Missouri Photo Workshop | MPW.61 | Photojournalism & Documentary Photography

Workshop Co-Directors

David Rees &
Jim Curley

Faculty MPW.61

"William Klein said 'Photograph a riot like a wedding and a wedding like a riot.'"
—Kim Komenich / MPW.61

MPW.61 Rangefinder PDFs

Welcome to the 61st Missouri Photo Workshop | MPW.61

PHOTO BY CLARE BECKER / MPW.61

"In spite of the pain and the agony - enjoy it."
—Duane Dailey at MPW.61

MPW.61 | Festus & Crystal City, Mo

In the second half of the 19th century, Ebenezer B. Ward simultaneously founded the American Plate Glass Company and the town of New Detroit in the silica-rich area that rises up from the Western banks of the Mississippi River. New Detroit would become Crystal City, the adjacent town of Tanglefoot would become Festus, and these cities 34 miles south of St. Louis would remain inextricably linked in the 140 years since.

Visitors to the Twin City community of Festus and Crystal City have difficulty knowing which town they’re in at any time; it often changes in the middle of the block. The Wal-Mart Supercenter straddles the city boundary, but public services are duplicated on either side of that boundary. Each city has its own police force, volunteer fire department, library and school system, and the sales tax revenues from the Wal-Mart are equitably divided between the two cities.

During the first stretch of crisp fall weather in 2009, from September 27 through October 3, 31 photographers, 12 faculty and 16 University of Missouri School of Journalism students blanketed Festus and Crystal City to document life in these small towns, fine-tuning their story-telling skills in the tradition of Cliff and Vi Edom and six decades of photographers that came before them. The photographers journeyed to Missouri from Dominican Republic, Canada, India, Romania, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, and all points domestic to explore small-town life in Missouri.

MPW.61 Participants

TEAM A

These American Dreams by McNair Evans
Carol's Full Plate at the White Grill by Tatiana Fernandez
Holding Down the Airport & Dawn's Early Flight by Lillian Kelly
The School House by Michele Kraus
Dad's Place by August Kryger
A Fixture in the Community by Go Takayama
The Caregiver by Chad Ziemendorf

TEAM B

Motivated Midwest Mom by Jeff Antenore
The Great Ape Experience by Bharat Choudhary
Home for Good by Aimee Guymon
For the Love of Laverne by John Liau
Junkie by Christopher Pike
It Takes a Family by Julia Robinson
Main Street USA by Phoebe Sexton
Old Diners Never Die by Jim Stipe

TEAM C

L Train, Dreams of Football Stardom by Mustafah Abdulaziz
When Things Fall Apart by Becky Holladay
A Teacher of Note by Rachael Jane
The Last Dairy Farm in Festus by Hiroko Masuike
Tim & Angela: A Tale of Two Rings by Carlos Moreno
Hangin' in the Padded Hanger by Alice Pak
The Curious Life of Kian by Zachary Siebert
Passing Time, Father to Son by Clay Stalter

TEAM D

Jonathan Joins the Team by Patrick Fallon
God Lives Here by Brett Gundlock
Neighborhood Grocery by Hannah Hardaway
The Wood Den by Samantha Jefferson
An Almost Empty Nest by Erin McCann
Playful Angel by Cosmin Motei
Many Mouths to Feed by Jerome Nakagawa
Miss Punny by Gemma Thorpe