10
Friday, April 20, 1979
University Daily Kansan
Photos tell stories of the ordinary
By JUDY WOODBURN
Staff Renorter
In a darkened room, the photographs float in black and white succession on the floor.
Click. The knobby, veined hands of an old woman carass the smooth, rounded cheeks
Click. A 17-year-old unwed mother talks,
nosedouse with her tiny son.
Though black and white, and motionless,
the pictures seem real. The people seem
It is because photographer Chris Johns finds news in everyday people.
Johns, a photographer for the Topkea Capital-Journal, was recently awarded "Press Photographer of the Year" by the National Press Photographer's Association. The University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Nikon Corporation.
"I'M TRYING TO overcome a common misconception of many journalists—that the bizarre things are news. There's news in the most ordinary things," he said.
In an awards presentation slide show, shown yesterday to KU photography students, John questioned his role as a journalist and photographer.
"Is it right to photograph a daughter while her father burns to death in their house?"
"Is it right to exploit people for the sake of a picture?"
"Is it right that for several days I am
Although the intimacy and sensitivity of the photographs seem to provide their own wordless justification, Johns himself can answer the questions in a different way.
incredibly close to someone and then am
gone, never to see them again?"
"You've got to decide if the message a photograph will offer to the community is
Although he admitted it was a rather "nebulous" goal, Johns said he hoped to make the community a better place to live in through his photographs.
"YOU DO THAT by allowing people to see the humanity in real life—everyday life."
Though still and silent, the faces in the slide show seem willing, somehow, to tell
"It's not enough for a picture to be dramatic or well-composed," Johns said. "If it doesn't tell the real story, it's no good."
Johnsa said he considered himself a journalist and a storyteller, first, and a writer.
"I JUST HAPPEN to use a camera to express myself," he said.
For John, the only difference between a photographer and a writer is that they use the same word.
He said he had written about 75 percent of the feature stories that had accompanied him.
"I it's incredible what people will tell you as a journalist," he said. "They open up to it."
Which means well take a little extra time to fuse over you and make you feel right at home. So more of the good things you go out for are really right here. At COUNTRY KITCHEN*
NEVER ACCEPT FOOD FROM A STRANGER.
Chances are, you already know a lot of the folks who work here at COUNTRY KITCHEN*. You see, we live here. too. And we're mighty proud of our community. And happy to have good neighbors like you.
Where you're no stranger and neither are we.
A story titled "The Shortest Season",
paints the image of a Kansas high school so small that two cheerleaders had to go out for a game. Be be the recount eight players on the field.
strangers with things they might not even save to their wife or husband."
1503 W. 23rd.
"I just thought the people of the community should see what the jail is like," he
During his four years on the Topeka Capital-Journal, John's photographs have told the stories, both humorous and deprecating, of "unheard of people."
johns, who is originally from Oregon, said
nobody in the world was it easier to take
over
And "Looking Between the Bars" shows the life of prisoners confined to the Shawnee
"TOO MANY PHOTOGRAPHERS spend their time fiding around in basement darkrooms, not thinking in terms of news," he said. "Photographers are lucky only because they increase their chances of safety, by being out actively doing things."
If you can't take pictures of people here, you can't take them anywhere," he said.
But people do not just jump in front of John camera, begging to have their picture taken.
"I hope I'm a lot better than at 56," he said. "I said to hate think I opened out at 27."
Already Press Photographer of the year at 27, John wishes to be slightly more lucky
But for Johns, there's always room for improvement.
Kansans quiet about nukes
MORE OF WHAT YOU GO OUT FOR.
If Kansans are worried about nuclear energy because of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, they are not telling their legislators in Washington.
Although a flurry of congressional hearings and legislation followed the March 28 nuclear incident, which resulted in the death of six people, congressional legislators have remained uninvolved.
A poll of the offices of Kansas' two senators and five representatives indicated that the amount of mail on the subject of nuclear power had not changed.
"We thought we'd be deluged, especially with Wolf Creek (nuclear power plant) there. But the amount of mail has been unusually small," Katz said.
Sen. Bob Dole has received only 20 letters about nuclear energy since the Three Mile Island incident, Bill Katz, Dole's press secretary, said.
congressman have not received more than the usual amount of mail on nuclear power. The legislators have received letters from constituents, according to representatives from the legislators' office.
Rep. Dan Glickman is the only Kansas legislator who has been active in the nuclear debate.
Glickman has asked President Carter to appoint a full-time inspector from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to every nuclear power plant in the United States. There are 70 operating plants and 92 under construction.
Sen. Nancy Kassebaum and Kansas' five
Bill Beachy, Glickman's executive assistant, said the request was prompted because the NRC now has only 20 full-time nurses for the nation's nuclear power plants.
McCollum to be commemorated
A symposium commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of E.V. Mcolm, a chemist who attended the University of Illinois and the universities in the field of nutrition, will be today.
Some of McCollum's greatest contributions to science were his use of rats for experimental studies and his proof of the existence of vitamin A.
As part of the symposium, six students will present chemistry papers from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. in room 641, Malott Hall. At 3:30 p.m. Emmond E. Sull, professor of microbiology at the University of Texas, will speak in room 411, Summerfield Hall.
Chancellor Archil R. Dykes will present the undergraduate research award at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 25th.
Chris Johns
T.G.I.F.
AT THE HAWK
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