By Elyse Pitkin
Eight Hiram College photography students presented their work in the 2022 Cleveland Photo Festival, which opened Friday, November 18, 2022, at the Bostwick Design Initiative galleries in Cleveland, OH.
The directors of CPF, photographers Herb Ascherman, Laura D’Alessandro, and Jim Szudy honored Hiram students with the opportunity to show an organized and focused installation alongside the opening of One Million Photos and several other themed shows during this year’s annual exhibition. The students participating are photography majors and minors: Jalon Blue ’23, Danielle Tuttle ’25, Logan Horoky ’25, Adrianna Klepper ’25, Anna Dedecek ’22, Aubrey Baker ’25, Angel Santellan ’24, and Jacob Plisko ’23. Collectively, they are showing eighteen photo works produced during faculty member, Cynthia Penter’s, fundamentals of digital photography class.
“The students were great in getting the work together quickly for this event and are excited to go as a group to attend the opening in Cleveland,” said Penter. During the past twelve-week, students explored various genres and learned basic techniques of composition, shutter speed, aperture, tone and lighting, series, etc. The majority of the photographs in the exhibition came out of the eight assignments.
“This opportunity means so much to me because before now, I only ever took photos leisurely and never really put them out there. It makes me feel as if my photography skills are improving,” said Klepper.
“What I’ve learned from my classes with Cynthia is that concept is powerful and matters. It’s one thing to take a photo because it looks nice over taking a photo that has a deeper concept behind it,” said Blue. “Yeah, photos are fun to look at, but good photos make you think. Cynthia has helped me realize that as long as I have a concept behind my work, it will turn out amazing.”
Penter finds opportunities like these to be vital to a student’s learning. “It is very important as students to have opportunities to see the world beyond school and to get a chance to participate and see one’s work in a professional setting,” she said. “The work was very well received. Each of the three directors came up to the four students attending the opening to tell them how much they appreciated the addition of their work to the show and how much it improved the overall look and feel of the galleries. They received feedback, questions, praise, and encouragement from others in attendance as well.”
The show is open to the public and will close on December 29th.
For more information about the Cleveland Photo Fest, please visit: https://clevelandphotofest.org/
Aubrey Baker ’25 
Adrianna Klepper ’25 viewing the exhibit. 
Angel Santellan ’24 posing with her art. Danielle Tuttle ’25 posing with her art. Alyssa Smith; Mental Health Stigma
