College Portfolio   Click on image for larger view

I went to Rochester Institute of Technology for a degree in Photojournalism. Most of the class work was pretty rote, being predicated towards high school seniors knowing little photography, so I joined the staff of the schools weekly news magazine, The Reporter. This was fun, challenging, and it gave me a chance to get out and actually produce something that people would see. I spent four years there as photographer, and  photo editor, helping to take it to four color. When I left, it was the best student weekly magazine in the United States. This below is just some of what I did.
Our one big problem was that Reporter was printed by the Graphic Arts Research Center (GARC) people, and they would use whatever paper they had on hand. Consequently, we never knew if we were going to press on clay-coated magazine stock, cheap newsprint, or something in between. It was a crap shoot every week. Very hard to get uniform results.
Other than in Summer, the weather in Rochester is notoriously bad, so the weather shot at right from April 15, 1975 is right on the money. RIT is surrounded by standing pools of water. I needed  a shot in 45 minutes for a story on raising  money for tuition entitled "Coming Up with the Bucks". Having a hand and money coming out of the swamps seemed appropriate. I also learned that paper money sinks when wet. It was a problem.
	April in Rochester	For a story on College Union changes and management		From out of the mud....
The Fall of 1977 was cold and very wet. Local farmers could not get into their fields to harvest their root crops, or once in, got stuck in the mud. This story was about two guys and their hired hands picking potatoes by hand, because their tractor mired down continually. They weren't going to make a lot of money this season, but were picking up what they could for seed for next year. You have to be an optimist to be a farmer.
RIT used to have an Oktoberfest weekend that consisted of a band in a beer tent, lots of beer, and lots of sports on campus. The kids would tend to get tipsy and rambunctious then start throwing each other into mud pits, it being October, cold and rainy. This was a yearly occurrence until the guy on the bike, shot earlier in June, got paralyzed, which lead to the cancellation of future fests. All my pictures wound up in court.
The Greeks at RIT had something of a "party hardy" reputation. This issue tried to show Greek life in its entirety, house living, parties, and the community service the Greeks did. I spent the weekend in AZD sorority, and the girls were very welcoming. Next over, Dr. Arthur was a biology instructor who was very popular with her students, which didn't stop the administration from trying to get rid of her because she was spending too much time teaching, and not enough writing papers. The Super Bowl is always a popular event, even with those studying. RIT wasn't considered a "grind school" for nothing. The editor wanted to do a Winter Activities issue, but we had no snow. I realized that the ice rink was open though, and sure enough, there was a small pile outside the rink that the Zamboni had dropped, and it worked well, as long as I was close up!
After years of running spot color, we finally went four-color in 1977. The editor had ideas for the Christmas issue.  I did the bottles on my desk in my apartment with a hand-held flash through a piece of newspaper.  The glassblower led off the story on the School for American Craftsmen. This was a double exposure on the same frame, an interesting problem. She was a 15th at f/2.8; the furnace 1000th at f/16. The menorah shot included the Jewish population, and was done in the office on a half-hour deadline. The editor was Jewish, and he liked the simplicity of the Festival of Lights.
The shoplifter was an illustration for a story on the school bookstore, and how it was carefully watched. I love wide angles, especially my 24mm..... The girl with the poster was protesting the pervasive student apathy towards anything but studying. Some people had a small rally in the union. She had a break afterwards.
My Reporter work really made the whole college experience endurable. As editor, I got paid $25 a week, and that is what I lived on for all school year. I was paying $12,000 a year for a $25 a week job!