Mt. Hood photography student Sarah Hyndshaw creates graphic art for ASG while also working in the print shop burrowed beneath the Academic Cernter’s 1200 building.
She started attending Mt. Hood while still in high school, thinking that she wanted to be a web designer, but eventually changed her mind.
“I decided that it wasn’t for me, and then I went for animation – I wanted to be a cartoonist, a children’s book illustrator,” Hyndshaw said. She decided she wanted to pursue a career as an artist, and left to enroll at the Art Institute of Portland.
After attending the Art Institute, Hyndshaw changed her mind again and decided to return to MHCC and study photography through its Integrated Media program. “Photography’s always been very interesting to me. I’m pretty artistic in general,” she said.
Hyndshaw said she enjoys the program at Mt. Hood because the teachers are really knowledgeable: “They definitely know the field, because they actually do it, or have done it.”
The first-year student has the opportunity to learn aspects of photography she didn’t think were important to the craft. “It definitely is very beneficial,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot since I’ve started -— a lot that I’ve never really considered, like lighting and stuff.”
Food and people are the focus of Hyndshaw’s photographs.
“Food is awesome. It tastes good and is something that everybody enjoys usually, which has a certain beauty to it, and people are just fun in general because they have their own personalities,” she said.
She hopes to eventually have her work displayed in food magazines, which she sees as the evidence of achievement in her passion. “That’ll be like… ‘This is legit, my work is in a magazine, and suddenly special,’ ” she said.
Hyndshaw enjoys doing the artwork for ASG. “It’s been really positive, (the student leaders are) all very friendly and they all have a certain kind of personality that is much different from my own.
“I make art for them because most of them are artistically challenged, which is perfectly fine,” she said. She began doing graphic art for the ASG in mid-February, after the group’s previous graphic designer had to step down.
“Everybody in ASG is very business-oriented. They all want to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, and leaders,” Hyndshaw said. “I don’t really consider myself a leader ,per se, so it’s interesting being around people who are very much different than me.”
She encourages business-oriented students to “pursue your passion and lead the world, ’cause that’s great,” she said. “I’m really inspired by those people.”
Working in the print shop, as well as creating graphic art, Hyndshaw has the rare opportunity of being involved in the entire process of creating printed work. “Honestly, it’s kind of a weird sort of thing being in ASG and being here, too, because I will make something up there, and then I will print it down here.”
Being involved in every step of the production process, she is very thorough with her work.
“I know I could fix it, (know) how to fix it. It kind of makes me want to be even more detail-oriented, because I have such a connection to it — I’m printing it,” she said. “It becomes ‘more.’ ”
An internship for the summer is one of Hyndshaw’s immediate goals. “That’s scary, but it’s just about going and doing it,” she said.
She is optimistic about her future, and knows that her objectives might evolve along the way. “It could morph – like everything I do – art, web design, ‘Oh, I want to be a painter. Oh, I want to be a photographer now,’ ” she said. “I know that my skills will definitely just curve. Whatever happens, happens.”
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