The Nineteenth Annual Photographic Arts and Sciences Holiday Auction is, according to Bill DuBois, professor and administrative chair of Photographic Arts in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, “a hidden gem of RIT where we ask vendors to bring in items, faculty to give us prints, and people to donate items. We bring them in here to sell them at good prices before the holiday season begins.” The event, held inside of the building 7B lobby, brought in a great number of students, faculty, and interested patrons.
This year, the event was hosted by two RIT organizations, the Technical Photography Student Association for the Imaging and Photographic Technology (TPSA) program and honors students from the College of Imaging Arts & Sciences (CIAS). “They are splitting the total proceeds with the Community Darkroom,” DuBois said. “It is a facility here in Rochester that gets photographers together to talk about and print imagery and make things happen in the photo community.”
Following an opening message, DuBois began the auction. As the auction proceeded, items were called off quickly, prices were yelled out, and interested patrons either chose to raise their paddles to place a bid or remain silent. The auctioned items varied in subject matter, including photography books and antique cameras.
The big item for the evening was a $3,000, one weeklong workshop at the Maine Photo Workshop, which included not only the $1,000 lab, but also room and board. There were also prints from a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, faculty, and students, all of which were sold in a silent auction.
T-shirts, vests, and even a full color printer were sold to one student for just $70. Many were heard yelling, “Sweeten the deal!” as items were given even better bargaining value. All purchased items were claimed at the end of the auction in the conference room near the lobby. At certain points in the auction, film was thrown to audience members who scrambled to catch the rolls in mid-air. These were given away for free, in addition to a large amount of photo paper from the FBI, which was a free gift to RIT.
This year marked new changes as to how the auction is run, predominantly in relation to technology. Eric Kerby, a fourth year Imaging & Photographic Technology student who is a member of both TPSA and the CIAS honor society, stated, “We’ve been keeping electronic spreadsheets about sold items, regarding who bought them, how much they paid, and what the items are. This year we’re using Google spreadsheets to coordinate everything amongst everybody. This is the first year we’ve also had a projector up displaying items as they’re being bid on.”
One student, Laura Slotkoff, a third year Fine Art Photo major, commented, “ It’s kind of frightening, all those students running after film! It’s nice being a photo student ... having the opportunity to be here and take advantage of all this. We get great supplies, free paper, free food. It’s a good time.”
The Holiday Photo Auction will happen again next year.
