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OPAC's president, Marissa Kambour, wants more people to learn about photography from the co-op. PHOTOGRAPHS
BY AARON
RESTER
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Discovering Oberlin's Hidden Photo Co-op
DECEMBER 17, 1999--Surprise! Oberlin has a photo co-op for black-and-white film developing and printing. The Oberlin College Photography Association Co-op (OPAC) lies hidden in small rooms on the second and third floor of Wilder. OPAC offers students and townspeople the opportunity to use a darkroom equipped with red lighting, a chemical sink, and printing equipment, as well chemicals, cameras, tripods, and supplies, all for $12 a semester.
"I really want people to know that OPAC is an option," says OPAC's president, Marisa Kambour, a senior from New York City. "We want people to come use the space. It's a good way to learn about photography." OPAC provides alternative space to the College's academic photography center, the Photodome, which is where students enrolled in photography courses can process and print their film. When the Photodome stopped selling supplies early this year, the co-op took up the job. Members can stop by during the co-op's office hours to pick up inexpensive supplies, like a 36-exposure roll of film (black and white or color) for $2. Nonmembers pay $2.50. Every semester OPAC also offers basic photography-skills workshops that cover negative developing and printing. It offers a third workshop on camera use according to demand. "It's important to have an alternative to the College photography classes because the demand is so high," says Kambour. "I want people to know how much we've grown," she says. "My freshman year we had two enlargers, and by the end of this semester, we'll have five." She says that OPAC dreams of getting a bigger space that will be open 24 hours, but that in the meantime the present arrangement works fine. "You're pretty much guaranteed space," she assures. One pleased photo co-oper, Michael Muna, a first-year student from San Diego, sums up the student sentiments. "OPAC is a great opportunity for amateur photographers to get cheap supplies, experiment, and help whenever they need it," he says. OPAC meetings, where members to share their work and discuss special interests like infrared photography, are every Wednesday at 5:30 P.M. outside Wilder 322, the print and negative darkroom. (Another print darkroom is in Room 217.) The co-op is open during Wilder desk hours: Monday through Saturday 9:00 A.M. to 11:30 P.M. and Sunday 12:00 to 11:30 P.M. Co-op office hours are Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to 5:30 P.M. and Saturday and Sunday 2:00 to 2:30 P.M. |
| OPAC is instituting this year a program to "green up" the environmentally unfriendly photo-developing process of flushing a gallon or so of chemicals down the drain after each developing session. As a first step in the new program, OPAC is recycling fixer, one of the nasty chemicals used in developing. "This is just the starting point," says Kambour. "If we end up with a volunteer for this position, I'm sure it will expand." Green folk interested in helping should stop by an OPAC meeting, she says. |
Please send comments, questions, and suggestions about Oberlin Online news and feature articles to Linda.Grashoff@oberlin.edu.
