Jerry Backes describes himself as “a picture-taking fool,” and recently, his photograph of the Frankenstein church was chosen for the “My Missouri 2021” photograph project to celebrate the State’s Bicentennial.
Backes’s photo of “Our Lady Help of Christians” Catholic Church was chosen with about 200 other pictures to represent the rich diversity of the landscape and people of the state.
The prize-winning picture came about on a fall day that Jerry and his wife, Debbie were at Frankenstein for a funeral Mass. Despite the circumstance, the day was beautiful. The funeral was in the morning, and at the urging of his wife, Backes came back that afternoon to take a few pictures.
“It was in the fall when I took the picture and the maple trees were all golden,” Backes said. “I came back and the light was just perfect. It was shining onto the church and it lit everything really well. When I took the picture, I didn’t know anything about the contest. I was just taking pictures.”
Backes grew up in Frankenstein and went from first through third grade in the old school that is now torn down. He continued his education and spent all eight years of elementary school at Frankenstein before attending high school at Fatima.
“I’ve always liked the church,” Backes said, standing next to the rock wall around the front of the church. “This community has always been pretty special to me. This is kinda my favorite spot.”
Debbie is the one who learned about the contest and encouraged her husband to enter the photo.
“I went and looked into it and I didn’t do anything about it,” Backes said. “Finally, I did enter it and if I remember the rules correctly you could submit four photos so I submitted two of the church and then another one with a turtle and one with a squirrel.”
But it was the photograph of the rock church with the golden maple tree that ended up being chosen to be part of the Bicentennial display.
The State Historical Society of Missouri has the 200 selected photographs on a moving display that will be featured all over the state.
“Unfortunately, the display started last spring, just as COVID-19 hit,” Backes explained. “So, I think they had to cut back their schedule some because of the restrictions. They are picking it up again.”
The moving display was featured at the Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City in March of 2020.
“We went up there and looked at all of the photos,” Backes said. “It was pretty cool.”
Backes has loved taking photographs his whole life.
“I started taking pictures in high school,” Backes remembers. “My mom had a camera so I would try to steal that from her every once in a while and take as many pictures as I could.”
Backes remembers that back then, things were a little different and everyone was a little more cautious about taking pictures since they all had to be sent off to be developed. Backes got his own camera but said it was always a guess if the pictures would turn out because his camera did not have any adjustments or controls on them. At one time, he even developed his own black-and-white pictures in a little part of his basement.
“It was kinda fun but also a pain,” Backes said.
Backes has graduated to a Nikon D-500 camera and loves the digital age. He uses Photoshop to change and enhance pictures and although he loves his camera, he finds himself carrying it around less and less since he can take such good pictures with his phone.
Backes has no interest in making money from his photographs.
“I just do it for fun,” Backes said. “I don’t do it for money or anything because I think that would make it more like a job.”
Backes retired from Ameren UE three years ago and after 41 years he is enjoying his retirement taking pictures and fishing.
Backes loves photography because it has both a technical side and a creative side.
“There is a technical side with shutter speeds and sensitivities and you’ve got to kinda understand how that stuff works together,” Backes explained. “The understanding of the technical stuff fits in with my profession because I’m an engineer and I like technical stuff.
“Then there is the composition of the photo, how you fit it in the frame, how you make it look nice, how the scenes are lit,” Backes continued. “That is the same stuff that an artist uses when they paint.”
Backes is self-taught and learned about photography by reading a lot of books and essentially by taking photographs and constantly trying to take better ones.
When his two sons played football at Helias, Jerry was on the sidelines taking pictures and uploading them to a shared website so that all of the parents could be a part of the action.
“It was pretty cool because we would be on the sidelines and could get really up close to the game,” Backes remembers.
Backes shares his knowledge about photography at the Linn BSA Merit Badge University that happens every year at State Technical College. He loves teaching photography to the BSA members and is hopeful he is promoting a lifetime of interest. This year he will also serve as the photographer for the Great Rivers Council Wood Badge Course, which is an advanced, national leadership course for BSA volunteers and professional scouts.