The stories behind two AAEA award winning photos
By Allison Jenkins, AAEA Member
As soon Ross and Lorena Blount opened the door to their modest bungalow-style brick home on Central Avenue in Allerton, Iowa, I knew this photo shoot was going to be special.
The college sweethearts—both now in their early 80s—welcomed me like I was a long-lost granddaughter. The Blounts had lived a fascinating life. They marched for peace with Martin Luther King, served together as early Peace Corps volunteers and raised a family in their small Midwest community, where Lorena taught school and Ross was a farmer and minister.
Today, however, I was there to photograph the couple to help illustrate a story for Today’s Farmer on rural revitalization. The Blounts were instrumental in helping to reopen the town’s Old Time Soda Fountain, a former drug store and malt shop building that had been restored to its previous glory. The Old Time Soda Fountain has become point of pride for Allerton residents.
Normally, I’m a one-woman band on assignment, conducting the interview and shooting photos and often video, too. But this time, the story was being written by a freelancer, so I had the luxury of just focusing on images. As the spry octogenarians led me a few blocks to the Soda Fountain, they held hands like teenagers, laughing, joking and relishing their role as tour guide.
Lorena Blount lovingly laughs at her husband Ross inside the Old Time Soda Fountain shop
they own in Allerton, Iowa. The moment was captured by AAEA Member Allison Jenkins,
who titled the photo, “Soda Sweethearts.” The image won first place in the photography
category “Rotating Theme: Joy” at AAEA’s 2021 Communication Awards ceremony.
(Photo Courtesy: Allison Jenkins, Today’s Farmer)
Soon, we had built the rapport of old friends—and every photographer knows how important that kind of connection is to the success of a photo shoot. I honestly don’t think this sweet old couple stopped smiling the entire time, so it is genuine emotion you see in my recent AAEA first-place photo in the photography category “Rotating Theme: Joy.” In this particular image, one of several portrait poses I set up, I had asked the couple to lean into each other as they sat on the counter stools. Ross exclaimed, “You don’t have to ask me twice!” and playfully nudged Lorena, who turned and grinned ear-to-ear at her husband of 60 years.
Click. It was a moment of pure joy.
My second-place photo in the “Rotating Theme: Joy” category was also a moment of genuine joy but entirely unscripted. It’s one of those situations that seasoned photographers know so well—never put down the camera, even when you think you’re done with the shoot.
“Grandpa’s Sidekick” won second place in the “Rotating Theme: Joy” category.
(Photo Courtesy: Allison Jenkins, Today’s Farmer)
I was on assignment at Dill & Sons Dairy in southwest Missouri for a feature that would run as the cover story for our June/July 2020 issue of Today’s Farmer. I’d spent several hours interviewing Jack, touring the farm and photographing grazing Holstein heifers and the afternoon milking. It was a pretty straightforward story of production practices and industry challenges.
We were wrapping up the visit when Jack’s adorable 3-year-old granddaughter, Elly, came running up to us, shouting enthusiastically, “Papa! It’s time to feed the calves!” Jack scooped her up in his arms and kissed the young girl on the cheek. Then they both turned to me with smiles of joy that only a grandfather and grandchild can share.
Luckily, I hadn’t put my camera away, and I quickly snapped the photo before the moment passed. Then I tagged along to shoot cute little Elly feeding her cute little calves.
You can’t plan for moments like this. And you can’t force it. But you can be vigilant and ready to capture them when they happen. I felt like this photo—and the experience that went along with it—gave my story more depth. See, Elly is one of the fifth-generation family members on the farm, and this one powerful image helps illustrate why farmers do what they do. It’s not all about livelihood. It’s about lifestyle and legacy. To conclude my story, I quoted Jack as saying:
“I’m truly blessed with my family and this farm. It’s a gift to be able to work with nature and the land and what God has made—even if it comes with a lot of uncertainty and sacrifice.”
In addition to being a writer and photographer, Allison Jenkins is also the editor of Today’s Farmer magazine. She won eight awards at AAEA’s 2021 Communication Awards ceremony in both writing and photography categories.