by its transformation. This same part of town has now been nearly fully cleared of debris and resembles a moonscape. That will probably be part two of this ongoing project.

Last week I spent a few days in Wichita, KS working on some photographs for a story that Arthur Sulzberger was doing for the Times.

It had been a few days since the news that Boeing would be pulling up shop and leaving Wichita by the end of 2013, ending an 80+ year relationship with the city.  So the story became not so much the fact that the city would be losing over 2,000 jobs, but more a look into how closely Wichita is tied to the aircraft industry.  Having grown up in Wichita and being aware of all the people that worked in the aircraft industry there, I was even amazed at just how integral Wichita has been in the production of airplanes over the last century.

With airplane producers like Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Boeing (three of the big ones) having large operations in Wichita, it’s clear Wichita, KS owns the moniker “Air Capital of the World”.

So here is Arthur’s story here which gets into some of the details.

Here are some images that ran and a few others I decided to post.

Downtown Wichita can be seen through the windows of the Kansas Aviation Museum. The land and buildings that now make up the Museum was the location of Wichita's original airport. It was all around this area of south east Wichita that the aviation industry grew up many decades ago.

Air Force One is worked on at the Boeing plant in Wichita, KS. The work on that aircraft will move to San Antonio with the closing of the Wichita Boeing operation.

A bronze sculpture of a B-52 airplane hangs on a wall in the Kansas Aviation Museum.

The displays inside the Kansas Aviation Museum tell the story of Wichita's tie to the aircraft industry. The planes on display here are a Stearman model 73 (back left), built in 1935, and a model replica of a Cessna 620 (right).

Cessna Street in Wichita is in the Planeview neighborhood which was a neighborhood created for Boeing workers during World War II.

The basketball court here is in Stearman Park. Stearman was an airplane producer in Wichita's early days of aircraft production.

Hanger 4 production line at Hawker Beechcraft.

Hawker 900's are lined up being assembled in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft.

The fuselage of a Boeing 737 waits in integration position #6 for assembly in the Spirit AeroSystems plant.

Tom Aikens works on adjusting the nose bay doors on a Premiere 1A aircraft in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft.

A picture of a Beechcraft Kingair hangs above the assembly line in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita.

This is an empty integration position where the fuselage of a Boeing 737 is assembled in the Spirit AeroSystems plant. All the pieces of a fuselage for a Boeing 737 are brought into this space where it is assembled by workers.

An Air Force KC135 refueler does touch and go landings on a runway behind the Boeing plant in southeast Wichita Wednesday.

Hawker Beechcraft airplanes are lined up for assembly in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft.

Beechcraft Kingair's are lined up for assembly in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft.

Spirit AeroSystems sheet metal assembly worker Jeremy Walker works on assembling the fuselage of a Boeing 737 in the Spirit plant Wednesday. Walker has worked for Spirit for 10 months.

A tool box next to an integration position where the fuselage of a Boeing 737 is assembled in the Spirit AeroSystems plant.

Roger Pierce works on assembling a prop on a Beechcraft Kingair 350 in Hanger 4 at Hawker Beechcraft.

Former Representative Todd Tiahrt worked for ten years to get the tanker contract in Boeing's hands only for the company to leave the city he served after the contract was theirs.

Spirit AeroSystems employee's walk across Oliver Street to their parked cars after their shift was over at Spirit.

The displays inside the Kansas Aviation Museum tell the story of Wichita's tie to the aircraft industry. This is a painting of an old photograph of a 1927 Cessna AW with airplane workers standing on the wings to display its strength.

From the property of the Kansas Aviation Museum you can see the hangers that Boeing uses for their work in Wichita, KS. When Boeing leaves Wichita in 2013 those hangers will sit empty.

International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) District Lodge No. 70 President Steve Rooney is a third generation Boeing employee. His daughter was a fourth generation Boeing employee.

Boeing employee Dave Robertson has worked for the aircraft company for nearly 35 years.

The Boeing plant is located in southern Wichita. They own 96 buildings that they use to work on airplanes.

A few weeks ago, I was assigned to travel to Bentonville, AR to photograph the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for The New York Times.

I had heard some things about this Museum largely because there was a story behind the person who had donated a large chuck of the money to get the Museum started.

The Museum was the dream of Alice Walton, a Walmart heir.

Here is a link to the story by Times writer Roberta Smith, who visited the Museum before I did.  There is a slide show of some of my images there too.  Roberta’s story goes into a lot of detail about the collection and the buildings so I’ll spare you my bad writing.

The Museum is an impressive set of buildings with an equally impressive art collection and is worth traveling to visit if this is your cup of tea.

The buildings, designed by Moshe Safdie, are nestled into a wooded valley in the quaint northwest Arkansas town.  The buildings are something to see and at some point in the very near future there will be large ponds of water in between the interestingly shaped buildings.  The exterior photos will really be remarkable then.  When I visited the Museum, the ponds had been drained leaving the exterior images not as impressive as they will be once they are filled.

