When I was in photo school at the Brooks Institute, a very long time ago, we had an assignment in one class called "Every Day Life', or EDL. This was an assignment to find the details of life, the small moments that make up a life, a scene or a vignette, decisive or not. At the time I didn't think too much of these little shots as I was on my way to being the next HCB, Erwitt or Nachtway. I didn't become any of those photographers but I did become my own photographer, and am still becoming that photographer.
I bring this up as I now shoot for a weekly and a monthly newspaper in Western Washington State and my photographs are filled with "Every Day Life", or Small Town Americana as I like to say. That is what I shoot! I was recently reminded of this when I saw the great story in the New York Times by photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke, a Contact Press Images photographer. The story is called "Montana Fair" and it is wonderful.
Jarecke's blog has an "extended" version of the story and a link to the New York Times piece. Mr. Jaracke makes a great point about the current state of photojournalism, he says we have two choices.
One: they(we) can risk life and limb to capture extraordinary moments that normally would go unseen, like wars and famines.
Two: they(we) can photograph the ordinary in an extraordinary way.
I think "the ordinary in an extraordinary way is "Every Day Life".
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