The Daily O’Collegian

For those people interested in photography, a club has started on campus to feed the need.

The OSU Photography Club will hold its first meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room 101 of the Paul Miller Journalism and Broadcasting building.

Four students with a passion for photographs started the group, which welcomes photographers of all skill levels to come and share their tips, strategies and photos.

Rachel Ficken, a human development and family sciences junior and the president of the club, said that when she first arrived at OSU several years ago, she was surprised to find that no photography club or classes existed.

“We didn’t really have any photography classes in high school, so when I came here I was surprised that there was only one photography class and you have to be a journalism major to take it,” Ficken said.

After searching for others who also shared her interest, she met Anthony Fernandez, a graphic design sophomore, and the two began brainstorming on what they should do.

“We knew we wanted a place to share pictures and learn from each other,” Fernandez said. “First off, we’re just gonna get together and talk about photos. It’s all about learning from each other.”

This past semester, the two met Blaine Bertrem, a psychology freshman who attended high school with Fernandez, and James Linhardt, a marketing and economics sophomore. Bertrem took the position of secretary and Linhardt became the new clubs treasurer.

To attract members, Ficken said the Facebook group she created last summer was the major means of publicity.

“I didn’t think so many people would join a Facebook group like that, but we’ve already got 150 members in the group,” Ficken said. “Of course, we don’t know how many people are still at OSU or are still students, so I’m sure there will be a lot less people than that starting out.”

The group said they are excited to get started and Bertrem said she believes that starting the group this late in the school year may actually help bring people to the meetings.

“Because so many people are trying to get members [at the beginning of the school year], it’s kind of overwhelming for people to get the chance to learn about all the different clubs and see which one they might like,” Bertrem said. “Since we are starting so much later, people will already have looked at those clubs first.”

Linhardt said the group is in the process of securing a darkroom for those members that prefer to use film over digital cameras.

“Right now we don’t have any sort of darkroom or anything that we can use,” Linhardt said, “But after we are considered an official club on campus, we have been talking to some people that say they can help us get one for all the members of the club to use.”

Membership dues have been tentatively set at $20 but for the rest of this semester the dues will only be $10, because the year is almost over.

The group plans to meet several times a month, each time having a photo contest with a theme.

“The official meetings are gonna be every two weeks,” Fernandez said. “We’ll send an e-mail out a week ahead of time or something. It will be to get the word out. Maybe the word will be black — a black car, a black CD cover or even just using the word black in a photo.

“Then, at the meeting, we’ll look at the photos and talk about them.”

Fernandez said he does not want to give off the feeling that a member of the group will critique people’s work.

“We’re not trying to bash anybody’s work,” Fernandez said. “We want you to come and learn, and we want to learn from you. We’re not trying to represent that we are the best photographers on campus.”

For more information or to e-mail photos to the group for inclusion into the meeting contests, those interested may contact the OSU Photography Club by e-mailing osuphotographyclub@gmail.com or visiting the Facebook group “NEW - OSU photography club.”