Student Feature: Christopher Beitz

We invited Christopher Beitz to share his story

photo by Scott Semler

I grew up in a small town just south of Buffalo, NY. After graduating from high school in 2011, I enrolled at Erie Community College and pursued an associate’s degree in communication and media arts for two years while living at home.

My first interest in photography took place while at Erie Community College(ECC), where I took a darkroom photography class and found a deeper appreciation for what was being done in the world of contemporary art photography. Upon graduating from ECC, I spent 3 years working full time in food service while living at home, trying to muster up enough courage to apply to an art school. It took me a long time trying to figure out if photography was a good fit for me, and not something that I would outgrow after a while. I would say that waiting so long to make the move was good for me, as I had been photographing for a few years and still enjoyed it with no signs of slowing down.

When looking at schools, I attended the Day of Photography at RIT a few times, once back in 2012 and again in 2016. The second time around I knew I needed to come to the school and that the experience of being here would be vital to growing as an artist. Being surrounded by like-minded people who are all interested in the same beautiful thing, really pushes you and makes it easy to find inspiration every day. I can without a doubt say that coming to RIT was the best decision I ever made.

Can you share a reason why the photo program at RIT attracted you?
I spent a lot of time looking at schools, with the main focus being on the quality of the professors. My thought is that you can have the greatest equipment in the world at your disposal, but not having someone to mentor and push you in the right directions won’t make your pictures better. To that end I would say that the professors here are top notch and truly care enough to say when something is not working, and that when something is good they know how to push you in the right direction to make it even better. This to me is the most important thing when it comes to growing as an artist.

A favorite class or teacher story
My favorite class as of right now would be Contemporary issues: photo as object. For the most part, my photographic endeavors have been strictly to shoot, develop, scan, retouch and print.  But while in this class, I have been able to explore another side of myself creatively, pursuing collage, sculpture, and even contemplating installation art. I am always trying new things out and seeing what comes of it, with a great majority of the work I have done in this class taking place in the darkroom. This freedom to use the photographic image alongside the use of different materials and processes has been an amazing thing to me, and it has really changed my perception of what can be done within the medium.

What are you plans after School?
Plans for after school are still a bit of an enigma for me, but slowly coming together. I would like to pursue something such as print production or book publishing, perhaps even working in an archive of some sort. In addition, I would also like to eventually get an MFA down the road, and teach at the college level.

You can see more of Chris’s work by following this link
www.christopherfrankbeitz.com