Brooks Institute of Photography
- From: Jim Brick <jim@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 16:29:25 -0700
LEGgers,
In the guise of Nathan, I decided to talk about (and show) what I've
been up to.
Over the past few months I've been spending a considerable amount of
time at my old alma mater, Brooks Institute of Photography.
The first real campus was (actually still is) an estate in Montecito.
Montecito is a very upscale community that sits above Santa Barbara,
CA, with a great view of the Santa Barbara beaches, waterfront,
Pacific ocean, and channel islands. The estate was the Graholm estate,
built somewhere around 1900 and had something to do with the Henry
Ford family. The Brooks family initially lived there and, of course,
it was the school. The estate is quite large and easily handled a
hundred or so students. When I was there, there was maybe fifty
students total. Ernie Brooks Jr. (son of the founder Ernest Brooks
Sr.) is my age and actually went through the school (as a student) at
the same time that I did.
The Brooks Institute Montecito campus, as far as I am concerned, IS
Brooks Institute of Photography. Brooks now consists of five campi
(plural of campus), and the Brooks family no longer owns the school.
The school is now a full fledged college, offering BA's in
professional photography, visual journalism, visual arts, film & video
production, and master of fine art degrees.
The original campus, Montecito campus (my campus!), is being sold.
This is very very sad and is extremely difficult for me to process.
They held a wake for the campus on June 18th. The selling of the
Brooks Institute Montecito estate was so unnerving to Ernie Brooks Jr.
(the owner/president/CEO for a couple of decades after his dad, Ernest
Brooks Sr., handed over the reins), he could not attend.
My wife Jennie, and I, attended the wake. In order to be able to
process the sale, I decided to photograph the Montecito campus and
make a book. I have roughly fifty photographs so far and over the next
couple of months (the Montecito campus will be turned over to the new
owners somewhere around November 15th), I will continue to photograph
the nuances of the campus. I was given a key which opens every door,
and allows me to go anywhere and get into everything. I'll finish the
photography and then start working on the book.
I've put up a few pictures of the original Brooks Institute Montecito
campus. This is just a 'mini' preview so you can see what the
Montecito campus actually looks like.
http://www.visualimpressions.com/Brooks_Institute_mini/index.html
During my recent days at Brooks Institute, Jennie and I befriended
some of the current students. I have lots of stories to tell about
them but for the purposes of this post, I'll just post a couple of
'casual' portraits. I photographed them standing by some of their
work, and at a barbecue held Santa Barbara's Shoreline park. The last
portrait is of Hallie Mac, a server in 'The Natural Cafe', where we
always eat lunch, sometimes dinner. That is her real hair, not a wig!
http://www.visualimpressions.com/Brooks_Institute_casual_portraits/index.html
The other interesting thing that happened is, I was asked to give the
commencement speech at the Brooks Institute graduation, held on August
31st (last Sunday). I, of course, accepted. How often, over one's
lifetime, does one get asked to be a part of the very soul of one's
passion? Typically, never. This was an honor beyond anything I could
imagine. So last Sunday, I gave the commencement speech to the
graduation class, 150 graduates plus family and friends. Second
largest Brooks graduating class ever. They filled the Arlington
theater, plus the balcony. This was a fabulous experience. Absolutely
fabulous!
I am truly lucky that I went to Brooks Institute of Photography, and
that I went when the Montecito campus was the only campus. And I am
still following that lucky streak by being able to be so close to the
school, its staff, and students.
:-)
Jim
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