The 2020 PJ433 Projects class on the last day as they used Zoom to present their final project “These Days” to our Professional Advisory Board, Justin Fowler, Leslye Davis and Cara Owsley. Photo faculty and staff Jeanie Adams-Smith, Jonathan Adams, James Kenney and Miranda Pederson were also present in on the class.

In a socially-distant approved Slack exchange, PJ436 Projects in Photojournalism professor Tim Broekema interviewed These Day’s student project manager Nic Huey about how the idea germinated and how did the class ultimately engage in what became a powerful project where not one member of the photo class actually picked up a camera but yet, used every ounce of their visual training to make this story become a reality.

What inspired you and your classmates to pivot to a team project?

Shortly after receiving the news that WKU would be transitioning to online classes, I knew the second half of our last photojournalism class would be a bit different. Emily Moses and I were discussing ideas about how to document people’s experiences as this unfolded.  We knew that the situation was incredibly dynamic; our feelings, as well as everyone else’s, were changing daily, sometimes even hourly. We had considered at first trying to tackle it on our own, but knew that to get a wide scope of voices we would need to enlist the help of others.  I think within 24 hours I had reached out to you to get that ball rolling. 

Did you have a vision in place as you started or did the project change along the way?

That may have been one of the most challenging aspects of the project.  We knew that the most important thing was to start gathering content as soon as possible and to continue to interview the same people as the situation unfolded in order to capture the emotional rollercoaster we were all on.  New interviews came in almost daily, and the target shifted with each update.  I can remember hopping off Zoom calls feeling confident in our direction and plan, only to be derailed within days by new news about the virus or technical limitations with our workflow. Then it was back to the drawing board, shifting our ideas to better present the content that was coming in. The vision was a moving target, but so was the virus, so it felt fitting honestly. 

There were 13 people involved in this project, and the professor – and you all could not meet in person, did you ever have a moment where you felt this was a bad idea – and it stood no chance in getting done?

The work from home approach came with many pros and cons. On the one hand, it was easier to work on our own time, but that came with the consequence of struggling to keep everyone on the same page. We all met together once a week on Zoom, but I would say most of the progress was made on everyone’s own schedules. I felt like our lives pretty much existed between Zoom, Slack, and Frame.IO at times, especially towards the end. I knew it would get done, it was just a matter of how stressful it would be in the final days. 

Did you feel that in some way, the quarantine brought about a new level of opportunity for learning?

Personally I would say this was the greatest learning experience of my college career. We were forced to adapt overnight to new circumstances and develop remote workflows, coordinating an effort between 13 people that involved new tools that many of us had never used. I think it was great preparation for the journalism and production worlds as well, and for any industry for that matter; work from home will be the new normal for millions of people. I can’t say that I’m glad our semester ended this way, but we all learned to overcome new obstacles and are better off for it. 

Did you feel the project was successful?

I think that we achieved our goal. I think there are definitely things that we would approach differently given another opportunity, but that’s how the learning process works. We were able to try new things with this project and experiment with new ways of storytelling which was a lot of fun. I think the stories and experiences of our characters came across in a really authentic way and I feel like we can all see ourselves fitting right into this story in some way or another. At the end of the day, I would say we all walked away with a project that we can be proud of.

VISIT THESE DAYS to see the entire project

In her personal project Before I Go, WKU senior Morgan Hornsby examines her relationships with her immediately family as she reckons with her decision to move away. With rural Kentucky as her landscape, Hornsby explores themes such as intimacy, longing, and the desire to create a new life.

My mom and I get ready for my grandmother’s funeral on April 21, 2020 in Albany, KY.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

I am from a place where leaving is betrayal. For all my life, my family has lived in a small town in Eastern Kentucky. This has been true for generations. It is a place of tradition, where families build houses next to each other and gather on Sunday for post-church dinners.

Everybody knows everybody and nobody goes too far from home. In my girlhood, I didn’t dream of marriage or family as much as creating my own interesting life. I grew up happily, but with a map on my wall.

This work was made the year leading up to my graduation from college. It is meant to be an examination of what I’m leaving behind, looking closely at my connection to my family and our connection to the land. This work is also a question mark as I examine the life I have, holding it up to the light of all that I want. To see the entire project, click here.

In her personal project, In My Head, WKU senior Lydia Schweickart, of Louisville, Ky., reflects on her experience recovering from a traumatic brain injury and how it affected her mental wellbeing, the people she loves, and the path of self-discovery that it provoked.

ABOUT THIS VIDEO

In March of last year, I was in a car wreck and suffered a severe Traumatic Brain Injury. I received medical attention for 10 weeks: 1 week in the ICU of Skyline Medical Center, 2 weeks at Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, and 7 Weeks attending Frazier Outpatient Therapy. After the wreck I found myself in the hospital, not knowing why, lost and confused. The recovery process involved having to relearn everything that I knew before the wreck; Walking, Eating, Writing, Fine Motor Skills, Communication, Memory, etc. Having a sense of identity is an essential part of the human experience, and the car wreck stripped me of that identity.

Although my brain tissue has recovered, I will still always question whether a trait, a lapse in memory, slow reaction time, etc. are the result of something related to the car wreck. Because my brain has suffered this damage, I’ll never be the same person I was before the TBI, so it’s like I’ll never “fully” recover. When I started my recovery process I was a blank slate, learning and gathering information about who I was before and trying desperately to be that person again. One of the biggest obstacles was coming to terms with the fact that being that person again isn’t an option for me.

Accepting that I will be forever changed helped me to stop mourning the Lydia lost in that intersection. Recovery became a way to learn more about the Lydia I am now. Even though I have changed, the support of my family and loved ones never did. I didn’t have to go through this exploration alone. Having a traumatic brain injury is like rewriting who you are, and my car wreck provoked an identity crisis that forced me to ask myself, “Who Am I?”

One year after the accident, I’m still figuring out who I am and am in no rush to find the answer. To see the entire project, click here.

A multimedia enterprise that captures the emotional journey Americans have collectively experienced during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. This project aims to highlight how the universally shared experience of grief deeply connects those who would otherwise be strangers.

THESE DAYS TRAILER

To see the entire project, please click here

ABOUT

For the last four years at Western Kentucky University we’ve sat through literally hundreds of photojournalism program lectures about  telling powerful and personal stories through the lenses of our cameras. We’ve been taught that great stories come from talking to people on the street and sharing moments with people in their homes. In the middle of our last semester we were completely stripped of those tools. As a class, each of us were deep into the production of our capstone projects; for many of us they would be the highlights of our careers at WKU.

With the finish line in sight, we were thrown an unprecedented curveball. We’d obviously heard about the virus, but we took for granted the potential it had to disrupt our lives. We left campus excited for spring break, saying “see you later” instead of “goodbye”. Just like that we were locked down and our finish line moved impossibly out of sight. “What now?” Was on everyone’s mind but in no time discussions began on a group project to document the evolving crisis.

This was a learning experience for all of us. We learned how to connect with people through our webcams. How to tell stories about life and humanity through the lens of someone else’s iPhone. Without ever touching our cameras, we collected stories from people across the country. Without ever meeting in person, we collaborated digitally to storyboard, produce, and edit a project with dozens of unique voices. We put into practice perhaps the most essential skill we’ve learned; how to adapt and overcome.

Now we look towards the future. Searching for work in an uncertain job market, moving away from the college town we’ve all called home, no chance to say goodbye to our favorite diners and dive bars. A more bitter than sweet final semester, to say the least. Through all of the ups and downs of these days, there is one thing that helps us get through. When someone asks in 20 years what we did during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can show them how we all overcame our historic circumstances.