(St. Louis, MO – March 21-23, 2024)
Riley Francis and Avery Marshall drove 650 miles from Edinboro to attend the annual conference of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE). At the St. Louis Grand Hotel, the PennWest juniors met up with Photography Professor Natasha Kravchenko for the three-day event.
Francis and Marshall attended sessions and lectures by SPE members and other professionals in the field. They were especially impressed by workshops that demonstrated improved inkjet and alternative printing processes, taking note of different paper types and their effect on photos.
“It’s important our students attend SPE and other conferences,” said Professor Kravchenko. “These events teach undergraduates to promote their own work and to network with experts in their discipline.”
Though they shared portfolios with educators and fellow photographers from across the nation, Marshall and Francis each benefited from a twenty-minute, one-on-one review of work by Osamu James Nakagawa, the Ruth N. Halls Distinguished Professor of Photography at Indiana University. Nakagawa, recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, is director of the Center for Integrative Photographic Studies. Both students were grateful for the professor’s ideas to improve content and technique, as well as his perspectives on abstract and animal photography.
The pair will present a recap of their St. Louis experience over dinner with Philm students on Friday, April 19 at 7pm in G20 of Doucette Hall.