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The Photojournalistic Narrative An examination of the approach of photo editors and photojournalists in creating longform visual narratives. Jessi Dodge Missouri School of Journalism University of Missouri Masters Project May 2020 Committee: Brian Kratzer, Chair David Rees ABSTRACT: Conversations about narrative are few and far between in photojournalism. Interviews conducted with leaders in the field helped to complete a fuller understanding of the process and ideals of building visual narratives. Understood through the hierarchy of influences theory, this research found that photo editors look for a strongly communicated human experience first in the narratives they work with. Conversations further suggest that communication is the single most important element of the narrative development process. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………ii II. Integrative Introduction…………...…………………………………………………....iv III. Professional Component………………………………………………………………..1 a. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..2 b. Discussion……………………………………………………………………....3 i. Previous Book Analysis……………………………………………...…3 ii. Picture editing…………………………………………………………..4 iii. Design and publication………………………………………………....8 c. Evaluation…………………………………………………………………...…11 IV. Interviews Component…………………………………………………………………15 a. Introduction…………………………………………………………………....16 b. Literature Review……………………………………………………………...17 c. Guiding Theory…………………………………………………………….......22 d. Methodology…………………………………………………………………...25 i. Interview Guide……………………………………………………..….31 e. Findings……………………………………………………………………..….32 f. Conclusions……………………………………………………………….....…48 g. Article for publication………………………………………………………….54 V. Works Cited………………………………………………………………………….....59 VI. Appendix…………………………………………………………………………….....63 a. Field Notes……………………………………………………………………..64 b. Interview Guide Questionnaire………………………………………………...82 c. Partial Interview Transcripts…………………………………………………...83 d. Original proposal……………………………………………………………...115 iii INTEGRATIVE INTRODUCTION: I come from a world of storytelling. In many ways, who doesn’t? But growing up, coming together and sharing stories of past and present was a staple of daily life. We were constantly surrounded by tales of humor and comedy, of shock and disbelief. All these memories bounced from one corner of the table to the other, each new voice piping in for their favorite part or to defend with a correction of a ‘failed’ memory. I loved listening to all the stories of the past and seeing photographs of brief moments that tied one story to the next. I knew always that I wanted to grow up and be able to share my own stories at the table – to share the best and the worst moments in story form – just like I spent my early years. What’s the catch? Telling stories with words. I’m terrible at it. Whether in text or by voice, I missed out on a talent for catching other’s attention and keeping people alert as the story rises and falls. I realized quickly that the art of the spoken narrative is not a strength of mine. But I knew still that I wanted to contribute, that I still wanted to tell stories about experiences and livelihoods with others. So, I picked up the camera. The majority of my life to this point has been spent in a town with less than a thousand people. Agriculture was a string connecting the surrounding areas, where a few hundred people in a small number of homes actually run the community. Too small to be completely self- sustainable, necessities like groceries were purchased in neighboring towns. Things like pools, theatres and stop-lights were something you drove at least 30 minutes to find. But it was the shortage of vibrant local news that left the biggest gap. Gas station shelves were stocked with county and regional newspapers, but only one publication ever really covered familiar towns or talked about the schools and community members – the people that “my people” knew and recognized. iv I started working for this weekly newspaper, the Elbert County News, in Colorado, in high school, sending them my best action photos from football and basketball games. At the time, I was excited to make print and to contribute. Now I look back and realize that the stories our town had to tell were rarely seen in print. A three-man newspaper didn’t have time for storytelling or for spending entire days documenting the life of someone’s neighbor, such as someone who taught in the school for forty years only to retire and drive the sports bus for another twenty. Or to see the tireless work of a century ranch – one of only a handful left in the county. The stories that defined the town and the people were overlooked because of resources the paper didn’t have – and still doesn’t. I had already found photography, but I quickly welcomed photojournalism as a tool for telling these stories and sharing the experiences of the people around me. I didn’t realize until coming to college just how much of a loss this was for my town, both now and for the future. The concept of seeing stories not recorded was confirmed year after year with my participation as a volunteer in the Missouri Photo Workshop. The photographs created over the course of only a few days, year after year, each in a different small town, together made a record. This record is a massive collection of stories about the most everyday people and the roles they play in their families, communities and beyond. Watching and listening to this process helped me recognize the value of storytelling not only with community leaders, but also with the neighbor everyone knows but never sees in print. This coverage can both define the community as it stands today and help to build a stronger community moving forward. As a five-time crew member working in closer proximity to the faculty of photo editors than the photographers themselves, I have become most interested in the role of the photo editor in storytelling. This interest developed further in my role as a photo editor and Assistant Director of Photography at the Columbia Missourian and Vox Magazine. This work has pushed me to v develop and challenge my skills as an editor in crafting and developing a final narrative from images created by our team of photographers. As the workshop’s editors continue to deepen my understanding of the “photo editor” position, I looked to my master’s project to explore how photo editors, primarily, and photographers approach the construction of visual narratives, photo stories and essays. By better understanding the processes and ideals driving photo editors as they work to craft narratives in photo projects, this research aims to increase consideration of the processes used to create final narratives seen in publications. A deeper dive into understanding the work process and factors influencing decision making helps to fill a gap in previous research on how narratives are created by photo editors and photojournalists. The product of such enhanced communication has potential, optimistically, to inspire more productive, forward-moving discussions on visual narratives, and to increase understanding of the motivations of photo editors. In building an understanding of these working styles and approaches, we can optimistically increase discourse amongst industry professionals on the work that they do and the motivations behind their choices. Driven by an interest in improving my own approach to narrative development in longform visual storytelling, I connected this research directly to my professional component: the editing and designing of the 2019 Boonville Missouri Photo Workshop book. The workshop has been hosted three times in Boonville – 1953, 1998 and 2019. The book I created placed primary emphasis on the body of work created as part of the 2019 workshop, and used work created in the earlier Boonville years to enrich the historical introduction of the town. The research on the approach to narrative building combined, with the creation of a photo book driven by a town’s narratives, aligns the interview component with the professional project. The research specifically looked to answer the following question: vi RQ: How do photo editors and photojournalists approach visual narrative construction for long-form photographic stories and essays? vii PROFESSIONAL PROJECT COMPONENT Introduction The professional component of this project was the complete editing and designing of the 2019 Boonville Missouri Photo Workshop photo book. The Missouri Photo Workshop began in 1949 when Clifton Edom brought photographers and photo editors to Columbia to explore photojournalism and how to document a community with a camera. Over the course of the next seven decades the workshop has spread across the state to photograph 50 towns and their residents. Originally the workshop used a collaborative group effort to document the town selected for the year. Since then, it has shifted to its current form, drawing roughly 40 photographers to a town to collaborate and learn from editors and photographers from around the world, ultimately having each photographer find and photograph a photo story, approved by their faculty, during the week. The first photo book from a single workshop was completed in 2008 from the stories and images created as part of the St. James workshop. Since then, books have been designed for workshops in Festus & Crystal City, Macon, Clinton, Trenton and Cuba (Bickel, 2009; Peltier, 2010; Wood, 2011; Hyunh, Pasek and Tucker, 2012; Kendall-Ball, 2014; Sturtecky, 2018). This book emphasizes the work of 38 photographers