Since the Carolina Photojournalism Workshop was founded in 2004, student teams have been producing intimate, personal stories of North Carolina’s people, places and culture. Over the past nine years more than 130 of these pieces have been created, together representing a valuable visual archive of North Carolina culture.

Once a location is determined, an advance team begins to look for interesting stories. We follow a loose pattern, looking for themes that reflect the communities we work in. For example, themes like work, play, education, faith, art, and music are typical of nearly every community.

From there we search high and low for the most interesting characters that represent our themes. They aren’t hard to find. North Carolina is full of wonderfully intriguing people who are willing to share their lives with us, if only for one week in May. By doing so, they enable us to share their lives with the world, and to document the changing face of our great state.