Muhlenberg athletes are spending the summer of 2023 enjoying fantastic experiences on campus, in their hometowns, across the country and even around the world.

Rising senior track and field athlete Sam McDonough, a psychology and French & Francophone studies major, spent three weeks in France, using his camera to immortalize his grandparents' home village of Pierrefitte and the surrounding Les Vosges region.

I took an intro to analog photography course this past spring semester as my first formal introduction to photography, and I loved it. My interest in photography developed from my grandma and mom, who have been loosely into photography their whole lives. Even if I never had any real experience with a camera before this class, I was always taking photos on my phone whenever I had the opportunity. I loved the idea of photography as a means to freeze a moment in time in order to look at it again whenever I want. In a sense it's like time travel because I can use the photos I have taken to help transport myself back to that moment and relive it in my head.

I also see photography as a form of artistic expression that I have trouble finding in other ways. I am creative, but I completely fail to express that in any artistic capacity; drawing, music, painting, etc. When I started analog photography last semester, I found that I could easily translate these creative ideas I had into photography. Even if it's tedious sometimes, the darkroom process allows me to expand my creativity with my photographs even more.

While the assignments I did for my analog class were rewarding, I wanted to work towards something even greater. I wanted to start a significant project that didn't last a few weeks and result in just six or eight prints. The project I proposed fulfilled this desire to work on a long-term project with a greater outcome, and gave me the opportunity to immortalize the village where my grandparents live. That village, their house, and the surrounding area has been an important part of my life, even if I only visit for a few weeks every two or three years. Since my visits are becoming more infrequent and the area is changing, I wanted to capture it while it remains how I remembered it as a kid.

This opportunity has allowed me to improve my photography skills. Through researching many different photographers who had similar projects to the one I proposed, I was able to use some of their techniques and styles of photography as inspiration for how I shot this project. This diversified the way I take photographs and made me think more abstractly when looking at my environment. These are skills that I will continue to develop and use to improve my photography.

Due to this opportunity, I have learned much more about the region that my grandparents live in. Even though I have been there countless times, I had a very surface level understanding of the area because I never really had a reason to research it in depth. I have gained a greater historical knowledge and contemporary view of the region where my grandparents live. Similarities between the different villages, how people lived, what life looked like in the past are all things I learned during my three weeks there that I never knew before.

My time spent in my analog photography class and outside of it working on projects has had an invaluable impact on my ability to propose and work on this project. The guidance of the Muhlenberg staff, like my photography professor Kim Hoeckele and my French professor and advisor Dr. Paul McEwan, has allowed me to turn this project from just an idea into something real. Their help during the conception of the project, the grant proposal, and while I work on the project now has been beyond helpful.

The education I received at Muhlenberg has been extremely helpful throughout this experience. Courses and professors here have challenged and pushed me to think abstractly about what I'm learning in order to succeed. I believe this continuous rigor in academics has given me the desire to continue to work and learn outside of the academic year, bringing me to this project over the summer.

Doing something interesting or unusual this summer or know of a Muhlenberg student-athlete who is? Fill out this form to be included in our Summer Check-In series!