December 10, 2025
Contact: Janese Heavin, heavinj@missouri.edu
Photos by Abbie Lankitus, Gretta Cohoon, Nicholas Andrusisian, Sam Cox and Reagan Manis
Graphics by Michaela Chittakhone
Fall made a splashy, last-minute appearance at the University of Missouri this year. University photographer Abbie Lankitus showcases the season’s beauty through a colorful selection of her favorite images from the month.
I was worried for a second that Mizzou wouldn’t see a colorful fall. With so little rain over the summer, I figured the trees were zapped. I’ve never been so glad to be wrong.
Student photographer Sam Cox, as I’ve mentioned before, just sees light in a way that’s hard to teach. Here, he captured the light playing beautifully across the painted “M” on Circle Drive, with the late afternoon sun accentuating the colors of the leaves – which so perfectly match our Mizzou gold.
I can almost see the picture coming to life, too, with the way the leaves are spread out like they’re blowing across the M on a perfect fall day.
Every year, representatives from the University of Missouri Veterans Center lay a wreath in the Memorial Union archway to remember and honor those who have served and are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
This is my favorite photo from the event. I shot a lighter version for the gallery and social media, but I love the darker one all the same.
I underexposed my camera settings so that the sky and clouds would be properly exposed, and the ROTC Color Guard members would become silhouettes. But there’s still enough light from the other side of the archway to make the flags recognizable and show the patterns on the floor.
Dean Wibe is the 2026 Sinquefield Composition Prize winner. This photo was made for the upcoming MIZZOU Magazine Winter 2026 issue that includes a feature on Wibe and his talents.
Wibe played his cello with the Mizzou Wind Ensemble for his award-winning entry, “Entity,” so I wanted the photo to show movement rather than freezing the action. To do this, I slowed my shutter down considerably so that the light hitting his arm and bow would reflect in the camera, but then a flash would go off at the end to freeze his face. It took several shots to get it just right, and I love the story it tells in the end.
I started playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) two years ago after watching the table-top role-playing game show “Dimension 20” by Dropout.tv. My husband and I had friends who mentioned in passing that they used to play, and when I started watching the show, I asked if we could get a campaign going. Two years later, we’re still going strong. One friend even branched off for his own home game that my husband and I are a part of.
When I heard that MIZZOU Magazine was going to do a D&D story for the Winter 2026 issue, I got incredibly excited. Tasked with making a still life in the studio, I borrowed my friends’ gear and got to work, while including several elements of my own.
The character sheet is of my first D&D character, Celeste – a moon elf rogue. The mini in the center and the far left are minis of two other characters I’ve played, Kyra and Sif, and half the dice are mine. It felt like I was setting up my own encounter as I put this shoot together. Imagine, on a moonlit night in the mountain valley, your eye catches something red and before you can react, an elemental fire dragon suddenly crests over the ridge bringing with it fire and vengeance. “Roll for initiative!”
Once I deliver photos to the university, I might not see where they end up or how they get used. The Mizzou social media accounts are some of the few places where I can regularly check in to see when the work gets published and how people react to it.
This month, I spent almost two days getting fall images. Once they were edited, they went out into the ether to be molded and used by new hands.
I didn’t expect social media intern Michaela Chittakhone’s hands to be the ones at work. I saw her outlining a leaf on her iPad in the office one day and didn’t think much of it until the social team took me aside the next day and showed me what she’d made.
This is one of my favorite things anyone has ever done with my photos. I didn’t go to school here, but I couldn’t help but feel Mizzou pride seeing the song and little elements doodled over the images during the peak fall colors. It’s everything you want to feel at your place of higher education, and I feel honored my images were used to make that happen.
Sustain Mizzou kicked off its annual Zero Waste Week with Campus Cleanup. University photographer Gretta Cohoon covered the event and other activities throughout the week.
I really like this photo because of how clean it is (pun intended). It’s also really colorful, with the hedge greenery and just the hint of fall colors above it. The student’s activity is very clear, and it’s a great image to use in the future, with plenty of room for text. To add to it, the light is really dynamic, creating highlights on the student and the hedge, which also allows for some high-contrast shadows. This is the difference a sunny day can make on an image versus a cloudy one!
Video producer Nicholas Andrusisian took the drone out on campus around the same time I was spending a couple days photographing the fall colors. While getting video footage, he took the time to snag a couple photos, and this one was one of my favorites. It’s a view we don’t typically see of Memorial Union, and my eye just keeps going on and on down the sidewalk. How many of us have made that walk between the beautiful buildings and our landmark Memorial Union?
Sometimes, the most special thing about a photo is the new way it portrays something we’ve grown accustomed to. Each person behind the camera (or drone) has a unique way of viewing the world, and each image is an insight into that person.
This fall, I’ve been part of three big photo shoots with Campus Dining Services, building up a library of images from dining options at the Student Center, Plaza 900 and Savor Kitchen. These shoots were pretty intense. If you didn’t know, there’s a whole food photography industry. In place of ice cream, studios will use mashed potatoes so nothing melts. Beer bubbles are mixed with dish soap so they don’t fall flat.
But these photos are au naturel. It took a lot of teamwork and planning to get these shoots to come together, and I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished. Of all three shoots, this one of a berry açaí bowl was my favorite. I just love the texture and color of the image. I really do feel like I could put my spoon into it and take a bite from the picture — and that’s exactly what we set out to do!
While this game didn’t go like Tiger fans wanted it to, Mizzou still had a really fun season. I loved the images we were able to capture this year, and this over-the-stadium golden sunset shot feels like the best last image before the sun rises on a finished, newly renovated stadium next year.
For another portrait with MIZZOU Magazine, I wanted to use the same technique I used earlier in the semester by projecting one image on the backdrop and then another on a TV that’s reflected onto the plexiglass in front of the subject.
This time, instead of pulling images, I had the opportunity to work with those that Tara Finegan made herself! Finegan is the Advanced Light Microscopy Core (ALMC) director at Bond Life Sciences Center, and the images that come out of that lab are so beautiful that the facility has a photo contest every year for them.
Knowing this, I asked to use two images that would be best for the background and foreground, with complementary colors. Then I gelled Finegan in the gold and purple to match. It’s quite a setup to get this ready in the studio, but I don’t think I mind when they turn out this cool.
I had to cap off this colorful month with the most colorful fall photo we had this season. Sam once again found the light and made this seemingly normal moment of a student reading in Peace Park something romantic in nature. It’s beautiful, peaceful and idyllic. I wish I were that person on the bench enjoying a good novel. Fall is my favorite season, and this image captures much of why that is.
As quickly as the color came, it left just the same. And as quickly as this semester started, it is ending. I’m looking forward to December’s photos of the month as we wrap up a fast and full semester on this beautiful campus.
