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Focus on Poland
Chamberlin returns with students to site of world changes.
- Dennis Chamberlin's study abroad trip to Poland in summer 2008 will take students to the nation where he photographed world-changing events.
"Poland Through a Lens" is a four-week class exposing students to everyday Polish life and providing inspiration to create a multimedia web site. Photos, video and audio will tell the stories of people living in a former Communist nation that is rapidly evolving into a major European player.
Chamberlin is a photojournalist and assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. He said the course will appeal to photographers, but he also eyes students willing to gather information, shoot video, create a slide show or write.
"It's not just for advanced photographers," Chamberlin said.
The students also will work with Polish photography students, spend a weekend with a local family and travel.
Poland was home to Chamberlin for 15 years. His maternal grandparents were from Poland and he spoke Polish as a child. He recalled little of the language in 1983 when, having just graduated from Indiana University, he first visited the nation. Staying with relatives, he spent three months falling in love with the then-Communist country.
"I had a real adventure that I never would have gotten as a tourist," he said.
Chamberlin worked three years as a photojournalist for The Denver Post before the lure of Poland got the best of him. He resigned (his boss subsequently convinced him to take a leave of absence instead) and went to Poland. He met his future wife, Joan, who was on a Fulbright grant, and set the foundation for his return a year later via a one-way ticket for what would become a 15-year stint as a freelance photojournalist.
"I was captivated by the daily life then," said Chamberlin, who was in the Gdansk area along the Baltic Sea. "I felt comfortable there and I liked the life and the people."
He took photo assignments and worked on a photo essay book documenting Polish life behind the Iron Curtain. Then, "1989 happened."
It was the culmination of the Solidarity labor movement led by Lech Walesa. The movement played a role in the demise of the Communist party in Poland and led to the monumental free elections that year. For the first time in four decades Poland was led by non-Communists.
Chamberlin and his camera were in demand to capture this "incredible piece of history." He shot for The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The Economist, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and others. He also worked for the Solidarity Party and regularly photographed Walesa, the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
While freelancing he started teaching at a photography school. Teaching struck a favorable chord with him, and it led he, Joan and their three children to Indiana where he earned an MFA degree and a job offer from Iowa State.
He ventured back to Poland this year to pave the way for the study abroad course. A member of the Polish Art Photographers Union (becoming only the second foreigner to be inducted into the organization), he was surprised by the personal and media attention his return garnered on TV, radio and in newspapers.
"It was almost embarrassing," he noted.
Chamberlin's book, which translates somewhat to "Among You Poles," was published in Poland in 1992 and become quite popular there. "The people told me ‘your photographs tell us much more about ourselves,'" he said. "I was told I have the vision of an outsider and the warmth of a local person."
Chamberlin believes the study abroad course will let his students see themselves differently.
"I hope that the time in Poland helps students develop a perspective that allows them to see their own lives in a global context," he explained. "Learning about how life is in other places can often help you see your own life in a deeper way."
Around LAS
December 3-16, 2007
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