Wake Forest Magazine invited six professional photographers, who are alumni, back to campus last spring for a challenge:

RAISE THE CAMERA AND SHOW US YOUR VIEW OF WAKE FOREST.

Aaron Fallon (’00)

Location: Venice, CA
Instagram: @aaronfallon

One of the biggest challenges of this assignment was the freedom. The open-ended nature of this project led to a lot of forethought and perhaps some healthy stress about what exactly I’d be shooting. After having spent the past 17 years living in Los Angeles, how would I immerse myself into campus now, at almost 40 years old, for a short time and create something pertinent? Would my memories do me any good or would they be an obstacle? Fortunately buildings don’t tend to move, and hindsight can have its advantages, and when I arrived on campus (for only the second time since 2000), I found myself entering a familiar environment, albeit with fresh perspective.

Just minutes after arriving I began shooting and, though it was a much longer process — looking back — I’d say the project began to reveal itself that first evening. To me, the essence of Wake Forest is the people who compose it. And the campus itself creates an environment where people can thrive. During this assignment I focused my efforts on meeting and photographing current students, a few of my former professors and parts of campus that I believe make Wake Forest a unique and fantastic place.

Though I hadn’t thought of my photography in terms of Pro Humanitate before this assignment, upon reflection it seems my self-directed work pushed me to find common understanding with people who may have a very different experience of the world.

Perhaps through that engagement and sharing the imagery I can help foster greater understanding for others as well. My final submission is a series of portraits of students, faculty, activities and spaces on campus. I hope these images help the viewer see something previously unnoticed or discover something new and help one understand a bit more about Wake Forest.

Aaron’s photos: