By SARAH DEASON

smd025@latech.edu

 

Dean Dablow, director of the School of Art, envisioned a need to transition from film-based processing to digital processing last spring.

 His vision was realized by the construction of a state-of-the-art digital photo lab.

“Every working professional has [gone to digital],” Dablow said.

“Graduates applying at studios are less likely to be hired without any digital training,” Dablow said.

Communication design is digitally speaking about 10 years ahead of photography, he said.

“Photographers were less willing to transition because they wanted real quality prints,” Dablow said.

“Photography majors, studio majors and communication design majors all shared two digital labs for ten years.”

Dablow worked with Kevin Kennedy, a professor of photography, and Mitch Kern, a professor of digital photography, to identify the digital needs and concerns of photography students.

“Dean Dablow, Kevin Kennedy and I created a list to make a digital photography lab work,” Kern, who spearheads digital photography, said. “Dablow wrote and submitted a grant to the Student Technology Fee Board, and secured the funds we needed.”

Last spring the School of Art was awarded $35,000 by the Student Technology Fee Board, Kern said.

“We worked all summer to convert the lighting studio into a digital photography lab equipped with 10 machines, two scanners, two printers, a wireless router and new furniture,” Kern said. “Dablow split the grant into two phases, the second of which is pending.”

Kern said he has seen a great improvement in his students’ abilities to express themselves creatively.

“I see the lab as a creative think tank where students come together to push an understanding of life and art through digital photography,” Kern said.

“We are leaps and bounds above what we did before.”

Students have a sense of ownership now, Kern said.

Heather Younger, a sophomore photography major, said she spends about five hours in the lab, in addition to the time she spends working on the digital photography class she is taking with Kern this quarter.

“I’ve been very satisfied with how the lab has been handled this year,” Younger said. “Compared to last year’s lab, I’ve been very surprised how organized and professional it is.”

Younger is more comfortable in the new lab because Kern is able to spend more individual time with each student, giving students the opportunity to learn things that might help them in their careers.

“Not only is the new lab more efficient and convenient this year, it is also more accessible because I know how to use the equipment,” Younger said. “I feel very comfortable using the lab whenever I need to.”