If a camera shutter clicks and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Regina Daniel most likely knows the answer to this question, as she spends a lot of her time photographing abandoned places. In Abandoned Kansas City Volume II, out last fall, the Kansas City photographer explores forgotten locales all around the city, from defunct churches to an elementary school, to terminal A of the city’s once futuristic airport.

In some cases, as with the Kansas City airport and the mansion she documents in chapter nine, Regina is among the last people to set foot inside structures she brings to light. Her photos help tell a story about the life cycle of buildings, cities, and humans. The photos in this book sometimes possess an eerie mood; the pages are replete with peeling paint and exposed wiring hanging down from decaying ceilings. Other images, such as the photo of the auditorium at Ladd Elementary, which is on the book’s cover, seem to depict a venue that is only temporarily abandoned, as though any moment an audience could come streaming through its doors to see a pageant there.

Beyond the photos, Regina has also provided a good deal of context about the places she photographs. Readers will find information on when the buildings were originally built, who built them, and how they came to be abandoned. The book serves dual purposes then, one part art gallery and one part people’s history of a changing city.

More Great Reads

By Amy Stapleton

Scattered Lights
Steve Wiegenstein, 176 pages, fiction, Cornerstone Press, softcover, $14.95.

Each of the twelve short stories shows the heart and soul, the madness and violence, the compassion and selfishness of the people who call the Missouri Ozarks home.

Christmas on the High Seas
Diane Yates, 101 pages, fiction, Winged Publications, softcover, $5.99.

The author, from Fayette, wanted to give readers a story to enjoy while anticipating cruising again. Her main character, Halley, took the plunge and booked a cruise to a warmer climate. Little did she know there would be a big twist with her travel companion.

Supererogatory of Poetry
Wesley D. Willis, 142 pages, nonfiction, Outskirts Press, softcover, $16.95.

This debut poetry collection written by a Jefferson City native touches on lost love, nature, and Little Joe, the author’s beloved dog.

St. Louis in Watercolor: Living History in the Gateway City
Illustrations by Marilynne Bradley, vignettes by Jennifer L. Grotpeter, 144 pages, nonfiction, Reedy Press, hardcover, $36.

Internationally known watercolorist captures the architecture, iconic restaurants, sports, and much more of St. Louis in this gorgeous coffee table book.

Colonels in Blue
Roger D. Hunt, 249 pages, nonfiction, McFarland Press, softcover, $39.95.

This dictionary catalogs the Union army colonels whose regiments were from Missouri, western states, or territories and gives biographical information and many first-time published historical photos.

The Herrin Massacre of 1922
Greg Bailey, 178 pages, nonfiction, McFarland Publishing, softcover, $29.95.

St. Louis author Greg Bailey describes the conflict that led to coal miners in Herrin, Illinois, publicly slaughtering strikebreakers.

Oldest St. Louis
NiNi Harris, 192 pages, nonfiction, Reedy Press, softcover, $20.90.

This guidebook brings inspiring stories of the city’s past while featuring iconic buildings, the oldest Polish sausage shop, skating rink, bowling alley, Jewish house of worship, statue, and much more. Plus, discover some very old homes in the Carondelet neighborhood.

Candy Men: The Story of Switzer’s Licorice
Patrick Murphy, 192 pages, nonfiction, Reedy Press, softcover, $22.50.

The author’s father, grandfather, and great grandfather all worked at one of St. Louis’s most iconic candy companies. The Murphys and the Switzers, two Irish-American families, started the company in the 1800s. Learn the history of this candy factory from its birth to its death, and finally to a renewed life today.