Photography Club to Function Like an Art Club

Carl LaCount, Staff Writer

Photography Club adviser Christopher Gray plans to make the club more student-centered than it has been in its ten years of existence.

The main focus for this year, Gray says, is focusing on the art of photography.  The club will function more as an art club and be driven by the activities that the students want to explore and do.  The ideas for the club have to come from the kids.  

His real goal for the Photography Club is “to get out of the way,”  Gray said.  He wants the club to be led by students in order for the club to grow.  

“Photographers are drawn to that love of incorporating new technologies to capture an image in a compelling way,” he said.  

Gray started the club about ten years ago due to his own interest in the hobby.

 “I really got into photography within the last ten years which coincided with the whole digital revolution.  I have always thought of it as some sort of art club.  Photography can be a lot of things; it can be photojournalism; there are a lot of aspects.  I have been more interested in the artistic side of photography, which has been an influence with how the club has been,” explained the adviser.

Gray’s favorite camera to use is a 1965 Electro 35 RangeFinder.  

“I like it because it challenges all of my futuristic and modern sensibilities.  It is a throwback, so using it connects me to the past.  Another wonderful thing are its limitations, the fact that I cannot see the picture when it is taken, the number of pictures it takes–all of those limitations are liberating.  They set me free in a sense.  Because I am not a slave to a million choices, you have a thousand ways to take pictures.  You almost become paralyzed.  I find the simplicity and its technology liberating.  It is an analogue experience that challenges my digital mainstream world and I value that,” Gray said.

Club member Elijah Dercks appreciates photography as “it gives a person the liberty to see something ordinary and find something somehow beautiful in it.”   

Dercks thinks photography preserves an “account of how things were” and captures “the beauty and happiness or the ugly and sadness in your life.”

“That’s why I love it,” said the NDA junior.