Monday was the culmination of my independent study covering the mayoral election. I spent the entire day with Darwin Hindman and his lovely wife Axie to document his last day in office as the mayor of Columbia.

Darwin Hindman finishes up the last bits of work left before he retires as the mayor of Columbia, Missouri on Monday, April 12. Hindman held the volunteer position for the last 15 years and will pass on the gavel to mayor-elect Bob McDavid at the evening’s special council meeting. (project365 :: day 086)

It was a story that Josh Bickel (the Missourian Director of Photography) offered to me in January. I called the mayor in February to get an interview and initial permission. The interview happened in March. And on April 12, 2010, I spent fifteen hours working on this story from start to finish – with the help of three great editors (Josh,Valerie Mosely and David Kennedy) and the very awesome Ivy Ashe, who lent me her audio recorder.

This is my project.

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A Day of Transition from Erin Schwartz on Vimeo.

And as a fun post-script, here’s a set of photos from the evening of production on David’s blog.

This was an amazing experience, and I am honored to be the one who captured the moment. Not every project for school will be like this one. ‘A Day of Transition’ will always be have a special place in my heart.