Back 2 Basics Cooking held a special Valentines Day cooking class for couples Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. Three couples spent their evening learning new recipes and some cooking tips while preparing a three-course meal. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

The One Day story assignment was right in my comfort zone. This was pretty much what I did for seven years working as a newspaper photographer. Ninety-nine percent of what I did outside of spot news and sports was come up with photo stories, essays and photo galleries I could do with one visit to the subject so this was pretty much old hat for me.

I set about doing the same thing I'd do back at the paper, look around for an event that would make a nice feature story. I settled on the Back 2 Basics cooking class for a couple of reasons. I was sure it would have some fun images, it would have lots of opportunities for detail photos and going back to my days as a photo editor it would be something that would allow for a Valentines Day feature that could run on Valentine's day since it occurred on the Saturday night before the holiday. 

Things did not exactly go as planned, though they never do. To start of I got lost on my way to the venue. I'd planned for this of course so I still arrived on time, but I wanted to be there earlier. The class was a bit smaller than I'd hoped and they were working in a fairly crowded area which made it more difficult to blend in. I'd thought this through before hand and made sure that I had brought a variety of lenses including a 70-200 so that I could hang back if needed.  

I was able to get some good emotive images fairly quickly and some good detail images but I was finding it difficult to find some images that connected everything together. I wanted to find something different but I was pretty much just doing my usual wide, medium, tight shot list. I knew that this might be a issue with this story, that was one of the reasons that I chose it. I shot more than I really needed to but I wanted to have more images than I needed to have a better hcanc eof putting it together in the edit.

Overall I'm ok with my results, they aren't great but I think that this would make for a fun, Valentines Day feature. It ain't going to win any awards but it'd get the jib done as far as daily work. 

Nathan Atkinson, right Elizabeth Hatting and Anthony and Tela McKire cook risotto during a cooking class Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. Three couples spent their evening learning new recipes and some cooking tips while preparing a three-course meal during Back 2 Basics Cooking's Valentines Day cooking class. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Nathan Atkinson, front, and Elizabeth Hatting dice zucchini  during Back 2 Basics Cooking's Valentines Day cooking class Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. The zucchini was part of a relish and toasted bread that comprised the appetizer of the three-course meal the couple prepared.

Nathan Atkinson and Elizabeth Hatting add sautéed vegetables to their risotto during Back 2 Basics Cooking's Valentines Day cooking class Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. This was the couple's first class and their first time making risotto, a creamy rice dish native to northern Italy. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Nathan Atkinson sautés red onions for a risotto during a cooking class Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. Atkinson and Elizabeth Hatting were one of three couples spent their evening learning new recipes and some cooking tips while preparing a three-course meal during Back 2 Basics Cooking's Valentines Day cooking class. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Nathan Atkinson and Elizabeth Hatting check to see if their risotto is done during Back 2 Basics Cooking's Valentines Day cooking class Saturday, Feb. 13. in Columbia, Mo. Risotto, a rice dish native to northern Italy, is cooked in broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. (Photo by Adam Vogler)

Design Exercise

Design Slideshow

Reflections on Lmaott, Jay and Hurn

Each of the readings, School Lunches and Polaroids by Anne Lamott and Selecting a Subject  by Bill Jay and David Hurn deal with subject selection. There is one overall idea theme that stuck with me through these very different and often conflicting readings. Everything can be made interesting if it is interesting to you. The operative word being can, the subject may not be inherently interesting but, all do respect to Jay and Hurn I believe that every story can be interesting and visual.

Reading Lamott I thought of two things, first I recalled a favorite song of mine by Nirvana. The subject of this song was of an evening when a young Kurt Cobain was left as his grandparents while his parents went out for the evening. Each verse chronicled the events of the evening from the perspective of a small child in chronological order with the refrain of “Grandma take me home.” Now if you were to tell someone that you were writing a song about this subject they would not be likely to give one much encouragement. The song works because it gives the listener something that they can relate to, something that they themselves have experienced.

The second thing that occured to me was a new podcast from Gimlet titled “Surprisingly Awesome,” which uses as its subject matter things that seem to be mundane on the surface yet underneath posses qualities that make them fascinating to everyone.

My point here is that everything can be made to be interesting and visual. That said everything isn’t INHERENTLY interesting and visual. You have to find a way for it to be so. This is a task that you may or may not be able to succeed at but I refuse to believe that it isn’t possible, simply improbable. Just as Lamott made writing about school lunches interesting you have to dig deep and be creative in your approach. You must find the aspect of these subjects that others or ignorant or oblivious of.

The key here is to have a subject that you are knowledgeable about or can become knowledgeable about. You can’t tell a story that you are ignorant about. That said no matter how knowledgeable you are you can never know how that story is going to develop. A friend of mine set out to work on a story about recidivism while in graduate school. While shooting this story an incident of domestic violence occurred in front of her. This incident completely changed the story. She had no thoughts of working on a domestic violence story when she started but all of her work she had done on her original subject became a part of the new topic she found herself examining.

It is great, vital even to make a map of the path that you intend to go down but it is just as important to be prepared to take a fork in the road when it appears.

It is one thing to hear about a story. It is another thing to see it. That is the power inherent in photojournalism and what makes Jake May's coverage of the water crisis in Flint, Mich. so heart breaking.

I've been following Jake's work for a couple of years on Facebook and through the APhotoADay listserve. The love that he has for his city is evident in both his words and is work. You can learn everything that there is to know about apertures and shutter speeds but you can't be taught how to care. Jake cares and it shows through in his work.

The images he has made of Flint and it's people tell the full story of what the city is enduring. The words that accompany them simply add additional context. Simply seeing the photos of what these people's tap water looks like tells you everything you need to know about it. The scientific results are simply additional information.

This story also isn't dependent on images of angry or despairing people. It utilizes numerous detail photos and shows what everyday life is like with the new reality in Flint

My favorite image presented in the Time story is of the children playing. It is joyful and heartbreaking. It shows that despite the current crisis life does go on in Flint, children play. It is heartbreaking because it is these same children that will be suffering from this disaster for the rest of their lives.

Another thing I like about Jake's work on this story is how he has embraced using multiple outlets to maximize his audience. Using Instagram as well as his newspaper to document what is happening.

Last Class

This is my new blog for Picture Story and Photographic Essay. It's kind of scary how quickly I've gotten to my last photojournalism class at MU.