the feature hunt

With two photo classes and CM-Life, I am hard-pressed to find stories, all the time. Which means my Saturdays often are eaten up by time spent feature hunting. Today's issue of CM-Life illustrates the fruits of a recent story find.

Kaitlynn Craven, 8, pushes her stepsister Aspen Campbell, 4, as their grandmother, Julie Campbell, leads their sister Ashley Craven, 11, on a ride on 6 year old miniature horse Brownie Tuesday at the girls' grandparents' home in Greendale Township. In addition to Brownie, the Campbells have 9 chickens, 3 dogs, and a pony.

There's something vaguely exciting about the feature hunt; a sense of adventuring journalist, or the closest I can get until I grow up and run away to be a war photographer in Africa. And with that sense of adventure also comes an appropriate sense of apprehension. It freaks me out to just go barreling into people's lives on a whim.

My friend Jake May and I went 'hunting' on Saturday, and I ventured out again on Sunday afternoon with a CM-Life reporter, Sarah Schuch, filling page upon page in my cutline book full of phone numbers and possible leads. Yet nothing panned out extensively over the weekend - Saturday we did a lot of legwork for stories, but I didn't get to shoot anything. Frustrating.

Sunday was more immediately successful. Sarah and I combed the sides of M-2o for interesting characters, and came across a little house with animals in the backyard over which I yelped, mistaking them for llamas. They turned out to be of a more equine nature - a pony and a miniature horse. (Embarrassing, because I spent my childhood swallowing Saddle Club novels and saving money for my own horse, which I eventually had throughout high school. you'd think I would recognize a horse's profile. In my defense, "Brownie," the miniature, was lying down with his nose out and back to us, and we passed them at about 65 mph...)

Julie Campbell kisses to her 6 year old miniature horse, Brownie, Sunday afternoon in her backyard in Greendale Township.

Though a little scary and sometimes an exercise in patience, feature hunting is a key part of photojournalism, and I'm glad I put in some time over the weekend. It's validating to realize I am starting to fully enjoy more of the whole process of storytelling, including the digging.

untitled

I recently wrote copy to go along with a photo story I started last October; I have been following Bethany McDonald, a 29-year-old mother of three and community director of the Mount Pleasant Mobile Home Park. The story ran with six photos and an 800-word piece in print for CM-Life, along with an online slideshow. Beth, her family, and the entire mobile home park are very dear to my heart, so I was excited her story would be published. I have always admired Bethany for her good-naturedness and selflessness when dealing with her family and community.

The online response to the story was not so admiring. Most comments were cutting, both to Bethany and to me as the journalist telling her story.

There was a wide array of insults directed at the piece, from cutting Beth down for smoking cigarettes to disdain for her choice to have a baby at age 14.

I was initially unfeathered by these views, but the negativity kept coming. There has been a lot of judgement passed on Beth and her family, and I am responsible for exposing them to this kind of cheap criticism. I was crushed. I guess it was naive of me to think there wouldn't be responses like this.

Perhaps it was the choice of main image that spurred some of it. Maybe I should have given more consideration to its connotation; could I have avoided some of the flak by choosing a less leading image? (see below)

Beth and her middle son, Daniel, 11, wait in line Nov. 5 at Save-A-Lot on Mission Street. It's always really busy the first few days of the month, because everyone's getting their new food stamps, she explains.

In the future I will be very cautious. I never thought people would focus on what they have. If I have exacerbated these negative reactions through this choice of image, I am sorry for that.

I am not sorry for getting the story published. Bethany is a kind and giving person whose sense of humor and spirit are commendable. She has overcome tremendous disadvantages in childhood and is a wonderfully caring mother and happily married in a country ever more frequently rent apart by divorce. Her home is a haven for children and adults of the trailer park alike. She makes sacrifices every day that most people I know will never have to experience.

I can only say to those who disapprove of the story that I truly believe they missed its point and I ask that they reconsider their words and exercise more compassion.

I hope the story reached some people in the way I intended it.

mppa reflections.

Jake May, left, Neil Blake, me, and Sean Proctor celebrate after the Michigan Press Photographers Association awards banquet Saturday in Lansing. These are my best friends, and this was one of the best days of my life. I owe everything I am as a photojournalist to these people, and to Kent.

