We went to the Fair

On Saturday, I had the honor of working with students from the University of Georgia’s Visual Journalism program at their fall workshop, which was held at the Georgia National Fair in Perry, Georgia. As an alumna of the same program, I was humbled when my former professor (and now good friend) called to ask if I would act as one of editors for the students as they hunted for their stories across the fairgrounds. The students’ tasks were simple: photograph the fair for the purposes of archiving events for the general Georgia National Fair archive AND find a story– a compelling, personal story that brings at bit more focus to a very large, very overwhelming event.

It was about a 14 hour workday, and everyone was grimy and exhausted before the fireworks show. But the kids — yes, I’m only three years removed from the program myself, but I’m very grumpy and good at barking motivating like a camp counselor, so I’m not a kid–  killed it. So many wonderful images flew by our eyes and I’m thrilled I had the chance to sit and laugh with another generation of #UGAVJ students. Granted, my class will always be the best, but this semester’s pep and zest comes awfully close to the awesomeness of #JOUR3610 and #DocDonuts. To view the students’ work, go ahead and click through the galleries live online with The Macon-Telegraph.

Here you’ll find the images I made while I was out with students, showing them how to chase light, develop strong compositions and overcome technical difficulties.  It’s been almost two months after leaving The Augusta Chronicle, and my heart aches for storytelling and the click of a shutter. Saturday, I was able to feel a bit more like my normal self again.

Shout out to my wonderful husband for tagging along to help out in any and every way he could. He took time from his holiday weekend to hang out with college kids and a handful of pros, all of which he’d never met before. At the end of the day, the room smelled like feet and we smelled like feet. He brought us food and handled any computer glitches with ease, usually while holding out a water bottle for me because I was too busy to remember ya know, hydration.  I’m keeping him for sure.

More to come.