More than 40 photographers from 13 states and four countries are coming to Kennett for the Missouri Photo Workshop (MPW). University of Missouri students will serve as the crew to make the workshop happen. The faculty coaches come from across the country. MPW will arrive in Kennett just before the Delta Fair for a week of photographic storytelling.
A welcome event for the group will take place at Downtown Bistro on Sunday, Sept. 22, from 5-7 p.m., at which members of the community can meet the photographers, students and faculty. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available.
This workshop is like no other. Photographers are charged with finding a story. They aren’t handed a story. And once their story proposal has been approved by their faculty, the photographers have only 400 frames to tell the story.
Because they are looking for great ideas, this is a chance for you to talk about people in the community who are interesting. By the end of week there will be 42 photo stories for you to see during an exhibit at the new fire station. Feel free to propose story ideas.
The Missouri Photo Workshop was founded in 1949 at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Each year 40 student photographers and staff set off on a week-long trip to document life in towns around the State of Missouri. In 2023, Excelsior Springs was the destination of MPW, but other Southeast Missouri towns have been visited over the years – including Caruthersville in 1987, Sikeston in 1958, and Poplar Bluff in 1985.
Of those involved in the workshop, the MPW website states, “faculty members have been many of America's leading newspaper and magazine photographers and photo editors; a roster of faculty and students reads like a Who's Who of photojournalism.”
MPW stories dating back to the 1999 edition in West Plains are available to view online by visiting missouriphotoworkshop.org.
Those with ideas of interesting stories to tell around the City of Kennett are encouraged to contact workshop director Brian Kratzer by emailing kratzerb@missouri.edu before their arrival in town. If you want to be contacted by a photographer before the workshop, send Kratzer your information. Some photographers like to research ideas before arriving in town and are excited to make connections. |
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