Faculty Feature: Prof. Angela Kelly Shares her Love of Teaching PHAR 101
Photo by Clay Patrick McBride
I coordinate the required first year photography class at RIT Photo. It is a big job and sometimes there might be up to six sections. One of the suggested first assignments given to the class – all sections – is the Scavenger Hunt assignment. Students in each section organize themselves into two teams and when the images are submitted, the class votes for the best overall pictures.
Once again, this year, my section of freshmen students’ rose to the occasion. They gave themselves team names, Team RGB and Team CMYK. The names were chosen by the students and to me indicated their serious intent to embrace technology, while the photography itself pushed the envelope in execution of assignment concepts and creative interpretation.
A wonderful element in this assignment is that students who barely know each other – because the semester is just beginning – begin to work collaboratively and learn about the hidden treasures of the campus at the same time. Students divide their tasks into the following roles: Project manager, the photographers, editorial assistants, Adobe Lr. manager and Keynote presenters. This year’s two groups did not disappoint. After a rousing presentation, we held an open vote for the best photograph from each group. Candy was dispensed liberally through the two-hour critique and as a bonus, the winning photographers received a box of photo paper.
My sections’ students were: Gabby Alvarez, Leo Golia, Isabelle Hart, Danielle Marcellus, Dorothy Marquet, Ben Morrow, Maggie Novak, Natasha Richard, Marie Shepard, Hank Tilson, Maddie Vanderpool, Sam Walker, Haolan Zhou.
Here’s the list of topics.
- Chalkboard in the Atrium of Gosnell
- Living wall in the Sustainability Bldg.
- Oversized photo book collection in the library
- Bus stop by library and Lowenthal Hall
- Sentinel
- Infinity Quad Sculpture
- A photo that expresses joy
- @ the RIT photo store – an environmental portrait of a person, who
works there,
which shows the environment where he/she works
- A photo made in a barber shop
- A photo about religion
- A photo that shows some kind of relationship.
- The most interesting faculty SPAS office
- The old pool bleachers now a fountain in the Campus Center
- A portrait of the oldest person you can find
- Night
- Bricks of RIT
- The Magic Center
We would love to hear from you. Please Feel free to comment of which image you find intriguing!
About the Author
Angela Kelly is an artist from Belfast, N. Ireland, U.K., living in Rochester, NY, where she is a professor of photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work addresses memory, landscape and history of place. She is included in Naomi Rosenblum’s book, A History of Women Photographers, 2010; Photography and the Artist’s Book, 2012, and The Photograph and the Album, 2013, published by Museums Etc. Her work Catharsis: Images of Post-Conflict Belfast was published in the Journal, Photographies, Vol 6: Issue 1, Routledge, 2013. Collections include: The Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Mac- Arthur Foundation; The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Kansas City Art Institute; The High Museum Atlanta and The Arts Council, London. Nominated by the Irish Voice, NYC, as one of 100 US Irish educators in 2014, a selection of her work may be viewed at http://AngelaKellyPhoto.com In 2017 she was nominated for the Prix Pictect prize for her photography.