Local veterans portraits displayed Friday

Local U.S. Navy veteran Jason Geer unveiled a photography project showcasing the passions of local veterans at Crawford Distillery Friday.

The project was made up of 28 portrait photos of local veterans doing the things they love. The photos hung from the walls of the distillery that night as Geer spoke to a gathered crowd about the project.

He said his aim was to showcase all of the positive things veterans do in the local community, something he thought was necessary, as discussion about veterans too often turns to negative issues like suicide, post-Traumatic stress disorder or homelessness.

He said all of those things are important, of course, but he feels that media tends to gravitate toward those issues at the cost of any kind of positive conversations regarding veteran issues.

"We've got a lot of great people in this town," Geer said. "A lot of veterans that really help to make this community a good place to live in."

Geer said word of the project spread via word of mouth and he deliberately kept it off of social media so he could connect with veterans more personally.

After that, he said, they would sit down and discuss what their passion was. Some, he said, really had to think about it, others knew right away, and still others had a whole bunch.

He said some of them managed to find a way to fit multiple passions into one photo, and he has great stories of working with everyone in the project.

Unfortunately, Geer said, one portrait is sadly missing from the project, one of his neighbor and friend Mike Hansen, who died before he could have his photo taken.

Geer thanked everyone involved in the project and everyone who helped make it happen including his wife, Misty.

He also said he wanted to call attention to a fellow photographer doing similar work on a much larger scale, Stacy Pearsall who runs the Veterans Portrait Project.

He said Pearsall has a lot more experience than he does and does great work that he wants to call attention to.

Great Plains Veterans Services Center Communications Specialist Rebecca Lewis attended the event and said many people on her organization's board participated in the project and it was great to see all of this hard work come to fruition.

She echoed Geer's feelings about how discussion of veterans' issues often drowns out positivity, and said work like Geer's is incredibly refreshing.