Community Market Reflection

My partner and I decided to focus our story on how the Lynchburg Community market is more than a place to sell goods- it is actually a community of people and friends. Each vendor we interviewed had the same answer to our question about their favorite aspect of the community market. Each said that what they loved most is the community; the people they have met and the friends they have

This story focuses on how people from all walks of life in in a local community come together and support each other. This is a local event that people have attended as a tradition since 1783 and is a weekly gathering event of locals.

I learned how to immerse myself in an event, get to know people and their stories to form the story, and that people are willing to open up about their lives and want to share about what they are proud of. I also learned how to capture photos that show the essence of an event and highlight the angle of the story: community.

We came with prepared questions and an idea of which vendors we were going to talk to. This worked great and allowed us to have a starting point for our story. By experiencing the market, talking to different vendors, and taking note of our surroundings, we were able to piece together our story.

Some vendors that we asked to interview were not willing to answer questions because they were selling. Something we could have done differently is contact the vendors we wanted to interview ahead of time and schedule a time to talk. Even though a couple vendors turned us down, we were still able to connect with vendors and interview people for our story.

This experience was different because there were two people giving ideas and contributing to the outcome of the story. We were able to work together while interviewing and ask questions the other may not have thought of. Although it was different to write one story with another person, with two of us, we were able to have more creativity when writing and this contributed positively to the overall outcome of the story.