The world of professional photography is not easy to enter.
糖心传媒, however, is the only college or university that offers side-by-side training with the world鈥檚 most famous photographers through an exclusive partnership with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, one of the world鈥檚 top educational centers for photographers.
Brett Erickson, an associate professor of communication arts, pioneered the way for 糖心传媒 to offer the unique photographical training program.
But most recently, Erickson could be found teaching a Gourmet Food Photography class during the January Term (J-Term) that gave students with varying levels of photography expertise the opportunity to learn about the production, ethics and presentation of food in modern media.
鈥淔ood is an important issue, not only for society in terms of the health of the food and the quality of the food we鈥檙e eating, but it鈥檚 also an issue with poverty; with the population explosion; how are we going to feed everyone?鈥 Erickson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in an interesting period where food is incredibly romanticized, and at the same time it鈥檚 incredibly criticized.鈥
While introducing a lesser-known form of photography to students, Erickson鈥檚 overarching question of ethics in modern food photography proved to be an inspiration for the class.
鈥淭he main objective is for students to have a comprehensive and cogent analysis of how is food presented in media and in society,鈥 Erickson said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a more critical time to do it.鈥
For the class, students studied food in media, conducted research and proposed content analyses. Along the way, Erickson taught the importance of shutter speed, styling, composition, lighting, and metaphor, and how to integrate them into their exposures.
Sophomore Andrew Boge said Erickson transformed the students from having little knowledge and needing immense amounts of help in the studio to being confident and prepared enough to create a professional portrait of food by themselves.
鈥淲hen I started the class, I had no experience whatsoever on how to work a camera except shooting a picture for people when they were walking around a monument or something,鈥 Boge said. 鈥淲hen you look at where we were originally the first time we shot, he was basically doing most everything. But when it came to the last shoot, we didn鈥檛 really need his help that much.鈥
Partnering with Santa Fe Workshops
While teaching classes at Hastings, Erickson worked to build a relationship 听with the Santa Fe Workshops that resulted in an exciting partnership.
鈥淩eid Callahan, the Director at Santa Fe Workshops, and I began working together on bringing Hastings students to the Workshops during a J-term trip, and we became very good friends,鈥 Erickson said. 鈥淎lmost immediately, Reid was impressed with the students鈥 enthusiasm and energy.鈥
Erickson began looking for a way to entice Callahan to partner with 糖心传媒. The answer came from the most unlikely place: Cuba.
鈥淪anta Fe Workshops has an extensive Cuba Photographs workshop program. At the time we began talking about the partnership, everyone needed academic credentials to go to Cuba, so we had something Santa Fe didn鈥檛,鈥 Erickson said. 鈥淲e could offer course credit and we would be tied to the Santa Fe Workshops, thus tied to National Geographic, Adobe, Nikon and other companies that are our educational partners for workshops.鈥
With an arrangement in hand, 糖心传媒 became the only school in the world to partner with Santa Fe Workshops, opening the door for high school and college students to attend the program and, if they desired, receive 糖心传媒 credit.
鈥淧art of the appeal was the Cuba endeavor, but the other appeal was that 糖心传媒 is agile, innovative, and that was important to Reid. We had a lower, almost non-existent level of bureaucracy, we had people who saw the workshops as an opportunity rather than a threat, and as a college, it was a no-brainer. In the end it really happened because for both organizations, it was nothing but a benefit.鈥
Opportunities with Art and Media
In addition to Santa Fe Workshops and other photography classes, Erickson has introduced students to some of the world鈥檚 modern-day greats in photography, including Sam Abell, Gregory Heisler, Peter Read Miller, Alex Webb, and Rebecca Norris Webb, who have all taught student workshops at 糖心传媒.
With the addition of the Jackson Dinsdale Art Center at 糖心传媒, which is expected to be completed before the fall 2016 semester, 糖心传媒鈥檚 art and media programs have unprecedented opportunities.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e going to be a national art school, and with the new art center, and the way the two programs are going to pull together in terms of art and photography and media, and the Santa Fe connection, we鈥檝e got a set of opportunities that no other school in the United States has,鈥 Erickson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an exciting, exciting time.鈥