TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University

Photograph by Laura Petrillago the extra mile and it saves in the end,” said Lee Maley,adoption caseworker at Adelphoi Village in Greensburg,Pa. “Most of our kids are above 10 years old and they wantto find a family.” Maley described a young woman whohas grown up through Adelphoi Village’s program andjust completed her first semester in college. He said sheis still open to finding an adoptive family but was not ableto participate in the Heart Gallery photo shoot due to herclass schedule.For many students, this was their first experienceworking with subjects outside of the classroom.“It’s my first professional experience,” said Abby Neely,sophomore photography major. “I like that we can helpthese kids.”Prior to the photo shoot, the students met with thesubjects over cookies and juice in a room just beyondseveral clusters of tripods and studio strobes. The studentsasked about where their subjects grew up and what theylike to do in their spare time.Luke is 16 years old and likes to play baseball andenjoys the outdoors. William is 15 years old and, aside fromvideo games and football, he has a growing interest in girls.Alias is a 17 year-old Steelers fan who hopes to somedayown a carpentry business. Cody, the youngest of the groupat 10 years old, is shy yet admits he enjoys the opportunityto get out of school for the day as he has traveled from Erie,Pa with a caseworker.“Whatever it takes to get the kids exposure, to get thema family; that’s what is important, ” said Sheila Hill, childspecific recruitment specialist at Three Rivers AdoptionCouncil. “The experience with the Point Park students waswonderful. They really took time to get to know the kidsand to take the best pictures.”Previous assignments in the Intro to DigitalPhotography class covered lighting, composition andtechnical aspects of capturing a well exposed image.“It pulls all their skills together and gets them to putinto practice what they’ve learned in theory,” said Rolinson.“It gives them the opportunity to put all of that together intoone package.”The students grouped into teams and selectedlocations throughout the center that would make forsuitable backdrops. They took turns suggesting posesand directing the shoot from behind the camera. Thestudents created a comfortable atmosphere by engagingtheir subjects in conversation and giving positive feedbackabout the photos. Some of the students encouraged inputfrom the subjects by showing them their portraits on thecamera’s LCD screen.The students’ next assignment is to print the images forthe Pittsburgh Heart Gallery. In addition, the students willcreate their own exhibition, which will be included in PointPark’s Panopticon exhibit in the JVH Gallery.“This puts a whole new spin on portraits with a bigemphasis on getting to know your subject so that they’llopen up to you and you can get that portrait,” said SaritWork, junior photojournalism major. “I’m a huge fan of thisorganization and I hope we can do this again. If we can helpthem out in this small way, it’s something we should do asoften as we can.”Since its inception, 28 of the 77 total children featuredin the gallery were placed in pre-adoptive homes. Of those,15 children had their adoptions finalized. As each child isadopted, a special sticker is placed on his or her portrait.The portraits of those children who are successfully placedwill be given to their adoptive families as a keepsake.For more information about any of the childrenfeatured in the Pittsburgh Heart Gallery, please callSheila Hill at 412-471-8722.Photograph by Laura Petrillawww.pointpark.edu 11