COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A University of Missouri-Columbia photojournalism student has reshot a well-known series of photos from 1949 to capture changes at the school.
Student Jillian Vondy said she was inspired by photographer Alan Taylor's project, called "Scenes From D-Day, Then and Now," which allows viewers a chance to look at photos of the Allied forces' 1944 operation and see how the same locations look 70 years later. She said she didn't know how to adapt the concept to Columbia until someone mentioned the first Missouri Photo Workshop, reported the Columbia Missourian (http://bit.ly/1OuE06H), which featured her project on its website.
Clifton "Cliff" Edom, often credited as the "Father of Photojournalism," came up with the idea of the workshop to lure professionals to Columbia. He was inspired by a Depression-era Farm Security Administration photo project that depicts the devastation of the Dust Bowl.
In developing the project, Edom, who worked from 1943 to 1972 to establish a photojournalism program at MU, worked closely with the administration's director, Roy Stryker, and photographer Russell Lee. At the first workshop, 100 were invited to participate. They were asked: "If you can spare a week from your life to devote to the thinking part of photojournalism (,) please accept by return mail this invitation to participate in the Missouri News Photographic Workshop."
After assembling 23 professional and amateur photographers from 10 states and Canada, Edom and his staff of editors gave them only one assignment - photograph the city of Columbia as it appeared to their eyes.
"The town sort of became a laboratory for the photographers to work in. So that they would not only work on trying to make better pictures, but they would also create some images that had substance. It was like holding up a mirror to the community," said David Rees, co-director of the workshop and head of the MU photojournalism program.
He said Edom was a "very smart fellow in that he realized that in order to really advance his ideas of photojournalism and to get our students involved in the greater world, it was important to somehow connect with the working professionals."
The images Vondy recreated include a shot of a student hangout known as the Shack, a row of six columns on campus, a view of downtown and a water tower.
"I spent quite a quite a few afternoons and weekends locating and re-photographing images from the first workshop," she wrote in the Missourian. "For some, it took three and even four attempts to get them right, while others never reached a level that I was happy with. While trying to find the exact locations where these photographers stood years ago, I encountered many small changes - subtle shifts in the landscape that I otherwise would never have noticed."