More than a hundred faculty, staff and participating photojournalists descended on the small town of Mayfield, Ky. during the first week of October for the 2008 Mountain Workshops of Western Kentucky University.

The 45 participating photojournalists and videographers were there to polish their skills and learn the art of visual storytelling while documenting life in Mayfield and rural Graves County in far western Kentucky. Their coaches, recognized as some the best visual journalists in the nation, offered daily individual critiques of their work and helped them develop polished documentary projects during five days of intense work.

During the workshops, staff and participants created a multimedia DVD, a museum-quality exhibit of 50 photographs, a documentary book, and two Web sites, one dedicated to the workshop process and one dedicated to the city of Mayfield.

As they have for years, staff at the Mountain Workshops recorded the inner workings of the project on this site and updated it daily. Include d on the site are dozens of photos selected by coaches as the best of the workshops.