News

Revival of photo club in planning stages

In print | September 10, 2009

While Virginia Hottinger ’12 and Lamie Nguyen ’12 both shared a strong passion for photography as freshman-year roomates, they were disappointed when they started looking into photography opportunities at the college. “Swarthmore only offers one class in [photography], and it has an art class as a prerequisite,” Nguyen said. “We heard that there used to be a club, but it wasn’t active anymore.”

So Nguyen and Hottinger decided to start their own and came up with Photo Shop, a club that couples recreational photography for students with charity at a community level.

While the club, open to beginning and experienced photographers, would have activities such as trips to Philadelphia, Nguyen said that she and Hottinger would also like to provide a creative outlet for handicapped children and teenagers in the community, possibly at the Children and Adult Disability and Educational Services, whose center is located in Swarthmore.

Hottinger added that she and Nguyen have begun planning charity fundraisers. “In the spring semester, we are planning on having a photo show/sale where we use the money from selling Swat students’ photos to donate to a charity,” Hottinger wrote in an e-mail.

The sale would include T-shirts and bags screened with the photographs and all proceeds would benefit charities for the handicapped and disabled, Nguyen said.

So far, there’s been more interest in the club than Nguyen and Hottinger expected. “We set up a table at the Activities Fair, and something like 40 or 50 people signed up,” Nguyen said.

Hottinger said in an e-mail that the group is not officially a “club” because it’s waiting to get a charter, receiving funding and gaining access to a darkroom.

Hottinger said that while it might be helpful to have a camera, they hope to get funding from the college for cameras they can lend. Additionally, students with no previous experience will be able to learn in training sessions. Those students who prefer to use digital cameras are also welcome to join and contribute.