For one weekend, the entire city of Bowling Green was up for grabs.

Ten UK students participated in a photojournalism and multimedia workshop two weekends ago and set out to document life in the Western Kentucky community. Diverse stories were not hard to find.

One student produced a story about the turnaround of a ghetto to the now colorful, family-friendly area dubbed “Little Mexico.” Another told the story of a skateboard shop that some say saved their lives with a program that gives kids not only skateboards, but a safe place to use them. All participants covered different Sunday morning worship services, finding multiple aspects of religion in the community.

The task was documenting all of these events not only through a lens, but a microphone as well. Past workshops were photography-driven and once a year. This was the third workshop this year and pushed to adapt storytelling through capturing audio.

A team of photographers and multimedia producers, who capture audio and produce a slideshow, worked in pairs on each assignment.

Participants produced about a dozen multimedia pieces documenting the community in three days while working with Kernel photo adviser Jim Winn, Bowling Green Daily News photographer Hunter Wilson and Midland Daily News photographer Brett Marshall.

At the workshop, students learned the same software programs that nationally known multimedia producers use every day. Everyone worked not only to become better photographers and producers, but also better visual storytellers.

Brad Luttrell is a journalism junior. E-mail [email protected]