As always I have tons of photographs that never make it to the paper so I am trying to be diligent about posting them here for folks to see.  Here is a collection of images from the day.

I look forward to traveling down to Bentonville with Sarah and Evy in the future.  It would make a great day trip or even better over night trip.  Bentonville seems very quaint with lots of charm and mountain bike trails seem to abound in the area.  I spotted what looked like some good twisty single track in a neighborhood near the Museum!

As art patrons visit the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville they will see an instillation by artist Roxy Paine.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened last month and now visitors are coming to Bentonville, AR to view the large collection of art.

Gallery six.

Joseph Stella's "Red Flower", circa 1929, in gallery five.

John Baldessari's "Beethoven's Trumpet (With Ear), Opus #132 Reverse"(left), circa 2007, and Nick Cave's "Soundsuit", circa 2010.

Gallery six.

Visitors can eat lunch in one of the buildings at the Museum.

Gallery six is home to more contemporary art including a painted sheet metal piece from artist Alexander Calder, circa 1968.

The Walton Family Foundation is a donor to the Museum.

Patrons make their way through the Museum's hallways.

The Museum is made up of a collection of buildings and is nestled into a wooded ravine in Bentonville.

The ponds of water will be refilled soon which will change the appearance of the Museum.

Art patrons take a look at Charles Willson Peale's "George Washington", circa 1780-1782, on display in galley two. George Washington posed seven times for Peale.

The curved walls and ceilings are visible throughout the whole Museum. This is galley three.

An art patron favorite, Artist Norman Rockwell's painting "Rosie the Riveter", circa 1943.

The detail on the frame of Artist Norman Rockwell's painting "Rosie the Riveter" is amazing.

Frederick Eversley's "Big Red Lens", circa 1985, in gallery six.

Gallery six.

Throughout the Museum there are "reflection areas" set up where visitors can take a break and look through art books and museum information on iPad's on the walls.

Gallery five.

Devorah Sperber's "After The Last Supper", circa 2005, in the Wonder World exhibit.

The "After The Last Supper" piece is described as being made of 20,736 threaded spools, hanging apparatus, ball chain, viewing sphere and stand.

Stuart Davis' "Self-Portrait", circa 1912, on display.

Architect Moshe Sofdie designed the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

Driving around town today, I came across this large group of American flags on a hillside with a large sign saying “Thank You Veterans”.  My mind instantly flashed to the faces of the many military friends I have and the places I had been to over the past decade.

My mind also drifted to a warm day in the Philippines a few years ago when I “met” my great Uncle Oliver for the first time.

My grandfather used to tell the story about how he was all set to go to Europe with his Army unit but weeks before he was to ship out, he was in a car accident and shattered his arm and was unable to go with his unit.  His unit was completely wiped out during the D-Day invasion.

If prodded, my grandfather would also talk about his brother Oliver, who was killed in the Pacific during World War II.  Oliver’s remains were never brought back to the States and my grandfather said he had been buried in the Philippines, he thought.

A few years ago I travelled to the Philippines to work on some photographs for a photo book project that I hope to finish some day.  When I arrived in Manilla, I got picked up by my friend Ken and once I got settled into my hotel, I asked him to take me to the large U.S. military cemetery in town.  I had my great Uncle’s name and a few other small bits of information about him and we set out to try and locate his burial plot.

Ken and I made our way over to the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial and with some assistance found Oliver’s marble cross at Plot A Row 9 Grave 166.

There he was.

Never once visited by a family member.

Surrounded by thousands of other veterans who  never made it back to the States.

A man cleaned his grave site and made a ‘rubbing’ for me.

I would keep that rubbing of Oliver’s name protected for a month until I returned home where I sent it, along with some photographs, to my grandfather.

I still remember my quiet grandfather calling me after he got the rubbing and he thanked me many times over, saying that he and his remaining siblings were joyed to see where their brother was buried.

Having covered the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan for many years and attended the battlefield memorials of friends, it was not lost on me that one day many years ago, Oliver had left his home to fight in a war and he had never returned home.

It had been over 60 years since Oliver’s death and my grandfather was able to see his brother’s final resting spot for the very first time.  I found that fact very gratifying and extremely sad in the same breath.  I wondered, even today, how many Oliver’s are there in these foreign cemeteries around the world.

Here are some of the photographs of that day.

Oliver Hebert's final resting place in the Philippines. Plot A Row 9 Grave 166.

Oliver Hebert. One of over 17,000 military dead buried at the cemetery.

Making a rubbing of PFC Oliver Hebert's name.

The entrance to the Memorial.

A beautiful mosaic art piece is in a Chapel there.

The walls of the Memorial.

The names of two other Hebert's from Louisiana are etched in the limestone tables of those missing in action.

Over 36,000 names of those missing in action are carved into the walls of the Memorial