Missouri Photo Workshop 61
The Missouri Photo Workshop
October 2009 – I had the opportunity to be a part of the 61st Missouri Photo Workshop this past fall held in Festus, MO. The Festus area is called the “Twin Cities” of Missouri because of its proximity to Crystal City, aptly named because of its huge plate-glass factory that thrived there for so many years. The factory has long been shut down and demolished but the environmental contamination (soil, ground water, etc.) still lingers and is the subject of ongoing debates.
The workshop is known to be one of the finest and most intense photo workshops in the world with photojournalism’s greatest minds at the helm as faculty advisers. As a part of Team A, my faculty were Rick Shaw, Director of Pictures of the Year International (POYi) and Penny De Los Santos, former College Photographer of the Year and international freelance photographer. Both were wonderful to work with as they pushed and challenged me but in a gracious and encouraging manner.
A bird's eye view from the Crystal City, MO water tower which is shadowed on the ground just behind the heart of town.
Setting out on day one to nail down the story that I would follow for the duration of the week, the staff mandated that we could only shoot 40 frames as a “test roll.” The “test” meant to indeed test the huge computer network that was set up in a conference room of the local Holiday Inn and make sure all cylinders were firing, but also to test our on-the-fly photographic skills in an unfamiliar town. That, combined with our portfolio that we submitted during the application process, would provide a picture of where we stood as a shooter and create our personal “ground zero” that we grow from as the week progressed. Once we found our story, we would pitch it to our advisers as if we were pitching it to a magazine t0 convince them that we had something worth publishing Upon approval we could not exceed 400 frames the entire week. From those shots our 8-12 photo story would be created.
The best way to find a story was to pound the pavement and meet n’ greet. Get out there and introduce yourself, start conversations, truly be interested in what was going on in the town. Folks were very receptive to our presence and personally, I met some amazing people who were eager to help in my efforts.
After finding 5 stories (3 of them approved) and then for various reasons losing all of them one by one, time starting ticking by awfully quick and the Friday at noon deadline felt too close. My final and favorite (at the time) story fell through around 4:30pm on Tuesday, when many of my peers had already been approved and started shooting. My time in Missouri was already half over and I hadn’t shot a single frame in relation to the reason I came – the story. I knew that there was a story out there, I knew that I would find it and I knew that it would be the exact story that I was meant to tell. As a photographer I believe that my skill with a camera is a gift and tool for others and that I am guided to simply be present, let the story unfold and be the servant of it, not the controller. The difficulty was that I wasn’t sure I had enough time to let the story find me organically the way that the first handful had.
After multiple days of busting it and extending myself to countless strangers who warmly extended themselves to me, it was time to take a deep breath. I sat down at the Panera Bread (locally called St. Louis Bread Co.) down the street from the hotel and had a bowl of soup and just shut my brain off for about 20 min. Some of the other students were having a bite to eat as well and we grabbed a table to share war stories. We were all pulling for each other, we all were motivated and eager to find our story and encouraged each other in the process.
With an hour left before I had to report to the hotel for our evening meeting, I headed off to Wal-Mart to start it up again. I picked up a gallon of water to take with me to the hotel and after not having any success I headed to the check out. Behind me was a woman who had a huge bag of dog food and a jug of Hawaiian Punch; the bar code on the dog food was upside down which made it tough to scan so she attempted to turn it over but was having a hard time. Another woman offered to help her get it turned around and as she did so the woman with the dog food started explaining how the arthritis in her hands made it tough to maneuver heavy things. She continued to confide that her daughter was dying of cancer and had been in a nursing home for some time.
Because I only had my jug of water I offered to help her to her car with the dog food and get it loaded up for her. She replied, “Well, honey, if you’re willing that would be wonderful.”
On the walk out to her car she told me her name was Marty and continued sharing details about her daughter’s condition and how she regularly drives to the Festus Manor to care for her. It was obvious that she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and needed an outlet, I was glad that I was the one to lend an ear. When I introduced myself I told her that I was in town as part of a workshop that teaches photographers to tell stories visually and I would love to tell her story, she said that it would be alright if I spent the rest of the week with her to photograph her and her daughter’s story. What an honor.
The story can be seen here.
Marty is an unbelievably gracious, loving, caring and inspirational woman. She has endured unthinkable tragedy in her life but remains hopeful and strong as she makes sure everyone around her (including her dogs) are well taken care of. I will never forget her.
