This was shot in St. James, Mo. as a possible addition to the Missouri Photo Workshop book on the town. Fifteen MU photojournalism students and professor Rita Reed returned to this south-central Missouri town for an extended weekend to try and round out some of the coverage for the book, which is due out next year.

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Story summary:
Earl Briggs had to grow up faster than some of his classmates at St. James High School.

He moved out of his parent’s home when he was 16. Things were too chaotic around there — too much drinking and too much drama, he says.

He moved into an apartment with a friend and got a job at McDonald’s to pay the rent.

Earl is now a senior with one foot still in his youth, and the other firmly planted in the adult world.

Earl is a right guard and a nose tackle on the St. James High School varsity team. The team traveled two hours to DeSoto, Mo., and had a 1-7 record going into the game.

DeSoto brought a larger line to the Friday-night matchup, but Earl said their players were “weak.”

Trailing 28-0 at halftime, coach Greg Harlan lectures the team for forgetting the week’s practices.

Earl said he was frustrated with his team’s 59-7 loss.

Earl talks with girlfriend Carissa Dixon after the game. They have been together for two years and currently live in Earl’s apartment.

As the only student among his friends who lives on his own, Earl’s porch is the default spot to hang out day and night. Earl and his friends smoke, drink and stay up late.

Earl gets ready for work on a Sunday afternoon. During football season, he works during the weekends. He works 40 hours per week during the rest of the year.

Earl and Chris Zachery are roommates, teammates, best friends and coworkers. They plan to move to Springfield, Mo., after graduation to earn their heavy equipment operator’s licenses.

The End

And now for a few outtakes…

Earl in auto collision repair class on Friday morning

Girlfriend Carissa wanted to stop by this yard sale after school let out.
Earl did not.

The team watches their DeSoto opponents warm up.

Check out the work of my classmates:
(If I missed one, please let me know)

Joshua Bickel

Catalin Abagiu

Aaron Rosenblatt

My last video from my summer internship at the Tulsa World published this Sunday. The video is a look at the life and legacy of Oklahoma native Will Rogers.

It is included in a Flash package created around the 70th anniversary of the Will Rogers Memorial Museum .

At 5:40 minutes, it is by far the longest video I’ve ever produced. It includes interviews with the museum’s director and Will’s grandniece. I also had access to historic news reel footage and movie clips.

This is a fairly dated interviewed with MU grad student Calin Ilea. He was a participant at the 60th Missouri Photo Workshop.

View his story here:
“My Mom’s New Baby”

(Randy Cox, David Rees and Joshua Bickel)

Missouri Photo Workshop Co-Director Jim Curley talks about the workshop’s history.

St. James bear crossing

St. James entertainment

St. James Community Center

For the first time during my time at MU, I’m a volunteer for the Missouri Photo Workshop. In the past, I’ve let The Maneater, the Missourian or being in London get in the way of volunteering.

It will be a week of long days.

I’ll eat more Burger King and greasy dinner fare than my heart would prefer.

Missing a week of classes will give my grades an early sucker punch I could do without.

I’m stoked.

Here’s a story I wrote a few years ago about the workshop -

Photographers invade mid-Missouri

MARSHALL — Forty-one photojournalists from around the world descended upon this town of 12,000 on Sunday to document the lives of the town’s residents.

The Missouri Photo Workshop was first held in Columbia in 1949. MU photojournalism professor Clifton Edom founded the workshop that features photography from rural Missouri.

Missouri Photo Workshop co-director Jim Curley said it was Edom’s “vision to use small town America” that helped start the program.

“Cliff’s mantra for years was simple,” Curley said. “Show the truth with the camera.”

Workshop participants spent the week following a local resident and documenting his or her story. The photojournalists were given a short amount of time to locate a story that interested them and a faculty of experienced photojournalists critiqued the work and gave advice.

Most of the participants are professional photojournalists, but MU students also could apply. Carolin Burrer, a German Fulbright scholar studying at MU, attended the workshop after hearing about it from her professor and workshop co-director David Rees. Burrer received her first critique from the faculty on Wednesday morning.

“They can really tell you what to do,” Burrer said.

Photojournalism students helped the workshop run smoothly.

“We have about 15 students who do the grunt work,” Curley said. “They get to experience the workshop by doing the work.”

The student staff performed a number of tasks that helped keep the workshop participants focused on their stories. They downloaded the photographers’ digital cards, printed the best shots for the community show and produced a daily newsletter.

MU graduate student Beatriz Wallace served on the student staff. Wallace said she was familiar with the Missouri Photo Workshop before choosing to attend the university.

“This is why I decided to come to Missouri,” Wallace said.

The participants must complete their stories by noon today, which is when the final editing will begin. On Saturday, community members can go to Marshall High School to see some of the photographs taken during the week as well as photos from a Missouri Photo Workshop held in 1967.

“This feels like a pep rally,” Wallace said. “We have been seeing people make terrific work, and now we just want to get out and make our own.

The Rock Bridge boys varsity cross country team waits to hear if they placed first or second as a team at Liberty Invitational. They placed second.

Keeping watch over Anthony Street

It was cool and very foggy this morning for the Liberty (Mo.) Invitational. This was just a quick grab. I’ll post my “One Day Story” in a few days.