{"id":407120,"date":"2026-01-14T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/407120\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:17:11","slug":"photographer-in-residence-launches-one-man-operation-to-capture-small-town-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/407120\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Photographer IN Residence’ Launches One-Man Operation to Capture Small-Town Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

As small-town newspapers fade, photojournalist Richard Sitler has an idea to fill the void in his midwestern hometown.<\/p>\n

In Knightstown, Indiana \u2014 home of the \u201cHoosier Gym\u201d featured in the 1986 Gene Hackman movie \u201cHoosiers\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Sitler has declared himself \u201cPhotographer IN Residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MovieThe movie poster for the 1986 classic, \u201cHoosiers,\u201d starring Gene Hackman. <\/p>\n

Sitler chronicles local news, seeks donations, and dreams of expanding his residency concept to other small towns.<\/p>\n

The odds seem long, like Hackman\u2019s small-town basketball team in the movie (or the prospect that Indiana would play for the National Football College Championship on January 19).<\/p>\n

With plainspoken bluntness, Sitler says, \u201cIt is hard to assess if the idea has legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AKnightstown High School basketball action (Photo by Richard Sitler) Knightstown as Americana <\/p>\n

Knightstown is located along U.S. Route 40, east of Indianapolis and west of Dayton, Ohio.<\/p>\n

The Hoosier Gym made famous by the \u201cHoosiers\u201d movie is a tourist destination, preserved as a community center and after-school program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped by the gym a couple weeks ago and there were two teams from Alabama playing,\u201d says Sitler.<\/p>\n

When Sitler was in grade school, physical education was in that gym. His father, Bill, a local pharmacist, played on the high school team from 1946 to 1949.<\/p>\n

\"TwoRichard Sitler, right, and his late father, Bill Sitler, two decades ago in Knightstown, Indiana <\/p>\n

Richard Sitler made the eighth-grade team. At 5\u20197\u201d, he switched to sports photography in high school, studying photojournalism at Ohio University\u2019s School of Visual Communication in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Sitler worked at small town newspapers in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, including The Banner in Knightstown. The Banner published its last issue on December 19, 2018.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The demise of The Banner is part of a broader trend, tracked by the Local News Initiative<\/a> at Northwestern University, which shows that 50 million Americans have limited or no access to a reliable source of local news. <\/p>\n

\u201cKnightstown,\u201d says Sitler, \u201cis the perfect place for a pilot\u201d to test his idea of Photographer IN Residence.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeGirls spin in holiday dresses during the Christmas tree lighting in Knightstown, Indiana (Photo by Richard Sitler) How it Works <\/p>\n

Sitler typically posts content and photos three times a week on his Photographer IN Residence Facebook page. <\/p>\n

He favors images that tell quieter moments and stories about everyday people, the \u201copposite of sensationalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Content created or shared by Sitler is local: <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Social media engagement exceeds the population of Knightstown (2,140 in the 2020 Census).<\/p>\n

In 60 days, Sitler\u2019s Facebook page got 57,000 views with engagement by more than 7,000 individuals. His goal is to show that an audience exists for documentary photography\/text and then attract sponsorships, grants, and partnerships.<\/p>\n

If Sitler can generate revenue to support a one-year residency in Knightstown, he would recruit a young photojournalist to take his place and try to organize a similar residency in another small town.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> has been launched and seeks donations. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Documentary Photography as Motivation <\/p>\n

Documentary photography sponsored by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression was inspirational to Sitler. <\/p>\n

Sitler is also influenced by the work of veteran news photographer Brian Moss, who produced the photography website \u201cLife in Corydon,\u201d<\/a> Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalt Institute for Documentary Studies<\/a> in Portland, Maine, was a huge influence on me,\u201d to focus on one subject over a period of time.<\/p>\n

Day-to-Day Events in Knightstown <\/p>\n

On the first snow day in Knightstown in December, Sitler photographed an airborne sled rider at Sunset Park.<\/p>\n

\"APhoto by Richard Sitler <\/p>\n

Moments like that, he says, create memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sled on that very hill when I was young,\u201d he recalls. \u201cMy son sled on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If no one records day-to-day moments, then people can become \u201cghosts, as if their lives are not important,\u201d Sitler says.<\/p>\n

As media changes and newspapers fade, Photographer IN Residence Richard Sitler is a small-town Hoosier ghostbuster, documenting sledders at Sunset Park, high school wrestlers, firefighters who put out a blaze on N. Washington Street, and more.<\/p>\n

His residency idea might seem a bit crazy, and it may not work. But that\u2019s what they said about the small-town Hoosier basketball team that won the state title in 1954.<\/p>\n

Image credits: Photos by Richard Sitler <\/p>\n

About the author: Ken Klein lives in Silver Spring, Maryland; he is retired after a career in politics, lobbying, and media including The Associated Press and Gannett in Florida. Klein is an alumnus of Ohio University and a member of the Dean\u2019s Advisory Council of the Scripps College of Communication. Professionally, he has worked for Fort Myers News-Press (Gannett), The Associated Press (Tallahassee), Senator Bob Graham, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As small-town newspapers fade, photojournalist Richard Sitler has an idea to fill the void in his midwestern hometown.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,1129,88,2596,7263,3381,3,10287,195938,1134],"class_list":{"0":"post-407120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-documentary","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-gofundme","15":"tag-industry","16":"tag-interview","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newspaper","19":"tag-photographerinresidence","20":"tag-photojournalism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}