Early Christmas morning 2019 in Yosemite National Park, Michael Iredale, a nursing professor at City College who also takes photography classes, took a photo of a woman looking into a lake. That photo, “Malida in the Mist,” is one of 11 City College students’ photography in the virtual Viewpoint student photo exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum called “Voices: Speaking With Your Photographic Eye.” 

“I actually fell into photography after my first wife died in 2004. Photography allowed me to heal and recover from the loss of my wife,” said Iredale. “It was much too painful to continue to work at Sutter Hospital after she passed away, so I decided to take time off and travel to New Orleans to help out after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.”  

Following his time volunteering in Louisiana, Iredale spent several months on a road trip across Canada taking photos. 

“After I got back from my trip, I realized my photos weren’t very good,” said Iredale. “So I signed up for a photography class through Sacramento City College. I learned so much.” 

Once Iredale was well versed in photography, he set off with his newfound knowledge to explore and photograph Europe and SouthEast Asia. It was there he met his muse for his winning photograph. 

“While I was in Thailand visiting hospitals to consider a volunteer job, I met my future wife Malida, who was a nurse there,” said Iredale. “After I returned to the United States, we kept in contact, and a couple of months later we made plans to meet up in Europe. This is where we fell in love.”

 Since then Iredale has won several photo awards, including an award from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges in 2008 for a photo essay of the killing fields in Cambodia.

Diana Proctor, the student program director of Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, helped organize the exhibit.

“In this show we had 68 images selected from a total of 300 submissions, out of which Sacramento City College had 22 students submit images, and 11 were accepted,” said Proctor.

According to Proctor, Nicholas Radke, a student from Cosumnes River College, won first place and received a $150 prize. Michael Iredale won the $100 second place award, and Sabina Zildic was awarded $75 for third place.

The students whose work was accepted into the exhibit will receive a year-long membership to Viewpoint. Honorable mentions for students from City College were awarded to Melissa Sanchez-Robinson for her image “Guiding Sunset,” Katherine M. DaSilva for “Bunny Tracks,” and Niko Lara with “Untitled.” 

Proctor explained that the Viewpoint Art Gallery annually organizes a student photo exhibit around a specific theme. The exhibit alternates between the Viewpoint Art Gallery and the Crocker Art Museum. This year, the Crocker hosted the 2020 student exhibit, “Voices: Speaking With Your Photographic Eye.” Entries for the exhibit were submitted between Oct. 1 and Dec. 29, 2019.

Sabrina Sildic took third place for her photo “Meditation Light.” Zildic, who is originally from Bosnia, went to school in the city of Sarajevo where she took photography classes in her high school, which specialized in art.  

“I found my love of photography from these classes,” said Zildic.

Zildic decided to paint with light in her photo because she wanted her image to look like a painting. She explained that painting with light is a practice where the photographer does long exposures while having the camera on a tripod and uses a light source to paint light over it.

“I was inspired to take this photograph because of my practice of meditation,” said Zildic. “When I meditate, the room is quite dark. I always pre-plan my photos, so I sketched out the idea. I wanted to photograph the flowers in a dark room and paint them with light.” 

Zildic photographed the photo for her Intermediate Studio Lighting class at City College with photography Professor Gordon Lazzarone. She placed a vase and two flowers on top of some wood she found in the photo department prop room, and used a flashlight to paint light over the flowers in eight second intervals. 

“The light represents hope for a better day,” Zildic said.

Crystal Ruiz, was a former City College student from 2015 to 2016 and graduated in 2017 with a B.A. in Art Education at Sacramento State College.  She is the community exhibition coordinator of the Crocker Museum, and has been working with Diana Proctor to host the 2020 student exhibit. Ruiz is in charge of all the student programs at the Crocker Art Museum.

“Originally, the photo exhibit was meant to showcase March 26 to Sunday, April 26,” said Ruiz. “But due to COVID-19 changes had to be made.”

Though the photo exhibit was never able to have an in-person opening, the students’ work chosen for the exhibit is not going unseen. 

“Due to the coronavirus we have had to shut our doors,” said Ruiz. “But you can find the student exhibit on our website under the menu ‘Artwork,’ And there you’ll find it under ‘Collections.’ We are hoping people go online to support us and the students.”  

Individuals interested in seeing the photographs in the 2020 Student Exhibit can go to the Crocker Art Museum www.crockerart.org. 

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