By Sarah Elbeshbishi
Studio A provided a free film photo workshop for 15 University of Maryland students on Nov. 5, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Students were taught the basics of traditionally black and white photography at the medium format workshop.
“A medium format is a larger film size than sort of your regular 35 millimeter, which is what you have in a point and shoot,” Patrick Siebert, Studio A’s photography instructor, said. “It’s a little bit higher quality and we have cameras here that we’re using to kind of get people’s feet wet.”
Typically this workshop would cost $50 per person, but was completely free because of a grant the studio received from the Maryland Parents and Family Association, according to Tara Youngborg, the manager of Studio A.
“We were talking about how to get more involvement in the dark room at a lower price point and also to kind of increase the number of cameras and equipment we have because…probably one of the biggest hurdles for people doing traditional film photography is getting a camera and equipment,” Youngborg added.
Siebert and Youngborg recalled many students buying second hand cameras in order to participate in workshops like this one, but many times the cameras weren’t functional, something they aimed to change with this grant.
“People would have to supply their own equipment so now we have the ability to lend out a camera is someone has one that’s broken or doesn’t work,” Siebert said.
It was actually a part of the proposal for the grant, that Studio A was “going to do these workshops, but we were also going to have cameras to lend out,” Siebert added.
During the workshop students had the opportunities to load film, take photos and develop their prints in the dark room.
“It’s such a great opportunity to get a hands on experience,” Rongjie Fan, who attended the workshop, said.
The sophomore nutrition food science major has always been interested in Studio A events, but this one was especially interesting to her because she did something similar in high school.
“I like art a lot so I try to whenever I see something going on at Studio A I try to sign up for myself,” she said. “Also I’m pretty interested in film workshops because when I was in high school I did something [similar]… and I just found that it’s nice to have that again.”
Although it was her first workshop, she plans to go to more.
The grant that funded this workshop will also be funding two of these same workshops next semester for students to sign up for free.
“The value of creative self-expression is, for non art majors and people who are not in the arts, it’s super important because it helps you express yourself, it helps you relax it gives you a space away from your classes… And having it for free means that we can help more people relax and have that space,” Youngborg said.