Student Feature: Justin Scalera

It’s hard to believe its mid-terms. Holy smokes batman  🙂

RIT Photo loves to share student success and Justin Scalera certainly represents what can happen if you work hard and take advantage of opportunities. Justin will be photo-documenting the Kodak Research Park in the upcoming months for an Exhibition at Kodak. What a rare and special opportunity for this talented and dedicated young man. Go Justin!

Bio:
Justin Scalera is a multi-faceted photographer, specializing in architectural, documentary, and event photography. Justin is from Watchung, New Jersey.  He has actively been making photographs since grade school. Scalera is currently studying fine art photography at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.  A major focus of Justin’s work is the documentation and preservation of historic architecture. He has worked with a number of prestigious organizations on several photographic documentation projects including the Smithsonian Institution. This past summer(2018), he worked with the National Park Service Heritage Documentation Programs photographing historic American buildings and landscapes on large format film.

Why did you choose Rochester Institute of  Technology (RIT)?
RIT was the one, and only school I applied to. Pretty much the only reason I chose RIT was because of the photography program. I was overly impressed with the campus or the surrounding area when I came up to visit for the first time.  But that being said, I was absolutely blown away by the photography program and facilities. I was a bit hesitant about coming here at first, but I am beyond glad that I did. The people that I have met and the knowledge that I have gained in just three years is absolutely incredible and I have come to love the city of Rochester.

Can you share a reason why the photo program at RIT attracted you?
I think a lot of people would say the Equipment Cage is a big reason why the photo program attracted them, which is definitely valid, but for me the main reason why the program attracted me was its reputation and the connections I knew I would be able to make from it.

Have you won any awards?
During my time at RIT, I have been selected for 8 purchase prizes at the SPAS Honors Shows between my freshman and junior years. I also made it to the final round of the College Photographer of the Year competition in 2016.

A favorite class or teacher story
My favorite story that involves a class or teacher would have to be the project I worked on with Frank Cost last year. I was in his Innovation Project class and we were tasked with coming up with a unique project to work on throughout the semester. The idea I pitched for the class was to strap a Noblex panoramic film camera to a drone to create large scale panoramic photos from the sky. It was kind of a joke, I didn’t think it was feasible at the time, but Frank was all for it and was determined to make it happen. So, working with the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing lab and a mechanical engineering student, we designed and fabricated a platform that would affix the Noblex camera to a hexacopter capable of lifting heavy weight. We used this system to create panoramic photographs of Eastman Business Park on Kodak film. It was absolutely ridiculous, but the results were pretty spectacular, and the project as a whole was a shining example of collaboration between the colleges at RIT.

What are you plans after School?
After graduating from RIT I plan to pursue a career in architectural photography, specifically in the field of historic documentation. As mentioned in my bio, I worked for the National Park Service Heritage Documentation Programs this past summer, and I hope to spend another summer with them, and then possibly longer. That would be the ideal scenario, but as long as I’m working around historic architecture, I’ll be happy.

For more of Justin’s work visit: www.justinscalera.com