The above slide show and photo are part of a series I did last summer while working at the San Marcos Daily Record.
It was called 2 Minutes of Fame and it featured residents of San Marcos, TX. I spent about an hour with each subject and was able to ask them questions about their lives and what’s important to them while capturing photos of them while they did what they would normally do on that day.
For each person I wrote a story for the print edition, which was paired with 1-3 photos, and created a 2 minute audio slide show for the web.
It’s very similar to the New York Times’ One in 8 Million project. I actually thought of the idea in the Fall of 2008, but because of staffing constraints at the paper, I wasn’t able to work on it until the next summer. Before my project published, I discovered the New York Times’ project. I didn’t know whether to be angry that my idea was no longer original or be excited that I was thinking of the same types of assignments as the staff of the New York Times. Either way, seeing their One in 8 Million web site made me want to do my 2 Minutes of Fame even more.
I really loved doing this project and I intend to do a similar project in the near future. To me, this is what journalism is – personal accounts of daily history. I think a lot of times people get caught up in the large events when they talk about history. Those events, of course, are important, but I really enjoy hearing about smaller, more personal things. Like what it was like to drive a Model T down a dirt road when your father was the first on the block to buy a car. Ralph Phipps told me that story during his interview.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is to let you know that the entire project is now posted on my web site under “Special Projects.” Please click here to view and enjoy the entire series.
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