At first glance photographs from the "Around the Bend" exhibit appear to capture an alien landscape or an exotic desert location half way around the world.
Appearances can be deceiving.
The location these photos depict makes them even more intriguing when their source is revealed: Big Bend National Park, a national treasure found in Texas' own back yard.
The exhibit is currently on display at the Plano Municipal Center and showcases work from Collin County Community College photography students who went on week-long trip in May to the national park located near the border of Texas and Mexico. Their view of the west Texas desert paints a picture a thousand words would have a hard time grasping.
Professor of photography Lupita Tinnen decided last year when she joined the CCCC staff to bring back the photography field trip which she said used to be a regular part of the curriculum.
Tinnen said the trip allowed students to expand their creativity by shooting material completely new to them without the stress of other schoolwork.
"It gives students the opportunity to photograph something different and the light out there was so different," Tinnen said. "We all went to the same place but we have completely different photos from each other. It gives students a chance to just completely focus on photography. No other classes, just photography."
A change of scenery can make a world of difference, especially when you are a photographer. Just ask Desmion Grosshuesch, a photography major from Plano, who said she plans on pursuing a career in photography after graduation.
"Usually I shoot landscapes and cityscapes in parks; small areas where you have to watch out for people and power lines," Grosshuesch said. "Down at Big Bend you have miles and miles of space."
She said having to do extra work for the gallery exhibition gave her added practice in areas important to future work as a photographer.
"I had never shot that many photographs of a single area in a concentrated period of time and to come up with gallery-style prints takes a lot of work," Grosshuesch said. "It is not something that you get to do all the time."
Grosshuesch's contribution to the exhibit, "Desert Cove" is a great example of the unique lighting and contrast found in the pictures taken at Big Bend National Park. She credits discovery of the location with some lunch time wandering in the desert.
"We were in a ravine, it was the first or second day and everyone was eating lunch," Grosshuesch said. "I wandered off and I climbed up into it. It was noon and the light wasn't very good for shooting outside right then, so inside the cave I got a really good shot."
One of Grosshuesch's classmates, Elizabeth Williamson, who is also a photography major at CCCC, decided to include a human element into her piece, "Shadows at Indian Head." She said she chose the photo for the exhibition because it embodied the spirit of the trip.
"I felt capturing people viewing this wonderful landscape was important." Williamson said. "The whole point of the trip was to experience things that I wouldn't normally experience here in Plano and including that in my photo was important."
A reception for "Around the Bend" will take place this Friday at the Plano Municipal Center.
Contact staff writer Josh Hixson at
jhixson@acnpapers.com or 972-398-4255.
