OPINION|
Interpreting events and telling stories is a photojournalist’s job. At least 125 times in the past year, the Hauxeda asked me to tell those stories and tell them well.
Photographers are journalism’s jacks-of-all-trades. We work beside reporters or on our own. We find ourselves in people’s homes, in public schools, on college campuses, in bars and at public meetings, on farms, at county fairs and in cemeteries. We make photographs of places and things, but most importantly we make photographs of people.
Springfield’s 170,000 residents, at least 3,000 of whom are homeless, are a never-ending source of subject matter for both the written word and my cameras. Photo and story possibilities are everywhere. After living here four and a half years, I still feel like a relative stranger to this place. Like traveling abroad, many things still feel new to me and as if I am seeing them with fresh eyes.
Sometimes rather than telling people, “I want to take your picture,” I ask, “can I make your picture?” It becomes a collaboration between the two of us, much like a writer asking their subject to “say more.”
Other times, having made the photograph candidly or from a distance, I’ll approach the person to ask their name and tell them, “I just made a photo of you.” That it was a thoughtful rather than casual act is important.
A couple of sentences about 12 photographs that mattered to me, and hopefully to readers, in 2023:
Donny Snow Harrell enjoying a martini with his dinner at Pappy’s Place felt like a moment from “Cheers.” Indeed, everybody knew Donny’s name. This story took a sad turn a few days later when Pappy’s co-owner Wayne Rader died unexpectedly.
I had struggled to make the photograph I wanted of Holocaust survivor Erika Schwartz until she stepped into a beam of sunlight in an otherwise unlit room. A few minutes later she was showing me her Elvis Presley records and laughing about her teenage fandom.
A forum on relations with Springfield police held by the NAACP in February attracted about 200 people. Rieya Franklin’s attentiveness and her children’s presence represented hope for the future to me.
Dan Bigbee, owner of Fassnight Creek Farm, is one of the last remaining farmers in a city that used to contain cow pastures. Bigbee is sorting boxes of a variety of sweet onion plants for distribution to nurseries and vendors.
When Kai Sutton talked about the suitcase she carried all of her possessions in while fleeing an abusive relationship in Chicago, I immediately knew that if she still had the suitcase we could make a photograph together. This photo ran with the Daily Citizen’s “Living in Fear” series on domestic violence. Sutton is also the president of the Springfield chapter of the NAACP.
A self-assigned package of photographs for Memorial Day produced one of my personal favorites for the entire year. Conner Cope, 8, of Aurora runs through a section of the Springfield National Cemetery with an armful of American flags.
While Ozarks Pridefest had the expected flamboyancy of drag performers, it was the quiet togetherness of Jeanette Hipskind, left, and her partner of 31 years, Linda Thomas, that told a bigger story (for me).
Adam and Melissa Millsap, owners of Urban Roots Farm, announced they were ceasing operation of the small scale farm after 14 years. True to my goal to work together to make a photograph, Melissa settled into Adam’s shoulder without any direction from me.
Listening to, and talking with Annie Leibovitz, one of the greatest living portrait photographers, was an inspiring opportunity. When she stopped to speak in front of one section of her new exhibit at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, I felt like I was channeling a small portion of her skill.
My best collaborative photograph of the year. I met Aldi super-fans Allyson Dougherty, left, Melany Myers, and Michael Underlin at a store in Republic. After I made a few static photos of them posing with the shopping cart, Allyson told me to back up and she would push it across the parking lot. Her leg kick and the trio’s expressions were more than I could have ever hoped for.
“Caw! Caw!”
I began learning about Springfield’s homeless community shortly after moving here in 2019. When Victor Fedchuk died in an alley less than two miles from my home, I visited the site and found this small cross of sticks. I later wrote a column for the Daily Citizen about Fedchuk that ended, “No one saw Victor. Victor died alone. Springfield needs to do better. We all need to do better.”
And finally, BK&M. The developers whose efforts to obtain a zoning variance is entering its second year listen as Springfield’s Planning and Zoning Commission turns them down again in mid-December.
What Daily Citizen editor Rance Burger calls BOPSA assignments (bunch of people sitting around) are always a fun challenge. Waiting, waiting, waiting… turn away and you’ll miss it. Or, pay attention, listen and anticipate. And make your photograph.
