Work and Play

‌

Todd Carlson, third-year photojournalism major

A youngster contemplates her next move at Rochester\'s Strong National Museum of Play.

Rochester’s Strong National Museum of Play was the setting of an intensive photo shoot organized by RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences in conjunction with Adobe Systems Inc.

RIT was one of 25 universities nationwide to participate in Adobe’s Project: Photoshop Lightroom, which brought Adobe technical experts and noted photographer Colin Finlay to campus for a two-day workshop. On the second day, 15 students took their cameras to the recently expanded Strong National Museum of Play, the second largest children’s museum in the U.S. and the only museum in the world dedicated to the study of play. Students received V.I.P. access to the entire museum, photographing visitors, employees, the collections, exhibits and architecture.

After the shoot, students used Adobe’s new Lightroom beta software to edit and select their final images and upload a selection of images to the Project Lightroom Web site.

“We wanted to capture the real spirit of children’s approach to play in this unique documentary experience,” said Professor Douglas Ford Rea ’78 (photography). “This was an incredible opportunity for our students to work side by side with a world-renowned photographer as well as be among the first to work with software that will revolutionize the way photographers edit and prepare their images.”

Some of the other universities chosen for this initiative include San Francisco Art Institute, School of Visual Arts, Syracuse University, New York University, Parsons-The New School for Design.

“This is the first program of its kind for Adobe to work with the photographic education community,” said Jennifer Stern, Adobe senior marketing manager, Lightroom beta and Photoshop, Professional Photographers. “RIT’s photo school was always at the top of our list from the genesis of this project.”