RIT Photo House

This years Photo House has been off to a fantastic start! This...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:59:04 -0400

This years Photo House has been off to a fantastic start!

This year we introduced Packet. Packet was designed to allow Photo House members a jump start on getting to know each other and the E-board. Members had to acquire signatures and facts from Members, E-board, Alumni, and Advisors.

At the very end, the house had to work together to get a picture of all of them together.

So check out Photo House’s incoming Freshman kicking off the year! It promises to be a great one!

-Alex Mastromarchi

PH Historian 2012-2013

Success in the Darkroom!

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:58:30 -0400

The best way to explain this is to just quote our Darkroom Manager, Emily Barresi:

It is my great pleasure to announce that the darkroom is FINALLY FUNCTIONAL. I mean it this time. I just developed two rolls of black and white film on floor, and they came out great!

For those who haven’t been following along, the darkroom has been out of commission since the summer due to a leaky wall. When Facilities Management took a look at the damages, Photo House decided it would be a good opportunity to make some renovations.

Now instead of having two cramped darkrooms, we have one full sized (dorm room sized) darkroom. This will fit much better with current usage, which is obviously a lot lower than it used to be. We’re glad we can still say that Photo House has a working darkroom in the residence halls!

Social Chair on my Special Interest House's executive board for 2012-2013

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:43:06 -0400

jenna-of-suburbia:

I’m so excited!

The Event to Rule Them All

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:07:36 -0400

Photo House’s Executive Board just got back from the Special Interest House Award’s Banquet, where all of the houses met to ~~fight to the death~~ recognize their outstanding achievements.

This year, three awards came our way. The first was given to our ResLife Advisor, Erika Heffernan for Advisor of the Year. Erika started as Photo House’s advisor this year, but you wouldn’t know it by her performance. She absolutely loves helping us with anything we need. Without Erika, we wouldn’t have our newly renovated darkroom.

The second award was given to our Fundraising Chair, Glenn Sweeney. Glenn went above and beyond this year, most notably with the SPAS Holiday Auction, where more than $9000 was raised to be split between Photo House and the Genesee Center for the Arts.

This also led to our third award, Event of the Year. The SPAS Holiday Auction was awarded this title, so congratulations to all of Photo House, and to everyone who helped run it!

Allum and previous RA, Liz Marchiondo. Images and gif created...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:13:33 -0400

Allum and previous RA, Liz Marchiondo. Images and gif created by David Beyerlein.

We’re photo kids, it’s cool.

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:01:23 -0500

We’re photo kids, it’s cool.

Unbelievable!

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:00:05 -0500

We just raised over $9,000 to split between the Genesee Center for the Arts & Education and Photo House!

If you’re new to the blog, you’re probably wondering how we managed that – it’s simple really. Photo House ran the annual School of Photographic Arts and Sciences Holiday Auction last Thursday! Basically, Glenn Sweeney (Fundraising Chair) with the help of E-board and the entire PH membership (seriously, we had over 50 volunteers working the event!) organized and ran the entire auction from start to finish.

Auctioneer Bill DuBois spotting a bid up on the second floor.

We had people doing all sorts of jobs, from registering paddles, to handing out pizza, to running items to the stage. The entire auction went off with only a few minor glitches. We can’t thank everyone enough for their support!

While I can’t name everyone who helped out, there are a few people who especially stood out: Bill DuBois came back from retirement to be our auctioneer for one more year (although he said that last year too…). Ken White donated quite a few prints for the silent auction, as well as helped with the matting of the rest of the prints. He also assisted Bill on stage. Christye Sisson was a huge help on stage as well (and who can forget her one-of-a-kind donation: a picture of your own eye!).

Photo Houser Zach Nycum and Professor Ken White tossing candy into the crowd.

I’d also like to mention a few of our donors for their support – after all, it wouldn’t be an auction without donations! The 3^rd floor cage was very generous once again this year, giving us tons of old equipment. We also received generous donations from B&H Photo Video and their partners, and Dale Photo & Digital. We’d also like to thank all of the local businesses that made donations. Again, we could not have done this without all of this support!

Now more than ever I can truly say I am proud to be a member of Photo House!

