Photography by Dale Cole
Note: This story was originally published in the summer of 2005
Jim Richardson travels the world for National Geographic, but he and his wife Kathy settled in Lindsborg to open their Small World Gallery
Jim Richardson pulls the brown mailer cover from a May 2004 issue of National Geographic magazine. He spots the pictures of Betty walking her geese across the road, Jeremiah showing off his wet Frogtona 500 race entry, and the Trecek brothers winning a sled-pulling contest. Richardson's pictures have shown up in National Geographic 21 times in 19 years, but this article, "Pulling Together: 30 Years in the Life of Cuba, Kansas," is a step out of the ordinary, he says.
"All of us have a place we think of as 'our town.' Cuba, Kansas is mine." Richardson wrote and photographed the 23-page feature on Cuba - the culmination of 30 years of documentation.
"Cuba's population was only 300 people in 1973 when began taking pictures there, yet a lot was going on," Richardson said. "A doctor on main street, a gas station where old guys came to play cards, a town band. Every time I headed back to Cuba, I was afraid the town would be gone, but these folks are not done."
Cuba honored Richardson for his work in April 2004, with CBS on hand to film the event for the Sunday Morning Show, broadcast last May. More than 200 of Richardson's 30-year collection of prints line the walls of Cuba's Two Doors Down cafe. Each print carries a title, the year it was photographed, and sticky notes that visitors pen to identify figures in the picture or share a memory about the event.
Sticking to the picture of the card players at the gas station a note reads, "Junior Wiruth used to throw a wad of dog food under the plywood the card players held on their knees. As Nixon (named for Richard M. Nixon) dived for the dog food, the table upended, scattering cards everywhere."
Notes of honor and gratitude pile up on photographs of Doc McClaskey, hometown country doctor from 1929 till his death in 1981. One picture shows three generations of the Empson family whom Doc delivered as babies.
"Traffic has steadily increased around here since Jim did us this great favor," Dale Kuncovsky, owner of Two Doors Down, said. The collection, permanently exhibited in Cuba, draws visitors who read the magazine feature, locate it on a web site, or hear about it from friends and neighbors.
The warmth and intimacy of chronicling life in Cuba is a reflection of how Richardson lives his own life. Although he travels throughout the world, Richardson enjoys coming home to Kansas. In fact, Richardson and his wife Kathy moved to Lindsborg five years ago to enjoy a more grounded existence. In 2002 they established a storefront to market prints of Richardson's work. Visitors to the Small World Gallery find Kathy's handmade earrings, bracelets, and necklaces nestled on display tables, with a backdrop of Jim's prints from around the world. The gallery also features the works of other professional jewelers, painters, and fabric designers.
Richardson points to a few of his favorite features.
"Fishing with Ian Delyell in Scotland while creating the article in a special edition of National Geographic Traveler Magazine, December 2003, is an example of what this job means to me," he said. "It's given me a passport to go explore a lot of the world and meet a lot of great people."
Passersby are drawn to a colorful poster-size print of a young farmboy from Medina, North Dakota, with his new puppies and their mothers. This photograph became the cover for me May 2004 issue of National Geographic. Copies of that issue at Small World Gallery show Richardson's cover, the Cuba article, and Richardson's photographs for a 27-page article on the Great Plains.
"Not everyone wants to do what I do," Richardson says. "We spend a year or more on a single subject. Many people can't do that. Even if I don't know how to do a story, I'm going to figure it out. Research takes 90 to 95 percent of my time."
Richardson whetted his appetite for documenting events while at Kansas State University's Student Publications office. From there an internship converted to a full-time position at the Topeka Capital-Journal where he stayed for 11 years. It was during this time that he began his study of rural Kansas and settled on documenting Cuba. In 1982, Richardson and Kathy moved to Colorado where Jim worked as a staff photographer at the Denver Post. That's where he snagged his first freelance feature with National Geographic in 1984.
Richardson enjoyed seeing the Cuba article in print, but being published once a year or every 18 months is not enough. "Photography is a wonderful way to explore cultures," he said, "whether half-way around the world or in my own back yard. I've been interested in communities and festivals and classic small-town scenes since my childhood days. But most of all, I expect myself to do something better than I've seen it done before. That's what keeps me going. "I want my editors' jaws to drop when they see my work. My basic rule of life is, 'Thou shalt not be boring or bored.' " Richardson packs his gear and heads out the door.
"My hometown friends are going on this trip," he says, pointing to a copy of the Cuba story peeking out of his backpack. "I don't leave home without them."
www.jimrichardsonphotography.com
Read more about Jim Richardson: Timeless Stories
