Missouri Photo Workshop celebrates 75th anniversary, returns to Sedalia after 43 years
Community members visit the MPW photo gallery in Sedalia on Sept. 30.
The Missouri School of Journalism’s 75th Missouri Photo Workshop (MPW), which concluded last Saturday in Sedalia, Mo., was a homecoming in more ways than one.
The workshop, which sends about 40 photographers from all over the country and the world into a small town in Missouri to tell photo stories in 400 images or less, last came to the city of Sedalia in 1980 — a year in which the city experienced its second devastating tornado in three years, injuring 20 people and causing $45 million in damages, and a year in which a Black elementary school student transferred into an all-white class, stirring tensions in the community but finding a supportive environment in her classroom.
But for Cleo Norman, a master’s student at the School of Journalism who served as the student coordinator this year alongside MPW co-directors Alyssa Schukar and Associate Professor Brian Kratzer, the workshop was an opportunity to experience her hometown through a different lens.
“Growing up in a small town, you can be bitter toward it at times and think, ‘there’s nothing here for me,’” Norman said. “But this was interesting for me in that I saw another side of the town. Sedalia has a rich and diverse community that I never knew about myself.”
From Sept. 24-30, the photographers documented that community under a core set of rules that have changed very little in 75 years: No posed photographs. No more than 400 images. No deletions.
But there is no rule against getting the inside scoop from local sources, and Norman found the workshop evolving into an even more personal experience when she became a crucial source for photographer Amanda Cowan’s photo story about local caregivers. When Cowan asked her for potential leads, Norman considered suggesting a traditional story about caregiving resources, but she ultimately could not resist sharing a more intriguing story.
“My family has a really interesting dynamic with caregiving,” Norman said. “I have two home-bound grandparents in Sedalia and six aunts who take shifts taking care of them, as if they were in a care facility.”
Cowan ran with the idea, which resulted in what Norman called “an amazing physical record” of her family. In her summary of the story, Cowan wrote:
“Mary and Russell are never alone for long as their children split the responsibilities of meals, bathing, doctors appointments, household chores and medical care. The children give up much of their own lives to keep their parents out of a nursing home. ‘It’s just what you do,’ said their daughter, Julie Wiskur. ‘Do I complain sometimes? Yes. Is it inconvenient sometimes? Yes. She’s my mom. I’d do it anytime.’”
This was just one of 38 photo stories on display Saturday at Sedalia’s Heckart Community Center, where — as is the tradition — the week’s photographs were put on show for the community to see.
But a 75th anniversary demands more than one exhibit. From Aug. 31 to Oct.1, a selection of images from the 1980 workshop were on display at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, located on Sedalia’s State Fair Community College campus. Together with the finale show on Saturday, Sedalians had the rare opportunity to reflect on both past and present visions of their city.
“The reactions were marvelous,” Kratzer said of the Daum exhibit. “People were saying, ‘I know that teacher’ or ‘I know that coach!’ It was almost like we had transported them back to 1980.”
Even so, with the workshop passing its third quarter century of existence, Kratzer and Schukar thought a third exhibit was in order. With the help of a $10,000 grant from the Missouri Humanities Council, the workshop launched its most ambitious exhibit yet: a 75-year retrospective on display at the State Historical Society of Missouri. The show’s official grand opening will be held Nov. 4, but it is now open for viewing and will remain until February 2024. From the very first workshop in Columbia in 1949 to this year’s edition, the featured images represent the variety of styles, subject matter and historical perspectives that MPW photographers have produced over the decades.
Of course, in addition to engaging with Missouri communities and providing photographers with a valuable and challenging experience, an integral part of MPW is the educational component for student volunteers. Each evening in Sedalia, students heard from leading photographers and photo editors who delivered lectures based on their experiences in the industry.
Maya Bell, who graduated from the School with a bachelor’s degree in May, worked on the short, introductory videos that prefaced these sessions as a member of the documentary team, which also produces a video summarizing the week’s events each year. Bell, currently an adjunct professor at the School, emphasized that beyond the nightly lectures, the entire experience had educational value as students observed photographers building photo stories in real time.
“It’s an incredible experience to be around such a vibrant community of fellow photojournalists and creators,” said Bell, who was also on the documentary team during last year’s conference in Excelsior Springs. “I’m really grateful to Brian and Alyssa for allowing our little crew of students to get a peek behind the curtain. Photojournalists are kind of lone wolves, so this opportunity to see what it’s like to work together and feed off each others’ creative energy is really special.”
Norman, a photo editor at the Columbia Missourian — the School of Journalism’s professional community newspaper — echoed this praise of the workshop’s collaborative and hands-on atmosphere, adding that observing the participants editing and compiling their stories left her motivated to find more ways to work together with fellow photographers. 75 years in, her words suggest MPW is as stimulating to students and professionals now as in its first year.
“I feel like I’m taking a lot back this week to my shifts at the Missourian,” Norman said. “Knowing that we can be collaborative and create something beautiful together, even if it’s just a day turn assignment, is really inspiring.”
About the Missouri Photo Workshop
Founded by Cliff Edom in 1949, the workshop still abides by Edom’s credo: “Show truth with a camera. Ideally, truth is a matter of personal integrity. In no circumstances will a posed or faked photograph be tolerated.” Faculty members throughout MPW’s history have been many of America’s leading newspaper and magazine photographers and photo editors. School of Journalism faculty, staff and students are currently engaged in digitizing the MPW archive, with the body of work from 1999-2022 and 1949 currently available here.
Updated: October 5, 2023