By Anna Trevathan, Editor
As Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley campus continues to grow, students are being increasingly exposed to and exploring topics outside of their core curricula. This interest is not birthed from extra credit opportunities, but is a result of natural human curiosity. I experienced a perfect example of this at the Photography Student Showcase.
While the room containing these pieces (BA142) is in the back corner of a campus building people walk through daily, I found myself surrounded by students. Not only art majors, but students from all different backgrounds were perusing the photos put up on display.
The human urge to discover things that are new to us is something that all types of art engage, and the medium of photography is no exception. While all of the photos were of interest, there were plenty of stand out shots that students seemed to really enjoy coming back to them time and again.
This photo by Keely Noe was one of the pieces that sparked a lot of discussion between three students I spoke to at the show.
Wilson Baker, who spent several minutes perusing the gallery only to come back to this piece, spoke to the composition of the photo stating, “I really love the black and white photography, I’m happy people are still using it. It’s bold to have this wide of an image too- it really draws your eye to the subject.”
Mia Lynn, another student at the exhibition, said that she was really “drawn to this photo” as she described the elegance and ethereal nature of the woman in the scene. Lynn joked that the woman looked like a “mafia boss’s wife,” and added that there was a sense of mystery to her.
If you’re a fan of the close up black and white shot, there were plenty of images in this showcase for you.
One I think is highly worth seeing is this photo by Sophie Perrins, who was able to capture the action of an equestrian event. Perrins, who is an Imaginary Gardens staff member, captures a mid-air still shot with the horse’s back leg barely grazing the jump.
It’s a shot that serves as a nod to the early days of modern cinema, as the very first moving picture, “The Horse in Motion,” was very similar in composition.
Baker remarked that it “reminded (him) of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work,” a photographer who famously enjoyed capturing human moments and sometimes featured animals with pieces like “Seville, Spain.”
This photograph by Christian Miller was another favorite of students in the gallery; one student, Molly O’Brien, stated that this photo was an architectural feat that “reminded her of spider webs shot in Spider-Man.”
Shot in black and white, the line work in this piece is so intricate and detailed in capturing natural entanglement, as you can see both the lined indentions in the stone and the patterned stabilizing beams intersect perfectly.
While many of the standouts in the showcase were shot in monochrome, I found myself really entranced by this photo by Clarice Kear.
The colors pop through the lens, the perfect hue and saturation of the shot making it look as if it was shot inside of a pink bubble. It’s a perfect shot for a photography show that runs through Valentine’s Day.
In my opinion, the Photography Student Showcase is a must-attend event and is well worth a drive to the Hardin Valley campus, even for those who attend a different campus location.
The show runs through February 27. The gallery is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
In the words of these featured students above, “I want people to come and look at them!”
