Diverse outlooks

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It's a long way from Arizona's Fort Apache Indian Reservation to the oceanfront kitchen at Fralinger's Saltwater Taffy.

Bennett Cosay knows. He made the 2,100-mile trip here to shoot pictures of taffy being made. And when he flew home, he had more than photographs to show for it.

Cosay, a 35-year-old reporter and photographer for the Fort Apache Scout tribal newspaper, was one of 14 people from multi-cultural backgrounds who spent a week chronicling life in this casino capital as part of Diverse Visions VIII, a workshop sponsored by The Associated Press.

The event, held in a different city each year, paired Cosay and the other participants one-on-one with some of the AP's top photographers.

By day, the photojournalists cover the story. At night, they post the prints on the walls and critique each other's work. The sessions run late into the night, with sometimes soul-searching discussions about technique, technology, perspective and ethics.

The idea is to celebrate diversity, develop the skills of the students and possibly recruit some of them for AP jobs.

"It's an outreach program that highlights AP's commitment to diversity," said Diane Parker, AP's manager for staffing and diversity. "It's aimed at developing students for opportunities as photojournalists, but it's also a leadership and growth opportunity for our employees, who serve as mentors."

On Boardwalk

Forty-one-year-old Willie Allen, Jr., a San Francisco State University senior, got the Boardwalk. His subject: the people who make a living on the four-mile wooden walkway that separates the beach from the casinos.

Quickly drawn to the men who push wicker rolling chairs down the Boardwalk for $5 a ride, he finds his way to a man who's been doing it for 20 years.

"I come out at 12 noon," said David Johnson, sitting in a chair awaiting his next fare, outside Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. "By then, the sun's out and people are around. In the casinos, the people stay up late and gamble, so they sleep late."

Another story focuses on Alley Cat Allies, a non-profit organization that feeds and cares for feral cats who live under the Boardwalk.

Then there is the single mother of three who works in a casino; the volunteer baby cuddlers who cradle newborns in Atlantic City Medical Center's neo-natal intensive care unit; the former police officer who became a pottery artist after being forced to retire because of injuries suffered breaking up a domestic dispute in 1994.

Casinos passed by

While casinos dominate the economy, skyline and popular image of Atlantic City, they were purposely not highlighted in the story assignments.

"We wanted to look at the city," said Fred Sweets, AP's senior photo editor for training and development. "The casinos are an industry, but there's a city humming around them that was here before and it's still here."

Inside a darkened conference room at the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel, 16 laptop computers are installed to process and edit the digital images.