From Architectural Photography Student Project

9 weeks and 7 campuses = 100s of great images

Friends of Austin Community College may point out our attractive students, attractive programs, and attractive possibilities. But attractive buildings?

You can judge for yourself now, thanks to the students of last summer’s Architectural Photography class (PHTC 2331).

For nine weeks, they roamed the area and produced thousands of digital images to create a showcase of ACC’s facilities. Their task was to document interiors and exteriors of each campus, from the glass-and-concrete structures of Eastview to the hunting lodge ambience of Cypress Creek.

How hard could that be?

“It’s pretty go, go, go” says student Roger Darley, midway during the project. He and his classmates were finishing a Friday night photo shoot at Cypress Creek and planned to be at the Pinnacle the next evening. “It’s full time all the time until we get all the shooting done, then it’s all day all the time until we get the images done.”

“Normally we go on fun-filled trips to other cities,” says Professor William Woodhull, somewhat wistfully.

“But this is a great experience, too,” he adds. “The value for the students is they’re learning how to make a living in architectural photography. They’re dealing with real clients and real buildings.

“And they have to do whatever it takes to get that beauty shot the client wants.”

So what did it take at ACC?

The students scaled hills and ladders. They arranged and rearranged furniture. They conducted most shoots around sunset, between 7 and 9 p.m.

One even climbed into a boom lift bucket. Thirty feet into the air. At night. After all, everything looks better in the evening light. “That’s stuff you can’t get at 2 in the afternoon,” Woodhull says.

“I showed up at the Eastview Campus Saturday night at 9 o’clock and Sunday at 10 o’clock,” Darley says. “That’s how you get the shots without the students in them.”

Was it worth it all? Definitely, says this project’s main client.

“The quality of our students’ work demonstrates their tremendous skill and the great teaching of our faculty,” says Dr. Stephen B. Kinslow, president/CEO of ACC.

College officials plan to exhibit the campus portraits at the Highland Business Center. Other images will be showcased in the college’s print and online communications.

For more information about the Photography Technology Program, visit www.austincc.edu/photo.

Campus photography students are Marc Tobin, left to right, Joel Forgus, Professor
William Woodhull, Chris Kirk, Cristine Seippel, Roger Darley, and Elmar Tu.