It’s hard to believe our Intensive program is coming to an end and it is our last day in Spoleto.
The Photography students finished up all of their editing in Adobe Lightroom and put together a final presentation of their artwork, and the visual arts students put the final touches on their pieces.
The final showcase highlighted and celebrated all of the hard work the students put in. It was heartening and inspiring to listen and to see the process by which each student reached his/her/their final pieces. Each artist provided an oral overview of inspiration, process, and product and celebrated the revision and editing time required to hone their respective skills. What a testament to our faculty and to the creative intentions of our artists. It was truly a privilege to spend this time with these budding forces!
“During my time in Spoleto Italy, I not only grew as a photographer, but I also endured a beautiful, new social and cultural experience. This was my first time in Italy, so I had no real expectations as to what life would look like here. However, this magical city eclipsed any and every location I have traveled to. The beauty of Spoleto is genuinely unreal; its architecture, food, religion, values, and people all radiate a rich energy that is indescribable. In Spoleto, I had the opportunity to experience the city, form amazing relationships with the students from this program, and photograph heaps of images that I will hold onto forever.
As an artist, I typically gravitate towards capturing still photographs of people. Although the landscape and architecture of Spoleto is ethereal, the individuals who live here truly reflect Italian life. Because of this, I chose my portfolio to focus on the people of Spoleto. I explored Spoleto, Assisi, Spello, and Montefalco, and I captured many different people on my Canon Digital Camera. Each unique city led to more and more unique photographs. I am so grateful we got to travel across multiple cities because each had their own distinctive story to tell.
For my portfolio, I chose three of my favorite black and white photographs and three of my favorite colorful photographs. When editing in black and white, I chose to create a more timeless aura to the photograph to depict the timeless history of Italy. When editing in color, I chose to add a lot of saturation and vibrance in order to showcase the liveliness and color of Italy.
Although each set of photographs look very different, I truly believe that my time here has tremendously improved myself discovery as an artist by teaching me new techniques and giving me the agency to formulate my artistic aesthetic.
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