I keep telling myself that one day I am going to take a photography class. I have always enjoyed taking photos, and my enjoyment spiked with the digital camera revolution that took place a few years back. I still remember the days of dropping my canisters of film off and coming back a few days later to pick up the physical photos. This includes when I lived in Korea, before the digital camera became mainstream, and before the Internet became mainstream for that matter, and I would develop the photos to send them home to my family.  And yes, the walk to the photo lab was uphill both ways too, in a driving monsoon or snowstorm depending on the season.

This has obviously all changed and now we possess the ability to send pictures to relatives and friends around the world mere seconds after we take them. I cannot actually remember the last time I had a photograph developed at a traditional photo lab.

Each year students from close to 100 different countries enroll at SIPA. I thought that a good way to spice the blog up over the summer would be to welcome photo submissions from our incoming students. The photos can be related to anything you wish. Travel photos, artistic photos, event photos, family and friends photos . . . anything you wish to share. I will then post them to this blog for all to enjoy.

I have Photoshop so I can re-size the photos as necessary so you don’t have to worry about size.  So if you are an incoming student and you want to participate, simply send along your photos to this address: [email protected]. Do note that it can take a while for us to post them so we appreciate your patience.

Please include the following:

• Your Name
• Your Degree Program (MIA, MPA, MPA-DP)
• Where the photo was taken
• A brief description of the photo

I’ll get the process started with a few of my own.  This photo was taken in the summer of 1994 in Pusan, South Korea. I liked the juxtaposition of the modern, plastic, corporate icon Ronald McDonald and the older gentleman in traditional Korea garb.

This picture was taken in the 50th Street Subway station of the A-C-E line in Manhattan in October of 2004. For a period of months I did a series on discarded coffee cups around the city. I entitled this one, “Separation Anxiety.”

This is not a picture I took, but rather a picture taken of me a few years ago.  When I am not reading admission applications sometimes I like to test gravity.  The older I get, the more gravity exerts its dominance over me but it is fun to keep trying.

Hopefully this gives you incoming students out there some inspiration and I look forward to receiving your photos so I can post them to the blog for all to see. Once again, send them to [email protected] with the details listed above.