Workshop Co-Directors

MPW.57 Behind the Scenes is coming Soon!

"Don't go for the easy story. Find something that challenges you, that scares you."
—Lois Raimondo / MPW.57

MPW.57 Rangefinder PDFs

Photo By Preston Gannaway / MPW.57
PHOTO BY SAMANTHA CLEMENS/ MPW.57

Jason Nelson, 23, and his wife Donisha Nelson, 20, moved to Marshall six months ago with their 9-month-old daughter, Dae'Jay, and Donisha's 7-year-old son, Dustin Nance. The family moved from Kansas City to get a new start not long after Jason was released from prison. Even as he strives toward a better future, Jason is burdened by his past. "I've got good experience, it's just that I'm a felon," he said. When the Nelsons' electricity was cut off a month and a half ago, Ann Rice, 42, and her daughter, Sarah Loehr, 17, neighbors in the same government-subsidized housing complex, opened their home as a refuge for the family each day. "She brought home a family of four," Ann said of her daughter who made friends with Jason, "What can I say?" In the newly crowded apartment, the two families have been creating meals from the local food pantry and from the food stamps that Jason and Donisha receive. "Miss Ann, she's a blessing in disguise, she really is. I love her like a mother, she's treating us like we're her children," said Jason, "We're one big family, for real." While Dustin attends first grade, Donisha and Jason take care of the baby and help Ann and Sarah around the house. The family has strained to get their life together, seeking help for their bills so they can keep their children.

Photographs from the 56th Missouri Photo Workshop are available available online through the Year-by-Year page, or through the MPW.56 homepage

History of the Missouri Photo Workshop

The roots of the Missouri Photo Workshop are embedded firmly in a half-century of rich tradition; current workshops carry on principals present from the beginning.

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When the late Clifton C. Edom of the Missouri School of Journalism founded the Missouri Photo Workshop in 1949, he too, looked to the past to map the path for photojournalism's future. Inspired by the gritty, content-rich photographs of the documentary photo unit of the pre-WWII Farm Security Administration, Edom promoted research, observation and timing as the methods to make strong story-telling photographs. FSA director Roy Stryker and photographer Russell Lee worked closely with Edom in the creation of the Workshop and served as faculty members during its early years.

In subsequent years, 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. Faculty of today includes some of the most energetic, productive and articulate documentarians currently working. All are experts dedicated to passing on the fundamentals of photo research, shooting and editing to those who hope to carry on these values and techniques in the future.

The workshop still follows Cliff Edom's credo:

"Show truth with a camera. Ideally truth is a matter of personal integrity. In no circumstances will a posed or fake photograph be tolerated."

MPW.57 Participants

TEAM A

TEAM B

TEAM C

TEAM D

TEAM E

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