MC Photography Class Tours Historic Sites

(from left) Olivia Lott of Madison, Sarah Fouts of Meridian, and Stephanie Brower of Yazoo City at the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg

Mississippi College junior Sarah Beth Fouts brings her camera wherever she goes. And her travels around the globe have taken the Meridian resident to historic sites in London, Paris, Greece and Italy.

But her recent trips to places like Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Raymond, and Jackson showed she doesn’t need to travel far from home to shoot fabulous photos.

Fouts was among the students taking Mississippi road trips this summer as part of the photography classes taught by Michael Hataway, MC’s graphic design coordinator.

On their Vicksburg journey July 20, Fouts and classmates Olivia Lott of Madison and Stephanie Brower of Yazoo City shot pictures of the Courthouse Museum, the Mississippi River, and bridges leading to neighboring Louisiana.

“I haven’t been to Vicksburg since I was really young,” said Fouts, a 20-year-old graphic design major. “It was fun to see the historical aspects of it.”

Whether they visited the Ruins of Windsor, the Nature Center in Clinton, or an old church at Rocky Springs, the students shot and edited a ton of pictures. The photos will be part of a PowerPoint presentation they are preparing for the Mississippi College Art Department class.

A former Hinds Community College instructor, Hataway has taught the digital photography class at MC since 2004. Students of all majors have taken the course. Hataway’s class also teaches students how to learn Adobe Photoshop editing skills, and master the latest technology on Apple computers.

“I learned a lot,” Fouts says. The Lamar High School graduate may use her talents to pursue an advertising career.