"Most of my pictures are pretty intimate experience I had just because, the trip for me was a huge amount of personal growth," says Francis, Junior Graphic Arts Major.
Francis and five other MSSU art students spent a few weeks last summer with world-renowned Swedish photographer Orjan Hendricksson. He's been in the photography business for about 45 years and has hosted MSSU students every summer for the past 17.
"It's a class in analog photography . So we just do black and white analog film photography," says Hendricksson.
In this now-digital world, the students spent five weeks learning how to take pictures and process film the old-fashioned way. "I had taken a photography class here that was digital photography. So I had not done analog photography before so that was a whole new experience," says Francis.
"It's kind of a boot camp. They don't have anything but me so it's really intense," says Hendricksson.
The trip to Sweden comes full circle this week as 5 of the best pictures from each student are proudly displayed in MSSU's Spiva Library. Hendricksson was also on-hand this week to reunite with his students and see the final product of what they learned.
"It's quite much about the philosophy of photography because I think that's what we often forget," he says.
Most of the students agreed the whole experience has been more than just about the pictures.
"It was how to get to know people and how to be better at what you do no matter what that is," says Francis.
The trip costs roughly 7 to 8-thousand dollars for each student but most of them have financial help through grants and donations. The list of students who will go to sweden this summer should be finalized next week.
