This week I had the incredible opportunity to be a faculty member at the Missouri Photo Workshop in St. James, Missouri. In short, the MPW is the first and oldest documentary storytelling workshop in the country. Each year participants find and shoot a photo story in a different small town in Missouri. And 60 years later the emphasis of the workshop remains the same.
Finding their own story is what makes this workshop so valuable. And consequently it is the part many participants dread and struggle with the most. As a newspaper photographer, I can’t stress the importance of being able to find your own stories. Very few extra special assignments are just handed to you- and when you are assigned to a story, you must learn to dig below the surface, ask the right questions, and exhaust your photo subject. This will invariably put you in better situations and yield more intimate storytelling photographs.
I was lucky enough to be partnered with faculty member Melissa Farlow, who I now consider a friend. For an entire week, mostly sitting two inches apart, we edited, mentored, laughed with our team enjoying their commitment to learn photography, at the same time soaking up their energy. Our team came in with various experience levels ranging from the College Photographer of the Year International winner, to art photographers who had never worked in the documentary tradition, to a conservation photographer with a portfolio with beautiful insect photographs but with little experience photographing people.
It was fun to watch how them pursue their personal vision. All made giant leaps of their own and I wish them the best.
I also felt blessed to be in such an idealistic environment surrounded by dedicated students and distinguished faculty, all kindred spirits of the documentary photograph. I can’t even begin to write how much I learned.