Every summer, kids lug cameras and notepads to St. Petersburg's Midtown area. It's an annual 12-day journalism camp for students from Melrose Elementary and John Hopkins Middle schools. But it's also a treasure hunt — a search for a piece of old Midtown's soul. Eleven-year-old photojournalist James Pugh spotted his treasure amid a crowd of men gathered in a sandy field. He made a photo that shows a checkers game. The checkerboard is a frayed scrap of burlap that covers a square of plywood left over from Noah's Ark. A smudged sheet of paper hangs from the plywood depicting a boy riding no-hands on a bicycle. You don't know who the boy is. You don't even see who is playing checkers. All you see is a veined, bony hand, moving a black checker. James, a Melrose fifth-grader, shot 90 frames while standing on a chair to capture that one moment of many mysteries in Midtown.
His photograph and 99 more taken by his fellow student journalists will be unveiled at a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. The exhibit, called "Midtown Through Our Eyes," will continue through Oct. 18. Student reporters also will unveil their 2008 issue of Midtown magazine at the reception. It's full of stories, says 12-year-old reporter Treniece Green, that prove "a little run-down place can have the biggest personality."
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