Explore "Community" at GCC Photography Exhibit

BATAVIA, NY (11/10/2014)(readMedia)-- Photographers influence, and are influenced by, the environment and communities they engage with on a regular basis. This fall GCC photography students have been exploring the circles of family, friends, neighborhoods, towns, employment and organizations they engage with daily. See the results of their work at "Community: A GCC Photography Exhibit." The show will be on view in the Rosalie "Roz" Steiner Art Gallery at GCC beginning Tuesday, December 9, 2014. An opening reception will be held Thursday, December 11, 2014 from 12:30-2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. in the Gallery.

This semester, photography Instructor Joe Ziolkowski has been working with students in both Introduction to Black & White Photography (COM 103) and Introduction to Digital Photography (COM 118) on the use of photography as a way to explore a variety of communities. "We are a community college and this student show will help define our school's middle name," said Ziolkowski. "It also explores various facets of photography, including editorial, documentary or staged 'tableau' photographs, which have a rich history in the medium of photography."

The COM 103 students will exhibit traditional black and white analog photographs taken from a variety of locations in the Western New York area. "The class teaches a student the importance of delayed gratification," Ziolkowski said. It takes the learner several hours of shooting, processing, then printing before they have their final results. Assignments fo¬cus on learning the use of the camera functions and are open ended for students to make photo¬graphs that have relevance to them.

For the first time this semester, COM 118 is being offered online. Students explore how to use the manual functions on a digital camera to control light, focus and time. They also learn software workflow to enhance their digital files.

This semester the two sections of COM118 at the Batavia Main Campus have partnered with a school in The Netherlands through a SUNY COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) project. Students of Prof. Gert-Jan Peddemors at the University of Applied Sciences at Utrecht, The Netherlands, are following the same guidelines for an assignment as the GCC students are. "We're using distance learning tools to share and edit community related photography for an international learning experience," Ziolkowski said. Some of the digital artwork created will be projected on a large video screen in the gallery.

Students from the newly formed Photo Club at GCC will also be participating in the exhibition. And the GCC community and visiting patrons are encouraged to explore activities in The Community Room, a place in the gallery where they can share their community experiences with images, text and internet activities.

Photography coursework at GCC teaches students about composition, foreground/background relationship, color schemes, values, shades and contrast. Manual settings on the camera are explored as well as depth of field and changing reality by the settings of the shutter speed. Students also refine the use of lighting qualities such as silhouette, rim, accent, radiant, dramatic shadow, and chiaroscuro. In addition, students exercise time management and workflow skills.

For more information about the exhibit or photography coursework at GCC, contact Joe Ziolkowski, Instructor of Photography at (585) 343-0055 ext. 6558 or jlziolkowski@genesee.edu

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