This story was definitely a test of patience. There were several cancellations and many many miles spent on the road pursuing leads and trying to find the best places to photograph. It was around 1,300 miles that I put on my car while pursuing this assignment. One day was six hours of driving for my subject to say "let's do this next week." This wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I needed the subject for an important part of the story. Well, the "next week" never happened. The only thing that is missing from the story that I wanted is the hunters.
Even with missing the hunters, I think this story stands without them. I am happy with what I was able to get in the amount of time I had. This is definitely a story that is bigger than this one assignment and could easily turn into a year-long or longer project. This is a major issue and not a lot of people outside the affected areas seem to know anything about it. I didn't intend on working on an issue story for this assignment. However, that is what the assignment turned into.
Any assignment that has anything to do with the government are tricky. The USDA was absolutely ZERO help. I am not surprised by this at all though. I have seen enough documentaries on what they do to know not to expect too much. The Missouri Department of Conservation was very helpful once I got a hold of the right people. I was happy to work with them on this assignment.
My favorite part about this assignment was meeting Sue in Belleview. I met her on the first day I went to Iron County. After talking with her a little bit about my project she offered to help, but didn't "have much time." She ended up showing me around her property for a few hours and then showed me the inside of her house. I wanted to call Rita, my professor, and cancel the original assignment and do a story on Sue. She was funny, and had so many great stories and I wasn't even around her that long. I will definitely visit her again.
Another part of this process that I enjoyed was seeing a different part of Missouri. I had never been to that part of the state. It reminded me a lot of traveling through southern West Virgina. A lot of the little towns still had the old store fronts and main streets that seemed to fall out of the late 1800s, early 1900s. However, they had a very different feel than other rural main streets. They felt very "hillbilly." And I love that. That culture absolutely fascinates me. It's part of my heritage and I am proud of it.
There really isn't anything I would do differently with this assignment. There were a few snags, but nothing that could have been prevented given the circumstances. This assignment would have been more successful at a different time of year. My time frame was smack-dab in the middle of turkey season so no one was hunting hogs.
It's also a weird feeling. It hasn't quite hit me 100% yet. This is the last assignment that I will ever turn in for school. I know I still have my Master's project to do, but that's not really the same. I have been in school so long. I think I'm institutionalized. This assignment was a nice culmination of my career at Mizzou. Could it have been more successful? Yes. But overall, I am happy with the assignment, but I am more happy with process of doing the assignment. There are more stories than the photographs show, but that's for another time.
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