Ithaca College students flashed their smiles a bit brighter around campus this week as professional photographer Bill Truslow snapped pictures of students and new campus buildings for the college’s Office of Marketing Communications.
Bonny Griffith, director of recruitment marketing and primary coordinator of the photo shoot, said the photographs will be featured in college magazines, admissions materials and brochures, and the school’s website to enhance the college’s image in the minds of prospective students.
“Part of my job is in finding opportunities to capture great photography that can support a variety of different marketing needs, both print and online,” Griffith said.
Griffith said photo shoots on campus are done twice a year — once in the fall semester and once in the spring. They are highly coordinated, weeklong events that give students a chance to become the “next face of Ithaca College,” according to an Oct. 3 Intercom message. This fall, the new Athletic and Events Center, in addition to the Peggy Ryan Williams Center, was heavily featured, Griffith said.
Truslow, who was hired directly by the school for this shoot but has been snapping pictures across campus for the past 17 years, said he followed the goals Marketing Communications put in front of him for his shoot layouts but is allowed a certain level of autonomy when it comes to the pictures themselves.
“The schedule is almost exclusively done by the folks in Marketing Communications,” Truslow said. “Once we get to the shoot, the creative vision on the shot is almost exclusively mine. I’ve been working with the college enough that they trust my creative vision.”
Truslow said early in the week he prefers to photograph students up close and in groups, posed or causally placed in a photo to make them appear organic in movement. Depending on the type of photograph, Truslow said, students were asked to either strike a set pose or act casually and blend in with the scenery.
“This week, we will be focusing a lot of our attention on doing great shots of campus life in and around academic quads,” Griffith said. “The things we hope to get if weather cooperates are getting shots of students hanging out with friends and walking to and from class.”
Sophomore Andreas Jonathan attended the second shoot at the water fountains outside the Dillingham Center and said he didn’t hesitate when he was asked to attend a shoot.
“Ever since I got Fuse magazine, I wanted to be on something Ithaca related,” he said. “So when my supervisor told me about this, I was so excited.”
Griffith said the college will not implement use of the new photographs in campus materials for about a month until after the Office of Marketing Communications has an opportunity to review the shots and select the best options.
