Spring cleaning a few weeks ago, I found a brown box and in it is a set of very precious images I had printed more than 20 years ago.
The pictures, taken exactly 30 years ago this September, were from my project – No Day-Off For Cheryl – made during the 1991 Missouri Photo Workshop, held in Ste Genevieve, Missouri, about two hours south of St Louis.
Every once in a while, I would dig out this box and think about why I became a photographer in the first place. The primary motive was and still is the same – to tell stories with pictures.
That fall, I drove from my home in Columbia in my beat-up Ford EXP with another participant who had flown in from Connecticut. We shared a small motel room with four more participants but sleep was the last thing on our mind. (We didn’t have that luxury and neither will you)
On the first day, walking around town trying to get lucky with story ideas, I ran into Dennis Wolk, a train engineer whose job involved ‘escorting’ the train from Ste Genevieve to St Louis and then back each day. Warm and hospitable like most Midwesterners, Dennis invited me home to meet his wife Cheryl and two children – David and Amber.
I had originally intended to do a story about Dennis and his ‘boring’ job but soon realized that it won’t be practical because it would mean missing the nightly critiques, one of the cornerstones of MPW.
Instead my story became that of a ‘lonely’ but mostly happy farm wife trapped at home with two young children.
Lo and behold, my story proposal was approved at the first attempt by my faculty members – Gary Settle, Cheryl Magazine and Maggie Steber.
I had learned well from previous participants that if I wanted my story approved early, be thorough and be prepared to answer every question imaginable. I guess convincing the faculty that I needed and wanted to do this story also helped.
I had unprecedented access to the Wolks who would leave their front door open in the wee hours of the morning so I could sneak in and set up my tripod to record that image of Cheryl starting her day.
They called me Tayman and were convinced that one day, I would be famous.
I believe I made some of my best pictures that week at MPW, an experience that changed my life.
Back in The Straits Times in Singapore, I persuaded my editors that MPW was necessary for ST photographers to develop skills in long form storytelling. For many years, a photographer from the paper would be a participant at the workshop. To date, no fewer than 12 Singaporeans had participated in MPWs. I had written quite a few recommendation letters and would gladly offer my insight whenever I got asked about MPW.
Last year, at the invitation of Brian Kratzer, David Rees and Jim Curley, all directors of MPW, I returned as a first-time faculty member.
That it was an all-online environment did not take away from what the workshop truly represents – a week of honest sharing, generous fellowship, constructive critique, to be followed by a lifelong relationship with many participants.
This year, I am proud to be a returning faculty member and hope to inspire as many.
Whether you are a newbie, a mid-career photographer looking to improve yourself, or a seasoned pro with lots of awards in your bag, there is a place for you at MPW. For the record, one of my fellow participants in 1991 was a Pulitzer Prize winner and he did not get preferential treatment.
