Hello Everyone! I wanted to tell you all a club on campus! The Shutterbug Photography Club is a club dedicated to photography.
The club was put together in 2021, when Professor Sue Jenkins ( our club advisor ) had the idea of bringing back a photography club to the Art Department. At that time, because of COVID, we did all this planning over Zoom! We talked about the club name, what it was about, and our roles.
I was very luck to be the Vice President of this club and the President was senior photography major, Mackenzie Thomas ( Kenzie ). We both became very good friends through this club. And we both worked hard to do some activates as a club and for the Marywood community. Sadly for us, Mackenzie is graduating this May 2022. This means I will be taking over the role as the President and a new lovely photo major, Julie Potter, is going to be my Vice President!
Before school ended this semester, I made a questionnaire for some of the members to answer.
What is your major?
Kenzie: Photography
Caitlin: Photography, minoring in Art History
Julie: Photography
Ty: Illustration, minoring in Graphic Design
How did you learn / hear about this club and why did you join?
Kenzie: I was one of the people who helped make the club a reality.
Julie: I heard about the club from Prof Sue Jenkins before I started at Marywood.
Ty: I joined right around the time it was being launched after I heard about it through a club fair during my first year. I was previously part of a photo club in high school and thought it would be fun to do again.
How and why are you interested in photography?
Kenzie: I’ve been interested since I was a Sophomore in high school. It started as a mere hobby, but now I am excited to do it for the rest of my life and capture people’s fondest memories!
Caitlin: It started as a small hobby in middle school, but it truly sparked my interest my Sophomore year in high school, when I took a photography class where we were taking images on film cameras and producing them in the darkroom. This is where I wanted to be more serious and continue it for the rest of my life.
Julie: I’ve loved photography since I was very young and it was always a hobby until the last few years of high school when I decided I wanted it to be my career.
Ty: Photography became a hobby of mine during high school. I’m an artist so I love creating things that are visually interesting, and photography is part of that.
What do you use to capture your images?
Kenzie: Currently Canon Rebel T6, but almost ready to buy a Nikon D850
Caitlin: Nikon D3300
Julie: I also shoot on a Canon Rebel T6
Ty: I use my phone, as I don’t have a camera at the moment.
What inspires you to capture your images?
Kenzie: I love helping people tell their stories and capture their accomplishments.
Caitlin: I think what catches my eyes when I go places, or when I’m out shooting for the school news paper, the people and the scene inspires me to try and capture an story through images.
Julie: I love using my camera as a means of artistic and emotional expression and capturing the things that people wouldn’t think to capture.
Ty: I love to take photos of things that strike me. Sometimes, I’ll see something when I’m taking a walk and I’ll be compelled enough to take a few photos of it.
Why would you recommend the Shutterbug Photography Club to future members?
Kenzie: The club is an opportunity for all students (whatever their major or minors) to take a little bit of time to be creative and learn about photography as an art. Whether you’re a full-on photographer or just do it as a hobby, or you’re simply interested in learning about it more, this club is for you.
Caitlin: This is a great club for anybody who enjoys taking photographic images. It surprises me when people sign up and say what their majors are that I had never heard of. Overall you get a chance to learn about photography since there’s more to it than just pointing your camera and shooting.
Julie: As the future VP I obviously want to recommend it to new members especially since it was such a great freshman year experience for me! It really helped me grow as a photographer but also have a way of staying creative outside of clear cut art courses that may have had less freedom.
Ty: I think it serves as a fun opportunity for anybody, even those who normally don’t take photos. They may discover a hobby they originally didn’t think much about!
What is your favorite event, memory, or things we did in the club?
Kenzie: I love doing workshops with the members. It’s a great way to teach the little technical things about photography and I enjoy seeing everyone’s ways of photographing.
Caitlin: I love doing our monthly prompts. Every month we assign a theme like Fall, Abstract, Lighting. In March I came up with an idea called Something Green where members had to take a picture of something green but it couldn’t be grass, trees and or leaves ( they could be in the image as a background but it can’t be the main focus ). And at our meetings we look at everyone’s images, then critique and discuss our images!
Julie: The photo booth fundraiser and our fun club shoot afterwards was definitely my favorite club memory! We had so much fun playing around with props and also taking some creative and fine art photos.
Ty: I love our yearly club member art exhibition and seeing everybody’s work! Beyond that, I just love talking with our club members during meetings and otherwise. Sometimes, we feel like a family.
I hope you all enjoyed learning about the club through the other members! We are a small club but we all treat each other as a small family! Hopefully after reading this post you too would like to join our small family! If you like to learn more about the club you can email at is at mushutterbugs@gmail.com You can also follow us on Instagram where we post the monthly prompts, some people photo submissions, and our Photographer Spotlight!
Our instagram is @mushutterbugs