Don’t forget to bring a toy to registration for a $5...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:49:04 -0500

Don’t forget to bring a toy to registration for a $5 credit off of a purchase! Registration starts at noon on December 15th.

So we went to Letchworth again this year. It was about halfway...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:30:58 -0500

So we went to Letchworth again this year. It was about halfway through Fall quarter, and I’m just uploading our awesome group photo now. [Please don’t hate me!] We had a blast as always, with plenty of alumni showing up (and even bringing noms!).

This year, since we had the tees early enough, we did the shot all wearing our shirts. Contrary to popular belief, we actually didn’t turn into one giant black blob with a bunch of faces!

Other than Letchworth, coming up is the SPAS Holiday Auction, which Photo House is running this year! That’s on the 15th (Thursday before break). We’ll be donating half of the proceeds to the Genesee Center for the Arts and Education, and the other half will go toward improving Photo House (Yay!)

One notable difference between past SPAS Auctions is our Toys for Tots drive. Anyone who brings an unopened toy will get $5 off of a purchase at the auction. Talk about a good deal!

Oh, and for anyone not in the area, I’d like to take a moment to update you on the weather: It’s been pretty much 55 degrees the last few days. No big snow storms yet. My personal belief is that we’re looking toward the worst winter Rochester has had in years - The weather is just teasing us right now.

Anyway, that’s enough of me rambling…

-Ben

We’re running the SPAS Holiday Auction this year!

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:50:00 -0500

We’re running the SPAS Holiday Auction this year!

Photo House ran a car smash today, thanks to All City Auto...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:29:00 -0500

Photo House ran a car smash today, thanks to All City Auto Parts. Take a look at the beating this car took!

We're just all over the news...

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:07:21 -0400

We're just all over the news...:

President Evan Ortiz is interviewed for the RIT Reporter Magazine. Be sure to check out the features on some of the other Special Interest Houses too!

A Short History of the Special Interest House

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:01:31 -0400

A Short History of the Special Interest House

Dig out those photos!

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:23:05 -0400

Hopefully you know by now that Photo House is turning 40 this year. Hopefully this has spurred you to go back into your archives (surely you have archives), and find any great photos you have from way back when you were living on Photo House.

If you do happen to have any photos, we’d absolutely love it if you’d bring them with you to the reunion on Saturday! (Which by the way is THIS Saturday!!!)

I hope I’ll be seeing you all there!

Ben Lubin

Historian

Photo House 40th Anniversary Reunion - October 15, 9AM....

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:27:00 -0400

Photo House 40th Anniversary Reunion - October 15, 9AM. It’s coming up quick!

Fond Memories

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:12:05 -0400

Here is an e-mail that was forwarded to me from an alum who was part of Photo House just a few years after it was founded:

Well, Photo House. Forty years of age. Now I do feel old! I attended RIT full time from 1974-76 and was a resident of Photo House that entire period. My AAS in Pro Photo from RIT has served me so very well over the decades as the foundation for a career that started in visual communications, transitioned to technical and then corporate and now educational communication. Today I am a college dean with three degrees and a fourth underway but my genesis was in SPAS at RIT.

What a great bunch of people at Photo House those years! I remember many experiences but here are a few:

The closet that served as our nighttime hours darkroom, which expanded to the men’s bathroom as needed (which was always interesting when the overhead lights were turned on during a critical processing moment resulting in very colorful language all around).

The sporting events, that often included Engineering House just across the elevator lobby on the fourth floor of NRH: Hockey, golf, baseball, and soccer. The most questionable location to be was the elevator lobby during these events as the highest possible score was, of course, getting the object down the length of the building hallway! One had to pity the RA, what a group of crazies to deal with.

A Photo House resident who would play his clarinet in the stairwell at all hours which was its own entertainment when other NRH residents complained to the musician. Sometimes others would jam with him, great jazz in a less-than-great accoustical setting.

A very famous Quad Party that originated in Photo House and probably resulted in rules about not having quad parties in the future at RIT. My roommate and I had a powerful stereo and found that our two windows in a fourth floor corner room were simply perfect for DJ purposes as the party got underway. Security and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department later did not agree with us, as I recall.

