As the end of the quarter approaches, students are all accustomed to preparing final research papers and studying for final exams. One of the photography classes on campus, meanwhile, exemplifies one of the perks of taking an art class.

Professor Jessie Paige Rowe’s portfolio photography class will be holding their end of the quarter exhibition at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center in the Highlands of Downtown Denver on Wednesday, May 28 from 6-8 p.m. The 12 students in the class are each showing three to six pieces of their original photography that they have created throughout the course of the quarter on any topic or theme of their choosing.

According to the students, there were very few parameters on what their topics could be and the themes turned out to be as different as the students themselves. Jill Hamilton, a junior environmental science and strategic communications major from Boulder chose to do her work in portraiture with an audio component.

“I’ve been interviewing a lot of people. I’m focusing on portraits of people in their environments,” said Hamilton.

David Stewart, a senior film studies and production major from South Lake Tahoe, California, chose to focus on a theme of cinematography. Meanwhile, Rachel Kamada, a senior strategic communications major from Anaheim Hills, California, picked the simple yet curious subject of the human mouth.

“I started out photographing the effects of makeup on women and wasn’t exactly thrilled with how it was turning out. I noticed that I was really drawn to the lips so my project now is trying to highlight the features and details in the lips,” said Kamada.

Although Rowe arranged for her students to have an end of the quarter exhibition, almost all of the work of facilitating with CPAC has been through the students. They even have designated marketing, design and reception committees, which handle the Facebook page, posters and creating the reception, which will include food and drinks. They have been advertising to not only DU students but people in the surrounding area, including publicizing through Mike’s Camera in Denver. The marketing committee has also been in contact with CPAC’s director, Rupert Jenkins, in advertising for the event through their website.

Rowe and her photography students commented on how integral Jenkins has been as a part of the whole process. From working with marketing to teaching the students how to hang and design a show, he has been a significant help to the exhibition.

In the end, though, the exhibit has come down to the dedication and hard work of these 12 students.
“I’m proud of these guys because the work has come along really well … if they were just to create a portfolio and if I or a gallerist were to just put it on the wall there wouldn’t be as much of a sense of accomplishment and they wouldn’t get the understanding as to what goes into getting your work out there … This is their show,” said Rowe.

The students have been working on designing the space and will also physically hang the show next week. According to Rowe, this will entail strategically creating the space so that all of the individual pieces of work merge cohesively.

“For me, it’s not twelve individual shows, it’s a group show,” said Rowe.

Most of the students in this class are upperclassmen with in-depth photography experience.
“I grew up with a camera in my hands,” commented Stewart.

For many of the students, this is the first public showing of their work. Most of them are art minors and hope to continue with photography after college. Kamada commented that this exhibit would be a trial run for showing her work later.

The students emphasized, however, that this exhibit is also a great way to show DU students that photography classes are not just exclusive to art majors and minors.

“I think it gets the word out that you can take art classes not being an art major. They easily fit into your schedule and you can do really cool things like have an exhibition,” said Hamilton.

These photographers encourage DU students to come out and view the show because it will give them a new perspective on photography that is often lost in the world of digital media.

“Photography the way we see it now is all computers and Facebook … It’s a lot more magical when it’s printed in front of you because it’s more of an experience,” said Stewart.