UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “Let’s throw them together and see what happens.”
That statement may sound blasé, but it’s how photographer Steven Rubin and writer Julia Spicher Kasdorf felt when they embarked on a collaborative 400-level, special topics course in documentary writing and photography last spring. The result was the student creation of three books and three websites representing elements of Renovo, a small town in northern Pennsylvania that, like many in the area, has declined since the heyday of the lumber, coal and railroad industries in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“We wanted our students to get out, to work with residents in another community,” explained Rubin, a veteran photojournalist and associate professor of art at Penn State. “It’s important for students to get out of the Penn State ‘bubble’ and learn how to work with, understand, and represent other people.”