John Hacker, Carl Junction, is probably best known as the editor of The Carthage Press for 12 years before that paper closed in 2019. He worked for the Carthage Press for a total of 14 years over three different stretches between 1995 and 2019. He’s also worked as a reporter for The Joplin Globe, The Baxter Springs (Kansas) Citizen and other area publications.
An accomplished photographer as well as writer, John’s real passion happens when storms threaten. He likes to head out into thunderstorms with his cameras and capture the raw power of lightning. John has been chasing lightning for about 30 years. He caught the lightning bug in 1989 after capturing a photo of twin lightning bolts in front of a sunset on film with a Pentax K-1000 manual-everything camera.
The challenge of turning a flash of power and light that only lasts a fraction of a second into a permanent piece of art drives John to get out into the worst of weather at all hours of the night.
This year, John has paid special attention to capturing lightning above and around the iconic Jasper County Courthouse. Some of the 14 or so images he’s captured of Carthage’s crown jewel surrounded by Mother Nature’s light show are on display this month at Stone’s Throw Dinner Theatre.
Prints of these and other images John has captured can be ordered by contacting Koral Martin at the Koka Gallery, 409 S. Main in Carthage. The phone number is 417-358-2889.