RW
Rachel Woolf
  • Documentary Studies and Production
  • Class of 2015
  • Stamford, CT

Severna Park High School Graduate Wins Photo Award

2013 Nov 27

Annapolis native Rachel Woolf, a 2011 graduate of Severna Park High School, placed first in the Park Award for Photo Activism competition, a project intended to inspire students at Ithaca (N.Y.) College to use photography as a tool to effect social change.

Woolf created a photo documentary of two couples dealing with the effects of Alzheimer's disease at Longview, a residential retirement community in Ithaca. Woolf won a $1,000 prize that was donated to Longview in her name.

Woolf, a junior documentary studies and production major, was initially skeptical of focusing her project on Longview. It was only after seeing how widespread the effects of Alzheimer's are that she realized she had an opportunity to create greater awareness of the disease.

"There is a lot of suffering not only for the person who is affected, but also for the caretakers involved," said Woolf. "Once I decided to focus on Alzheimer's, I was fortunate to find two wonderful couples who allowed me to enter their world and document the struggles and emotions in their lives."

Over the course of her project, Woolf spent hours photographing intimate moments in the lives of Ted and Jan Buckley and Roger and Eleanor Barnard, a task that was sometimes difficult.

"I often hesitated in taking some pictures that were extremely personal," said Woolf. "However, in the end, it was an experience I was able to grow from. I knew that in order to create awareness and make change I had to include the whole story, and I am very grateful that Eleanor, Roger, Ted and Jan opened their homes to me."

The Park Award for Photo Activism was created earlier this year as a joint project between Ithaca College, the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County and the Park Foundation. The award was designed to create a link between Ithaca College students and the greater Ithaca community.

A special credit-bearing course, open to students who demonstrated photographic talent and a commitment to community activism, was created to support students as they worked on their photo documentaries. Each student involved in the project was paired with a local nonprofit and challenged to create a visual exploration of how their partner organization benefits the community.

The class was taught by Janice Levy, a professor in the department of media arts, sciences and studies in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Students were mentored by National Geographic photographer Lynn Johnson, who also served as a judge for the award.