A lifetime of moments, framed in the blink of a shutter, graces the walls of the Ozarks Small Business Incubator, 408 Washington Ave. in West Plains.
A reception, set to take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, will not only honor Dennis Crider's illustrious career but will also showcase his stunning photography exhibit, “39.” The event, free and open to the public, will be held on the second floor of OzSBI.
Crider, whose relationship with the camera began in his childhood days in Wichita, Kan., has devoted his life to capturing the ephemeral, the significant, and the everyday through his lens. His journey as a reporter, photographer and sports editor at the West Plains Daily Quill newspaper has been marked by thousands of snapshots, each preserving a fragment of time in the quilt of local history.
Out of the myriad images he has taken, 39 have been meticulously selected for this exhibit. This number not only signifies the years Crider devoted to his craft at the Quill, but also symbolizes the countless hours he spent chronicling life's unfolding stories. The showing also serves as a retrospective of Crider's remarkable contributions to photojournalism, which received the ultimate recognition on Oct. 19, 2023, when he was inducted as the 77th person into the Missouri Press Association Photojournalism Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony, a momentous occasion for Crider, took place at the State Historical Society's Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia. The accolade was the result of a nomination by Frank L. Martin III, former Quill publisher and editor and himself a luminary in the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame. It was in the afterglow of that prestigious recognition that Crider decided to embark on the painstaking process of curating this exhibit.
The creation of "39" was an odyssey through time, with Crider sifting through hundreds of bound archived copies of the newspaper, seeking out dates, and then delving into boxes of stored negatives. Once he pinpointed the chosen images, he embraced modern technology to bring the old negatives back to life: He scanned them, digitally transferred the images to a third-party firm, and had them printed onto canvas, giving the snapshots a new form and permanence.
Each of the 39 prints displayed tells a story and is available for purchase for a symbolic $39. In a gesture that underscores Crider's commitment to his community and craft, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these prints will be donated to OzSBI, fostering a cycle of support and growth for local businesses and entrepreneurs.
For those unable to attend the opening reception, the exhibit will be accessible to the public in OzSBI's upstairs gallery through April. The display invites visitors to step into a visual narrative of history, seen through the eyes of a man who has made it his life's work to document the world around him. The incubator's business hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, providing ample opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in the unique and evocative collection.
