Photography students take a look at the city

24 September 2003

“Perry,” a volunteer with the Berkeley Free Clinic’s needle-exchange program, photographed by Kasper Koczab.

During the spring semester, 16 advanced photography students in Janet Delaney’s Visual Studies 186 course undertook to photograph the city of Berkeley. Though a few of them approached the assignment with cityscapes in mind — including one who photographed the city from numerous vantage points along its geographic perimeter — others elected to explore personal and natural facets of the nearby urban environment.

The resulting portfolios reveal sides of the city that aren’t always apparent to its own citizens, let alone the thousands of people who journey here daily for work and study. Portraits of the volunteers at the Berkeley Free Clinic’s needle-exchange program, the elders who frequent the North Berkeley Senior Center, the upscale shoppers on trendy Fourth Street, and the anything-but-upscale (but undeniably hardworking) people who scavenge recyclables for “disposable” income, are currently displayed alongside studies of Berkeley landmarks, the natural attractions of Tilden Park, and the inner workings of a west Berkeley sake factory.

“The City of Berkeley: Photographed” will be on view at the Worth Ryder Gallery, in Kroeber Hall, through Oct. 3 (Tuesday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m.)