The Photography Portfolio class teaches students how to present their photography and art work in a professional manner.

The class is taught by Roddy Mac Innes and Rupert Jenkins. Both are experts in different fields and are sharing their knowledge.

Jenkins is an art curator and gallery director. He is not a faculty member but is teaching the class as an adjunct professor. He is working at the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery at the Shwayder Art building.

“I would say one of the strengths of the class is that it’s team taught,” said Mac Innes, a professor in the School of Art and Art History. “We’re coming from two different angles. Rupert has a lot of experience as a gallery director and curator of exhibitions.”

“Roddy is really good with technical and image making. He is making images all the time and I’m more looking at images all the time,” said Jenkins.

Adrienne Clay, a student in the class, said the teaching styles of the two professors are sometimes contradictory and their opinions may be opposite, but that pushes the student to work harder.

Students learn practical photography and presentation skills. Students produce work, show it and think about how it will be promoted, said Jenkins.

The class is good for someone who may want to be a professional artist in the future, said senior Kaitlin Medeiros, who is in the photography class.

A camera is required. Any camera will do, whether it is a digital or film. It does not have to be a professional level camera.

Senior Joanna Bissell is using her dad’s old Pentax film camera.

“I really like film and being in the darkroom and seeing the image appear,” said Bissell.

“It’s about the image. We don’t really care how they get it. And what they are trying to communicate through the image,” said Mac Innes.

“We are trying to be non-elitist. We wanted to make it as accessible as we could to a range of students,” said Jenkins.

Students are required to upload their work onto Flickr, a photo-sharing Website from which the class is able to have a conversation about everyone’s work.

Students also create two portfolios, an individual one and a group one. They will also create a Blurb book for their own portfolio. To do this, they upload images to www.blurb.com and use it to create a professional looking book.

“[Blurb book] will provide a good portfolio for jobs after college,” said Bissell.

Another requirement is that the students show their work at two galleries picked by the professors.

“Having work shown is a little intimidating at first, but teachers made it easier,” said senior Kaitlin Medeiros. “It’s hard to get into an art show, but it’s set up in the class.”

The first exhibition opened Feb. 9, and the work will be up through April 17 at Denver West, an office space located at 1746 Cole Blvd. The building is owned by a DU alumnus who allows students to display their work there. The exhibition is called the Collective Intent.

“The idea is to do the first show there and people will hopefully have a sense of pride and excitement about their work,” said Mac Innes. “The idea is to give students this view into the professional world.”

The process to decide which pieces to show in the Collective Intent included each student laying out five pieces of their work, and the class, along with the professors, chose the best two per person.

The final exhibition at the end of the quarter will display an assignment based on photographs shot within 24 hours.

The exhibition will happen less than two weeks from then and will be displayed at the RedLine gallery in downtown Denver. Jenkins will curate two shows in the two main galleries, and a smaller area within the gallery will be available for the class.