RIT Students Honor 20th Century Immigrants with Commemorative Photograph

Production Photography class recreates registry at Ellis Island

For 12 million immigrants, Ellis Island became the first stop on the road to the American dream. A century later, students from Rochester Institute of Technology will be on site to retrace the courageous journey of these ancestors through an ambitious photography project.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, the registry room inside the Ellis Island Immigration Museum will provide the backdrop to “The Hope and the Fear,” a photographic recreation celebrating the profound significance of this national landmark.

Between 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island was the gateway through which a diverse people came to the United States in search of freedom and economic opportunity. After extensive renovations, the facilities at Ellis Island reopened to the public as a museum in 1990.

This project is the final assignment for 13 students from the Production Photography class at RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Students will manage the choreography, as well as all technical aspects of the shoot. Hundreds of RIT alumni from the New York City area have been invited to serve as volunteer actors dressed in period clothing. The event will be coordinated through the support and supervision of the National Park Service.

“Historical accuracy is among our top priorities,” says Douglas Ford Rea, photography professor at RIT and the project’s faculty supervisor. “The facilities at Ellis Island still look remarkably similar to how they appeared all those years ago, and the costumes will closely resemble the styles of that era.”

This portrayal of the past will be captured through the technology of today. Students will use a Leaf 22 digital back mounted on a Mamiya 645 camera system and rely mostly on natural lighting. Leaf America and Mamiya America make access to this state-of-the-art equipment possible.

This is the latest in a series of recreations conducted by RIT photographers. Last year, students from Rea’s Advanced Digital Photography class re-enacted the trial of Susan B. Anthony at the Ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua, N.Y.—the original site of that historic case. In 2002, students produced a tribute to women in flight at the National Warplane Museum in Horseheads, N.Y.

MEDIA NOTE: The best opportunity to cover this RIT photo project will be 1–3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22. A digital file of the photograph will be made available upon request.