Photo House was co-ed in 1974 and the ladies had one end of the House and the fellows the other. I think weekend community viewings of Monty Python were some of the best times, and probably the Sunday morning hangovers the worst times. A very quiet place, Photo House, on a Sunday morning. About the only time quiet was a norm.

It was amazing what a photographer could accomplish in our lounge area with a paper backdrop, props and Speed-O-Trons lugged from the Cage over the Quarter-Mile walkway. If you missed your early morning studio class or couldn’t get an evening slot on reserve, what were you to do about assignment deadlines? Improvise, and we sure did.

In balance, some of the best people I have known I lived with at Photo House and we indeed had many photographic, academic and philosophical discussions and adventures together. Good friends, good peers, and good spirits all. My best wishes to all past, present and future residents of Photo House - a great place to be at RIT!

Steven McIntosh PPHP 1985 (attended FT at RIT 1974-76)

A new beginning

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:51:34 -0400

A new beginning

Final Shenanigans!

Tue, 24 May 2011 23:29:24 -0400

Member and 2011-12 FundRaising Chair Glenn Sweeney brought his Rolleiflex + (incredibly rare) Rollei Marin underwater housing for the flex’. Just normal stuff during finals week at RIT!

Liz Marchiondo, 3rd Year Biomed and RA for Photo House / NRH4, plays with a Rolleiflex Marin underwater medium format camera.

Thank You!

Tue, 24 May 2011 22:50:00 -0400

This will be my final post as the Spring 2011 Historian. While that is not the most cheery thing, I am extremely proud of all the great the things Photo House has accomplished and what will be coming in the next year.

The members, leadership, and advisors have done the impossible by bringing the best out of every situation that fell in our laps. But what I’m most pumped about is having Ben back in the seat as historian, there are very few people I have met that are as committed and dedicated as Ben, and with our 40th Anniversary Celebration coming up, I am so excited to see what he and Kenna have planned.

But in the meantime, I’m back in Texas for the summer (where it’s a comfortable 90º with humidity), make sure to stop by my blog / twitter to follow what I’m up to! See ya’ll on the other side of things in a bit.

Thanks for everything,

Dan Wang

Photo House Alum, Spring 2011 Historian

Photo House in the RAW

Sun, 15 May 2011 12:10:06 -0400

Another year gone by, another year summed up in 75 glorious pages. This year will be known in history as the year of accomplishments. Photo House managed to do oh so much with oh so little. A quick overview of some of the hot items in this year’s Photo House yearbook:

As the President of Photo House for the spring quarter, I can’t be happier about the way this year went. Just a few of our accomplishments include:

A completely overhauled internet presence: A new website, this Tumblr, a Twitter, and a new Facebook Page.
Filmstrips in the halls
A better printer, better strobes, and a “new” Mamiya RB67 (thanks to Anne, an alum from ‘79-81)
The gallery doubles as a quiet study room

In total, Photo House ran and funded over 65 events this year for our members. That is an amazing statistic, but it doesn’t stop there. Photo House is also home to three senators for the fall: Alex Mastromarchi for the special interest houses, Peter Mikitsh for GCCIS, and Vinnie DiCairano for CIAS. All of these things and more led to Photo House’s greatest achievement yet: SIH of the Year. While doing all of these things, we also managed to keep our average GPA up above the competition, reeling in the Highest GPA award for the second year in a row.

I can’t express my excitement for the position that Photo House is in right now. We’ve been set up in a perfect position to achieve all of our dreams both short term and long term.

Coming up next year is Photo House’s 40th birthday. We’re working hard to set up an amazing event for all of our members and of course our alumni to enjoy. If you’re interested in finding out more info, please e-mail reunion@rit.edu for more information and to sign up.

I’ll be returning next year in my old position as historian. I think I’ve learned a lot from this year as historian for the first two quarters, and I’ve definitely learned a lot from our current historian Dan Wang. I can’t wait to be a part of the new e-board. I think we’ll do some amazing things!

-Ben Lubin

Photo House President Spring 2011

Photo House Historian 2011-2012