Student explores varied interests in flexible major

Joel Beckwith started at Rochester Institute of Technology studying business management. But he ultimately changed his major to combine his love for business with other passions. 

He switched to the visual media option in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences — a discipline that has allowed him to explore all of his interests. 

“I’ve always been interested in other forms of art such as cinema, illustration and photography,” Beckwith said. “Visual media allows me to take the specific photography classes I want to while integrating other fields I’m interested in like marketing and design.”

The visual media curriculum emphasizes photographic proficiency and adds two specialized focuses on media design and business (management and/or marketing). Students also can take college-wide electives to broaden their range of creative skills. 

For Beckwith, this was the ideal route to gain wide experience and maximum flexibility as a professional.

“I enjoy many kinds of photography and appreciate the flexibility I’m given to do so with my major,” Beckwith said. 

At RIT, Beckwith has worked on many different projects. One of his favorites was a video he created for his time-based design class. 

“We were assigned to translate a body of text into a video in some way, and I chose to take lyrics from a band I like and make a music video for the song,” Beckwith said.

Beckwith also used his videography and photography abilities for his production photography course, which puts students in a professional environment. It teaches the skills, concepts, preparation and teamwork required to successfully complete production-level photoshoots.

For last spring’s final project, the class created a 1930s-style composite image of School of Photographic Arts and Sciences faculty and staff, all posed around a table as a giant family. The subjects were photographed in small groups, with all of the photos combining to make one cohesive image. 

Another project that stood out to Beckwith was doing a mock advertisement for Fruit by the Foot, modeled after Rene Magritte’s painting “The Lovers II.”

In addition to those, Beckwith enjoyed the work he completed in the topics in visual media: innovation project course, taught by professor and visual media undergraduate program director Frank Cost. 

“I chose to create a photo series of Rochester landmarks and famous buildings using a tilt-shift lens and make large prints of them to display at Imagine RIT,” Beckwith said. “Since tilt-shift photography is something that not many people are familiar with, I thought it would be interesting to show Rochester locals places they’ve seen a million times in a way that they’ve never seen before.”

Tilt-shift photography utilizes a special lens that allows its two halves to be adjusted independently. It creates a unique effect that often makes real-world subjects look miniature.

To supplement the photos in “The Rochester Experience” exhibit at Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, in a joint-effort presentation with several other class projects, Beckwith brought in tilt-shift lenses to teach visitors how they work and the effects they created. 

Aside from photography, Beckwith’s other interests include marketing, audio production, music and filmmaking — talents he developed in high school and advanced while studying visual media at RIT.

Outside of school, Beckwith plays bass guitar in a pop-punk band he formed with friends in high school. The band, Maple Hill, wrote and recorded an album a year after they formed, then played shows and did a few tours. 

“We are still together today and are about to record our second studio album,” Beckwith said. “It has been one of the best experiences of my life.” 

Beckwith integrates his love for performing and music into his work, practicing concert photography and writing concert reviews for Floated, an alternative culture magazine started by School of Photographic Arts and Sciences alumnus Adam Antalek ’17 and current student Krit Upra.

“This is something I love, as it gives me practice in the field of photography that I’d like to work in, allows me to go to concerts frequently and experiences me in the process of putting together a media publication,” Beckwith said.

Over the summer, Beckwith pursued personal interests such as performing with his band and backpacking across Europe. This fall, he started a part-time internship as a brand ambassador for Buffalo, N.Y.-based digital marketing company RepHike. 

“I feel that the types of jobs I might be getting as a visual media major could potentially have more crossover with the wide range of passions I have,” Beckwith said. “Things like marketing and graphic design I learned during my studies here, and I look forward to pursuing them more once I graduate.”

To learn more about visual media at RIT, visit here. To view more of Beckwith’s projects and photography, visit his website.