Art Aficionados Fotoweek focuses frame on students’ perspective

Fixation, focus, and passion.

These are the three words Georgetown University Art Aficionados chose as prompts for their new photography exhibition, which opened on Monday in the Healey Family Student Center. Coinciding with the D.C.-wide Fotoweek, GUAA’s annual photography contest allowed students to submit personal photographs corresponding to the chosen theme. Hundreds of photographs are submitted each year, with roughly a dozen selected for final judgment.

Lauren Ashley Panawa’s “Abyss” may be the most technically sophisticated image of the exhibit [Full Disclosure: Panawa was previously Design Editor of the Voice]. Clearly, she knows her way around Adobe Photoshop well enough to masterfully enhance the colors of the photograph without it appearing to have ever been retouched. She simultaneously captures the rich pink and blue hues of light glaring off the windows, incorporates the shadows of the couple’s double reflections, and balances the tricky exposure of a dimly lit scene. The composition sings the rule of thirds within the interior space, making it among the most eye-catching and well executed submissions.

The next attention-grabbing phot was the black-and-white portrait of an older woman by Taylor Tobin entitled “Unfiltered Joy.” The woman in the photo has her head thrown back in a moment of obvious delight. The photograph was deeply touching, encouraging contemplation of the intimate moment preserved in Tobin’s image. Tobin transforms the woman’s wrinkles into a beautiful testament to a fulfilled and joyous life.

Meltem Yilmaz’s “Indifferent Family” begs a laugh. It comically depicts a man and woman staring confusedly at a city map, ignoring the child in the stroller before them. Yilzman instills a kind of authenticity in this candid photo that can’t be overlooked. The man, woman, and child are vulnerable, subjected to our prying eyes and judgment. The couple, lost in a new city—perhaps in a foreign country—struggle with both a foldout map and an iPad. The child uses the map in a more practical way, holding it over her head to shade herself from the glare of the sun, making for a hilarious portrait of a traveling family.

Professor Osborn, invited by GUAA to pick the contest winners, admits that he was a reluctant juror of photography. As there were more images taken in the year 2012 alone than in the entire history of photography, he contends, how are you supposed to judge one against all others? Osborn then said that he naturally took interest in the pieces submitted by his students because he understood their place within a series of other photographs and the intentions of the photographer. Professor Osborn chose winners in four different categories: “Abyss” by Lauren Ashley Panawa in the interior space category, “Lover of the Light” by Matthew L. Howard in the street category, “Emmanual” by Amalia Coyle in the studio category, and “As my future comes” by María Gracia Naranjo for portraiture.

These photographs offer glimpses into the lives of fellow Hoyas. Picture that with a Kodak. Or, better yet, go to the HFSC and take a picture of me with a Kodak.

GUAA Fotoweek

Healey Family Student Center

Through Nov.  14

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