Like many small towns in America, the downtown business district of Trenton, Missouri, struggles against newer, shinier establishments “out by the highway.” Families fracture from unemployment, health crises, and the stresses of caring for aging parents. All of these rural places suffer brain drain as children grow up to become just another export crop, like the ripening corn that covers hills and river bottoms around here.

Yet against the odds these towns endure. The friendly people of Trenton have invited us in, many of them willing to open their lives and homes to a few dozen camera-toting strangers. This is the backdrop for the Missouri Photo Workshop, which has invaded 44 small towns across the state each autumn since 1949 in