April 2024

For countless years, the photography students have been visiting the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields. This spring Western’s ART370 B&W Photography 1 and ART373 Photography Alternative Process classes used their pinhole cameras, DSLRs, Holgas, or iPhones tulip fields to capture the beautiful landscape of the tulip festival.

Pinhole cameras could be made with everyday objects, as long as they could be sealed enough to block out light from inside. The trip offered a change of scenery for students and the bright spring sunlight provided students a consistent source of lighting to experiment with newly made pinhole cameras or other forms of photography. They were encouraged to explore shape, texture and scale in black and white photography.

Check out their amazing work in the galleries below!

Alexei Chachkov

Eli Voorhies

Judy Kushner

Carmen Krueger

Kenzie Metcalf

Kyle Pettyjohn

Meghan Maloof

Will Story

Special thanks to Garth Amundson and Nathan Cranston for guiding this trip!

13 students and Nathan Cranston pose with pinhole cameras in front of a green-tiled windmill, bright yellow and red tulips bloom at the base of the windmill. The sun is shining brightly and the sky is bright and clear.
Photography by Garth Amundson

Photo trip location is: 15867 Beaver Marsh Rd, Mount Vernon, WA 98273. You could learn more about the Skagit County Tulip Festival here.