Pulling photos out of a hat

Jeff Benson

Orange Coast College photography students trudged so many laps around

tiny Rabbit Island, off the coast of British Columbia, they could’ve

sworn they owned the place.

Technically, it wasn’t that far from the truth.

From July 4 to 9, 14 OCC photographers spent six days blanketing

the school’s own 36-acre private island, donated a year ago by

yachtsman Henry Wheeler. The students explored the ins and outs of

Rabbit Island’s rugged terrain, coves, conifers and wildlife and took

advantage of the 18 hours of sunlight each day, instructor Blade

Gillissen said. They even went on salmon-fishing trips and explored

larger nearby islands.

Dozens of the students’ best shots will be on display to the

public on both floors of the college’s arts center through Sept. 30.

The exhibition will help promote Rabbit Island and to find donors to

help maintain it, Gillissen said.

Wheeler, Gillissen and the students will also be on hand for a

reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 16.

Gillissen said his students got free rein to capture whatever

images they wanted, whenever they wanted. Some shot all night and

slept all day, and some awoke at 5 a.m. and stayed out until 11 p.m.,

when the sun set.

Others, he said, were so enamored by the scenery that they

couldn’t stop shooting.

Wild sheep were left to fend for themselves after the island’s

previous inhabitants passed away years ago. A tree shed its brown

bark, showing a bright red underbelly. Rounded pebbles of varying

sizes clashed for space in the surf while deer crossed the shallow

channels between nearby islands.

Those images were all well documented and inspired students to

take thousands of panoramic, abstract, pinhole, nighttime, portrait

and nature shots.

“I don’t think anyone got bored or had a bad time,” photography

student Izzy Zimmerman, 19, said. “If this happens next summer, put

me in and sign me up. I’m there.”

One of the unique things about the trip, Gillissen said, was that

the students paid for little more than a $40 materials fee and

transportation to and from Schooner Cove, near Nanaimo on Vancouver

Island. Companies such as Fuji Film, Lee Filters, Mamiya, Light

Impressions, Polaroid, Canon and Pro Photo Connection contributed

cash, cameras and other supplies.

“Equipment is very expensive, and the students don’t often get a

chance to use those cameras,” Gillissen said. “But the cameras were

free, the film was free, and we had great accommodations. And I told

them, ‘This may be the last time you’re ever coming to this island.’”

The OCC Photo Foundation and the OCC Foundation covered the costs

of food, shuttling between islands and other expenses. Students

stayed in a waterfront lodge and four cabins with functioning toilets

and electricity but didn’t spend much time indoors, Zimmerman said.

“A Fuji film rep, Bryant Tsutsumida, came and brought a bunch of

camera equipment,” Zimmerman said. “He brought up a panorama camera,

and that’s where I had the most fun -- because I don’t have a camera

like that. We pretty much shot all day.”

Students were graded on their photos and participation and on how

well they displayed their photography, Gillissen said.