Photo students give back to cancer patients

Alisa Chmerenko
Contributor 

It’s not often to see WCC’s campus bustling on a Saturday – but that was the case on March 16. 

On this occasion, the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and WCC Photography program joined to organize the “Life Images Portrait Session” event. 

Around 17 students, teachers and volunteers from University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center committed the whole day to create professional portraits and a supportive environment for the special guests. 

“It is a good thing to do – it’s a very rewarding experience that has so many intangible benefits for me as a working professional,” said Donald Werthmann, one of the main organizers of the “Life Images” event.

The event took place in the PhotoLab, where photography students and professors arranged three studios with different lighting techniques to produce pictures. 

Scholars were able to gain real-life experience by properly communicating with people of different ages, creating the engaging poses, and editing lighting and exposure to improve photo quality. 

“I did the life images because I thought it would be a good experience to do like a big production photoshoot and see behind the scenes how everything gets edited and pictures being taken,” said Alecia Watson, one of the volunteers when asked why she decided to join the event.

The whole day was organized – people grouped by their abilities and desires. Most photography students worked in the studio with cameras under the guidance of professors, the other group ran the post with all editing and printing processes with assistance of Stephanie Prechter.

“One thing that I loved the most as I feel like we are all working together as a team,” she said. Pretcher was one of the first volunteers who has been participating since 2019.

For more information about the Life Images Portrait Session, email Donald Werthmann at donw@wccnet.edu.

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