Nikon D850 | 50mm | f/1.8 | 1/1600 | ISO 400

“The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” –  Susan Meiselas

When The Hubs gave me my first camera years ago, I had no idea of the doors it would open for me. Honestly, I didn’t even think I’d like making photos. He and I had never discussed it nor had I expressed an interest in it as a hobby. He just came home one day and handed me a camera and said “Get out the house and take some pictures.” We’d moved to Missouri a few months earlier and I was unemployed and stuck in the house with nothing to do. I was bored and getting on everyone’s last nerve.

I’m an introvert, so going out and making friends just wasn’t gonna happen for me. But going out and making pictures of the local community? That worked. I ended up meeting and making images of people in the community and doing an Instagram takeover for the Cape Girardeau Visitors Bureau.

But it wasn’t until we moved to Louisiana that I started to really see photography as a tool for connection with our students. A little over two years ago, our chancellor hired me as the part-time social media coordinator for the college. In this role, I get to use my hobby to support and encourage our students. A couple of times a week, I go into the classrooms and workshops to make images of our students as they learn new skills, then I share these images on our college’s social media. When I’m in the classrooms or workshops, I try to be as unobtrusive as possible. I rarely have the students or instructors pose, because I want to capture them just being and learning. My goal is to tell the stories of our students and, ultimately, our college.

You can see some of the photos that I’ve made for the college here, here, and here.

HAPPY NATIONAL CAMERA DAY!

Happy Snapping,

Daenel T {Living Outside the Stacks}

 

 

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