“Two worlds of mine are kind of overlapping right now; which is a little weird, but mostly exciting,” Cleo Norman, MPW.75 Local Expert, said of this week. Born and raised 20 minutes outside of Sedalia, Norman is a graduate student studying photojournalism at the University of Missouri. She was approached for her current gig in May, as MPW co-directors Alyssa Shukar and Brian Kratzer were in the midst of planning the workshop.

She acted as a liaison, putting community members in contact with the workshop. Kevin Ludjin, a local photographer and MPW enthusiast, reached out to Kratzer through Norman, and worked to get other local business owners and politicians on board with hosting the workshop.

Each workshop is years in the making. Initially, Kratzer thought Sedalia was too big for MPW.75. “Twenty-one thousand people — it’s a little bit on the upper end of how big we want to go,” he said. That was until he learned the population hadn’t grown since MPW.32 in 1980. “I think the fact that it’s a big small town is really exciting.

It’s the most diverse, I think, a small town can be,” Norman said.

Returning home as a MPW.75 crew member prompted Norman to view her hometown from the perspective of the photographers. “These past couple of days that I’ve been here, I’m driving around and I’m noticing all of these little things over again,” she said.

When the workshop directors started exploring the archives from MPW.32, they rediscovered the racial segregation of the town in 1980. While the town has progressed over

the past 43 years, Kratzer expects a few picture stories that return to this topic. “It’ll be interesting to compare and contrast these two bodies of work,” he said.

“There’s gonna be some wonderful things in Sedalia that people are happy to see that we document, and there are going to be things in Sedalia that people will be maybe surprised that happens in their town,” Kratzer said,

“Neighbors will learn something new about neighbors.” Despite all the work over the past year that’s gone into planning MPW.75 in Sedalia, Kratzer feels the town is “cautiously excited.” “It takes courage to open up your town, open up your house, open up your home, open up your family, to a photographer,” he said.

For local residents, the Sedalia Democrat has been an important news source since its founding in 1868. With this week’s photographers coming from publications and jobs ranging in scale, Nicole Cooke, the paper’s editor, hopes that everyone remembers the value of local news.

“It might not be the big story you see on the front page of The New York Times or star of the Post-Dispatch, but there are always stories to be told in a small town,” said Cooke.

Cooke started as a reporter at the paper 10 years ago, and became editor in 2017. In 2020, her managing duties expanded when the Democrat purchased the Warrensburg Star Journal, making Cooke the editor of both papers.

Ten years of experience taught her that story ideas can be found in every aspect of life in rural Missouri. The stories published in the Sedalia

Democrat are a reflection of the town and its people. Agriculture and industry play large roles in the community and the paper’s coverage. Other stories stem from the nonprofit sector, such as the Boys and Girls Club or a local domestic and sexual abuse advocacy and shelter program.

“Sometimes you have to look past the obvious a little bit in local news,” Cooke said. “But there’s always something going on to find a story.” Larger news outlets in St. Louis and Kansas City rarely cover Sedalia and neighboring communities. Sedalia residents appreciate the smaller stories that otherwise wouldn’t be recognized by regional outlets.“It’s rewarding to know that we are the ones reporting these important stories that wouldn’t get told otherwise,” Cooke said.

Cooke looked forward to MPW’s arrival.“We’re a small newsroom, there’s not very many of us, so to have a crew of this many journalists coming in is pretty cool,” she said. “I’m excited to see what they uncovered during the week here.”

Check out the Sedalia Democrat’s website for more info: https://www.sedaliademocrat.com

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Bill Marr “Editing a Body of Work: Finding one narrative from many 

stories

8:00 a.m. - Noon Story consultations

Noon - 1:00 p.m. “Everyone Eats” Ray Wong & Mardy Fones-sponsored lunch

Q&A: Alyssa Schukar moderates a discussion: “Working with Photo Editors”

with Sarah Leen, Idris Solomon, Ariel Zambelich, Jennifer Mosbrucker, Jessi Dodge

1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Story consultations

7:00 p.m. Evening program:

David Barreda: “Pitching, Photographing and Publishing Story Ideas”

Melissa Farlow: “Maintaining Relationships and Pivoting in the Field”

Ariel Zambelich: “Seeing the Bigger Picture”

Mallory Benedict: “Structuring Story”

8:00 p.m. Critique of workshop photographers’ initial images

9:00 p.m. Team meetings