During the 2004 fall semester, students in the Southern Studies documentary photography seminar, taught by David Wharton, made repeated visits to six towns in north Mississippi with the aim in mind of compiling photographic “community portraits.” There were 12 students in the class—Robert Caldwell, Ellie Campbell, Jordan Craven, Matt Donohue, Sean Hughes, Nathan Kosub, Andrew Leventhal, Mary Margaret Ellie Campbell, Power Swings, Batesville. Miller, Angela Moore, Susie Penman,
Renna Tuten, and Robin Yekaitis. The communities they visited were Batesville Bruce, Holly Springs, New Albany, Pontotoc, and Water Valley, with two students concentrating on each town.

At the end of the semester, each student compiled a 25-print portfolio of his/her best images. Working together, the class also selected 72 of the photographs to exhibit at Barnard Observatory’s Gammill Gallery. That exhibition, Community Photography, will be on display from March 25 through May 31. It will be the second in a series of exhibitions planned as part of the Mississippi Hills Documentary Project, a collaboration between the Center and the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance. Some of the students’ pictures are printed in this newsletter. More will soon be available for viewing at the “special projects” link at the Center's Web site (www.olemiss.edu/depts/south).

Robert Caldwell, Love: Mother and Child in Laundromat, Water Valley.

Jordan Craven, School Lunch, Holly Springs.

Renna Tuten, Man at Flea Market, Pontotoc.

Ellie Campbell, Power Swings, Batesville.

Nathan Kosub, Turnage’s Drug Store, Main Street, Water Valley .

Angela Moore, National Anthem at Football Game, South Panola High School, Batesville.

Andrew Leventhal, Willie Rogers, Age 95, with Portrait, New Albany.

Mary Margaret Miller, Young Man in Garage, Bruce.

Matt Donohue, Man with Ice Cream Cone, Holly Springs.

Sean Hughes, Honoring the Troops, Pontotoc.

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Susie Penman, Mr. Aron with a Picture of His Grandchildren, Bruce.

Robin Yekaitis, Little Princess, Halloween Parade, New Albany.