RIT Takes ‘Big Shot’ Photography Project to Croatia in April

Nighttime image of entrance to Dubrovnik’s Old Town will become the 23rd Big Shot

EDITOR’S NOTE: Test shot of Dubrovnik’s Old Town is available at www.rit.edu/news/pics/BigShot_Dubrovnik.jpg

Rochester Institute of Technology is taking its annual Big Shot photo project to Dubrovnik, Croatia, marking the second time in the project’s 20-year history the Big Shot has traveled overseas.

On Thursday, April 12, faculty from RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf will lead hundreds of volunteers in creating a nighttime photograph of the original entrance to Dubrovnik’s Old Town with its expansive city walls and stone bridge.

Big Shot features a lighting technique known as “painting with light.” At the cue of project coordinators, participants armed with camera flash units and flashlights bathe the subject area in luminance during an extended period of exposure.

This international event will be hosted by RIT’s American College of Management and Technology, nestled in the heart of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik, located along the Adriatic coast, is a tourist mecca and home for the past 10 years to ACMT. The college offers associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in hospitality and service management, a new master of science degree in service management, and several certificate programs to serve the local business community. More than 600 students are enrolled in ACMT programs.

“The Big Shot will be a great way to have the entire RIT community involved with ACMT,” says Don Hudspeth, ACMT president and dean. “I think this endeavor is also a great opportunity to boost the reputation of RIT and ACMT within Croatia and the region, particularly the city of Dubrovnik. There have been many photographs taken of Dubrovnik’s Old Town, but not a photograph as unique as this one.”

Faculty members Michael Peres, Bill DuBois and Dawn Tower DuBois reprise their roles as Big Shot coordinators for this 23rd Big Shot. “We are so excited to be traveling to an RIT site in Europe,” says Bill DuBois, administrative chair of photographic arts in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. “We will be photographing structures built in the 1400s that are not only historically significant, but absolutely beautiful. We hope that anyone planning to travel to Europe next spring would consider coming to Dubrovnik and being part of the Big Shot.”

RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences raised nearly $4,000 to pay for two students to participate in the event, with Nikon Inc. donating $2,500 toward the students’ sponsorship. The students are among a group of photography majors that will spend the entire spring quarter studying in Dubrovnik. As part of a six-credit photography course, the students will document the culture, food, and people of Croatia. Their study abroad experience will be rounded out with elective courses offered through RIT’s American College of Management and Technology.

Past Big Shots have highlighted historical places including the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden; the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas; and the World War II aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid (which at the time was docked in New York Harbor).

For more information about the Big Shot, visit www.rit.edu/bigshot.

Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized for academic leadership in computing, engineering, imaging technology, and fine and applied arts, in addition to unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. More than 15,500 full- and part-time students are enrolled in RIT’s 340 career-oriented and professional programs, and its cooperative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.

For nearly two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. The Princeton Review features RIT in its 2007 Best 361 Colleges rankings and named the university one of America’s “Most Wired Campuses.” RIT is also featured in Barron’s Best Buys in Education.


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