Associate of Arts

Photography classes weren’t offered at my high school.  As I wrote about in this post, I kept my creative urges busy on Yearbook Staff.  🙂

So, when I started attending Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) to work on my Associate of Arts, I was beyond excited for all of the new art opportunities.  I signed up for Design, Drawing, and Photography classes!

The year was 2001, and my life was changed forever.

I purchased a film camera, learned the basics of shooting manually, and embraced the darkroom.

After all of those pencil drawings I had created in high school, black and white film didn’t feel very foreign to me.

One of my sweet senior photos – courtesy of Photographique, O’Fallon, IL

When I started learning how to shoot and develop black and white film, I pushed my limits on contrast.  I always wrote and drew with a heavy hand, and my drawings reflected that too.  I loved the looked of nearly-black darks and bright whites, blowing them out most of the time.

One of my first models – our family dog Buttons.

I was learning to look at the world in black and white.  I photographed our family pets, micro compositions from my surroundings, and some friends and family during small gatherings.

When I look at some of my hastily-made contact sheets from my first rolls of black and white film, I can see already see how I was starting to use elements of art and design and incorporating principles of design.  😀

First contact sheets

Some 5x7s that I printed for a class evaluation

While I was learning photography, I was also working at my very first job.  A shelver at the O’Fallon Public Library.

While I was working there, a special exhibit was held that incorporated mannequins.  Mannequins whose hands I discovered hanging out in a staff area behind the front desk.

I had fun photographing them around the library.  🙂

“Mishandling the Library”

I even framed a few of them together and entered the piece into the SWIC Student Art Show.  It was actually accepted and displayed in the brand new Schmidt Art Center!

After I became Assistant Editor to my Editor-in-Chief boyfriend (now husband Nick), I began photographing for SWIC’s school newspaper Eye of the Storm too.

We were Yearbook nerds in high school together and shared a joint love for journalism, so it was an easy fit.

The hubs and I in SWIC’s coursebook

The photojournalism I honed while working on the Eye of the Storm created a nice balance against the fine art photography of my classes.  🙂

After I received my Associate of Arts, I moved on to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to work on my Bachelor of Fine Arts.  But that’s a tale for another time!