ENTIRE COLLECTION SELLS AS BROOKS NPPA STUDENT CHAPTER COMPLETES FUNDRAISER

Santa Barbara, Calif. – (August 28, 2007) -- The Brooks Institute chapter of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) successfully auctioned all 20 mounted prints in their "Best of 2006" collection.

The pictures raised $1,360 for the chapter, enabling the continued funding of its Website, www.brooksnppa.org, a variety of student competitions, and guest presentation. Four pictures drew high bids of $100 each.

"I’m proud of the student officers for successfully putting this together," said Brooks NPPA chapter advisor Greg Cooper, an instructor in the Visual Journalism program. "They did an amazing job."

The 20 photographs selected for the silent auction were chosen from a total of 315 presented on the Website during 2006 as part of the group’s "Week in Pictures" on-going competition. After a committee of local professional photojournalists trimmed the total number of photos, 90 pictures were sent to two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Larry Price, who chose the final 20. The pictures were then displayed for a month in the main hallway of the Brooks Institute Ventura campus. Bidding closed Friday, August 17 at 8 pm during a closing campus reception.

Over the next several months, some of the funds raised will help the Brooks NPPA chapter add a student spotlight to the Website. Officers will feature a body of work by a Brooks’ student and will post a mini-portfolio for all to view on the Web.

Recently, the group has resumed featuring a Brooks’ student intern on the site and the work of Daryl Peveto, now interning at the San Diego Union-Tribune, is currently being showcased. Students can find information on how to apply for this internship and can follow links to Peveto’s on-line portfolio and blog.

As part of an off-beat project for students who normally shoot with high-tech digital cameras, the group hosted "Holgamania," a shoot-out using simple plastic Holga cameras that use medium-format film. The inexpensive Holga cameras are known for light leaks and serious vignetting of the images formed by their lenses, so the devices provided an unusual new look to the pictures of the student photographers. The results of this project are also displayed on the group’s Website.

About Brooks Institute

Brooks Institute celebrates more than 60 years of educating students in the visual and media arts. With campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, the school offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in fields including Professional Photography, Visual Journalism, Film and Video Production and Graphic Design, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography. Brooks’ graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in the visual media arts fields. For more information about Brooks Institute and the school’s programs, visit www.brooks.edu, or call 805-966-3888.