Neil, Jake, and I form the "trifecta" - a term Jake coined to describe our friendship and our pushing of each other as journalists and photographers. With Sean, we are what we call the "Rat Pack."

Since sometime last semester, we've grown together as friends and joked about winning Michigan College Photographer of the Year (CPOY), an MPPA category with three top placings and usually an Honorable Mention.

I can hardly believe it...but we did it.

Neil is College Photographer of the Year for 2010, and received Honorable Mention for Sports Picture Story of the Year. Jake is 2nd place CPOY, with an Honorable Mention for Feature Picture Story of the Year. I am 3rd place CPOY. Sean's portfolio was the last to be cut by the MPPA judges, who debated an Honorable Mention (HM), but decided against it. I can't say I agree with that decision - Sean will always be MPPA CPOY 2009's HM in our hearts - but I am blown away by what is, literally, a dream come true.

I also received first place in Feature Picture Story of the Year category for my piece, "Hearts Wide Open," which I began working on for my JRN 422 class last semester with Kent Miller (who won MPPA's Pictorial Picture of the Year). This story was essentially the first picture story I ever began. It is my biggest work so far, and it is really, as my friend Tanya says, my baby.

The all-nighters and time spent as a fly on the wall in other people's lives seem to be coming full circle. I am both buoyed and humbled by MPPA weekend. This may end up being a novel of a blog post, but I have to expound on everything I learned.

Friday's judging was a cold splash of water. One of my images (below) made it through several rounds of judging but was knocked out because of something Neil and Jake have been at me for all semester: something they call the "Libby vignette." The judges said, (and I quote) I "burnt the hell out of it." Looking at it on the big [big, BIG!] screen, I felt about two inches tall. I knew they were right. I over-edited.

EJ Bussell, 5, enjoys a candy cigarette as his cousins play wall ball behind him on the street in Mount Pleasant Mobile Home Park in Mount Pleasant, MI Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009.

I often have to learn things the hard way. Apparently this was one of those times - getting called out for over-editing by nationally renowned photojournalists burned much more than I burned down these corners.

The second part of my MPPA 2010 wakeup call came during the Multimedia category judging. I entered "Hearts Wide Open," the soundslide version, and it made it to viewing status (with 50+ entries, the judges previewed everything and selected candidates to judge at the public judging). It was then promptly chewed up and spat out.

I can't even recall any exact adjectives, but I can only say I was an ant. And the judges were holding a magnifying glass. On a beautiful day. In the Sahara desert.

They appreciated my efforts photographically, but considered my audio work and production editing very poor. This year, I was weighed, measured, and very much found wanting. The next time I work on a multimedia project, I will be vigilant about sound quality, and I will meticulously edit for a smoother viewing experience. I'm honestly still not sure where I went so wrong, but I don't ever want to be the rookie failure again. No matter how big the pond is.

Saturday, after the Feature Story and CPOY results, I was overjoyed. My "cup runneth over," with two good friends given the recognition they deserved, and placing in College Photographer of the Year.

It's surreal. A year ago, I was an art kid tripping my way through JRN 220. I remember seeing a soundslide for the first time and thinking it'd be years before I'd make multimedia pieces. Now my close friends are photographers, my camera is a staple before my wallet, and storytelling is slowly becoming integral to my thought process.

I've met some of my most respected and favorite people through photojournalism just in the past year, be they subjects or journalists. I am generally amazed by the character of people in this profession. Good photojournalists are individuals who know how to listen, and see the things that should be remembered. MPPA is an incredible experience because while you may be trimmed down, if you're paying attention, you'll come out fuller.

Looking at good pictures and absorbing criticism for two straight days is exhausting, yet affirming. It's a sort of purification process, I think - to put your work on the line and watch it roll by without the elusive "in" from a judge, or to have your heart bruise as it hammers in your ribcage, waiting to know if your piece will 'make it.' You begin to understand a standard - you are whittled down and polished. You are being refined.

And you are given the challenge and the invitation for the difficult, scary, exhilarating work you will do, and the inspiring, admirable, and significant people you will meet, over the next year. I can only hope I will have half the caliber of experiences I've been given in 2009.

[Lower set of photos: middle, by Sara Winkler, outer two, by Kent Miller]