We've always heard how a picture can communicate so much more than words alone and many friends have asked to me share or show or email or post my photographs of my hometown, Joplin, MO, in the aftermath of the May 22nd record-setting tornado.
Yet, despite the value of photographs, I want to tell you what my brother told me before I returned to Joplin about two weeks after the disaster: no matter how many photos or videos you see, pictures cannot compare to seeing it yourself. After two days of driving and walking the area and taking pictures, on the late afternoon of the second day, I went out again and felt as stunned by the sight as I had when I first saw it.
Nothing can do this justice, but here are about twenty of my best shots.
