Category Archives: Events

Final Photographers’ Lecture Series Asks ‘Where is the Truth?’

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Photographers Braden Chattman and Michael Zide are so in sync with one another that, during a recent talk at the Williston Northampton School, they finished each other’s sentences.

“The big word at Hallmark is ‘intention,’” said Mr. Zide. “As someone who absorbs photography,” Mr. Chattman chimed in, “that’s what ultimately matters.”

The Hallmark Institute of Photography teachers were at Williston on April 23 to give the final evening talk of this year’s Photographers’ Lecture Series. That afternoon, Mr. Chattman and Mr. Zide had also spent a class period speaking to Williston’s photography students about what a professional career in photography involves.

“Photography is a lot more than a career decision,” said Mr. Chattman. “It’s a lifestyle.”  He described his dream retirement: traveling the country with his wife, who is also a photographer, in a motorcycle with a tripod mounted on its sidecar. That way there would be no glare from car windows. Continue reading →

Chattman and Zide at Photographers’ Lecture Series

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Braden Chattman

A pair of photography instructors who approach the natural world from vastly different perspectives will visit the Williston Northampton School for the final in this year’s Photographers’ Lecture Series. The event, held in the Dodge Room in the Reed Campus Center on Tuesday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m., is free and open to the public.

Braden Chattman and Michael Zide, both instructors at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, will speak about their work, how their approaches have changed over time, and how others can explore their own authentic voices.

While Mr. Zide looks to capture what he describes as “moments of wonder in the landscape,” Mr. Chattman combines photos he takes over time to form landscapes of his own.

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Ron Wyatt at Williston’s Photographers’ Lecture Series

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Sports photographer Ron Wyatt will present the next in Williston Northampton School’s ongoing lecture series on Thursday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Mr. Wyatt was assigned by Kodak to photograph the Summer Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, and is a self-taught photographer. In his presentation, Mr. Wyatt will talk about his experiences covering the Olympic Games, as well as finding the right equipment and camera set-up, planning a shooting strategy, and the importance of knowing the game.

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Photographers’ Lecture Series Returns with Bill Diodato

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Capturing lipstick as it drips, the gleam of broken eggs, or cockroaches swarming a sneaker-strewn table—and making them look beautiful—requires particular photography skills.

On February 19, as part of the ongoing Photographers’ Lecture Series, commercial and fine art photographer Bill Diodato named some of those skills: patience, preparation, and the ability to stay true to yourself.

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Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse Visits Campus as Diversity Keynote

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As Mayor, 24-year-old Alex B. Morse calls himself the Chief Marketing Officer for the city of Holyoke.  Kicking off the eleventh annual Diversity Conference last Thursday evening, he explained,  “We needed people with a fresh perspective for the city and someone who was going to mix things up, and that is essentially why I ran for the position.”

The youngest, and first openly gay, mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Morse announced he was running for office as a senior at Brown University.  Rather than move to DC, Boston, or New York, Morse said he wanted to, “come home to the city that had given [him] so many opportunities.”

Holyoke Roots
“My family was pretty poor,” said Morse a Holyoke native.  Both of his parents grew up in Holyoke and met at Whiting Farms, one of the city’s low-income housing projects.  Morse’s mother married his father, at 17, when she became pregnant with the first of Morse’s two older brothers.

A proud product of the Holyoke public school system, Morse recalls high school as being a, “really great time,” but in his sophomore year his confidence started to wane.  “There was something about me that I didn’t feel was correct,” he said.  In February of that year, when Morse was 16, he came out to his best friend Alexandra.  “Once I did that I wanted to stop telling my friends because I didn’t want my parents to find out from a friend or a parent of a friend,” he said. Continue reading →