Profile
Pitch:
- Joseph Della Valle
What I know:
- Photography professor at UNE
- Runs his own developing studio.
Online info:
- Has been teaching for over 20 years
- Has exhibited his own work regionally
Questions:
- What drew him to teaching?
- Does he think film photography is still a prevalent art form?
- When did he start running his own studio?
- What made him take an interest in film and not digital?
- How long has he been practicing film photography?
- What does he have his degree in?
Other people:
- Current students
- Art department faculty
Angle:
- What is it like to teach an older art form where a more current version of it is more popular?
Early Draft:
“Keeping Art Alive in a Changing World”
Why one professor is teaching an early form of photography to a new generation
Professor Joseph Della Valle is an Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Arts and Humanities at UNE. The class he teaches, black and white film photography, is an old school art form that is losing popularity due to advancements in technology.
Quote.
How he got into photography/his education.
The art form Professor Della Valle teaches has been around since the early 1800s. Since then there have been a multitude of advancements. With the emergence of the digital camera, film began to be considered a “dying art”. This, however, did not steer Della Valle away from traditional black and white film photography.
Quote about why he does/teaches this type of photography.
Outside of the classroom, Della Valle exhibits his own work as well as running his own film developing studio. More info about that.
Quote about his studio.
Workshop Draft:
“Keeping Art Alive in a Changing World”
Why one professor is teaching an early form of photography to a new generation
Professor Joseph Della Valle is an Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Arts and Humanities at UNE. The class he teaches, black and white film photography, is an old school art form that is losing popularity due to advancements in technology.
Quote.
How he got into photography/his education.
The art form Professor Della Valle teaches has been around since the early 1800s. Since then there have been a multitude of advancements. With the emergence of the digital camera, film began to be considered a “dying art”. This, however, did not steer Della Valle away from traditional black and white film photography.
Quote about why he does/teaches this type of photography.
Outside of the classroom, Della Valle stays involved in photography in many ways. His work has been exhibited regionally as well as being put on display at UNE’s Campus Center in 2017.
Della Valle also runs Safelight Studio, his own film developing studio located in Portland. He continues to teach photography outside of UNE by instructing workshops and refresher courses at his studio.
More info about his studio and exhibits.
Quote about his studio.
The process of developing film is a tedious one that can be easily affected by many variables. Using too much of a chemical or not mixing the solutions correctly can ruin the photos the artist has spent so much time on. In his class, Della Valle makes sure his students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to ensure images come out well.
Quote.
Della Valle has been teaching for over 20 years, so he is familiar with being questioned on his choice to teach film photography specifically. Quote.
Paragraph about why he thinks film is still important.
While film photography is certainly not as popular as it used to be, Della Valle hopes that teaching this art form to a new generation will help keep it alive. Quote.
Revised Draft:
Workshop Experience:
The workshop went really well. I got lots of feedback that will help me to take my article to the next level. My group members liked my article and its structure, but suggested I get interviews and quotes in. I didn’t have my main interview done at the time of writing the workshop draft, so there wasn’t as much for them to comment on as I would have liked. I did tell them about how my interview went and what I plan to do with it in my next steps. We went around and did feedback on each person’s article and talked about the difficulties we faced. It was good to hear what issues everyone else is having while writing their article because we could help each other figure out solutions. One thing we focused on was sticking to an angle and getting that to come through, and I think we all took away something from that conversation. I know that when I go to work on my article I will keep the angle in mind and try to pick quotes that fit with it. Another thing we talked about is how to pick an ending quote, as we all had some trouble with that. We are all fairly new to journalism still, so the idea of ending with a quote is something that we aren’t used to yet. A member of my group shared that they always want to explain their quotes, and that is something I am drawn to do as well. It was good to hear that this is something not only I struggle with.
Reflection:
I found that writing the profile piece to be a very great experience. I did mine about my photography professor, Professor Della Valle, and I learned so much about him. It was great getting to talk to him and learn more about how he ended up teaching.
I definitely had an easier time with the profile than I did with the feature. I think this was because I had an easier time getting in contact with those I needed to interview, mostly since I see them in class. It was also easier to write about a single person rather than a whole event.
The biggest challenge I faced was probably at the beginning when I had to come up with a pitch. I had a really hard time figuring out who I wanted to do the piece on and what angle I would choose. Once I got past that, everything went pretty smoothly and I didn’t face many issues. The only other hard part that I had was figuring out what information is important and what could be left out. I had a lengthy interview with my subject and he gave me so much great information and possible quotes that it became tricky to pick what would actually end up being used.
The peer review process is probably my favorite part of the whole experience. It is so incredibly helpful to have a group of people willing to give you feedback on your work. The response I got from the classmates that read my piece really helped me to polish it and make it the best I can.
