On Thursday Feb. 21, Sacred Heart University held a photo exhibition for junior Sidney Choothesa in the at the Matire Business and Communication Building.
The event had friends who praised Choothesa for her hard work.
“I am really proud of my friend Sidney who created this whole art display. It is crazy how she can capture so much beauty and put in a single photo; as well as express her own opinions and what goes in her mind through photos,” said sophomore Jenna Brabazon.
Choothesa is in Digital Photography, which is an introductory class for photography students. The class is taught by Professor Richard Falco, Coordinator of Multimedia Journalism and Communications.
Falco has been teaching for thirty years, with a total of ten years at Sacred Heart. He had many different students to choose for the exhibition, but Choothesa stood out.
“If you look at Sidney’s work, the work of dancers. It is a beautiful view into the life of a dancer and what they do. The images she has created are so beautiful. They are really well composed, well thought-out. This is her first photo class which amazed me,” said Falco.
Falco was impressed with the advancement that Choothesa has made in a short amount of time. “I always see a progression. When they come in with uncertainty, the ability to overcome the technical things and then move it to a level of aesthetics where it’s about vision and she arrived at that unbelievably quick.”
Choothesa chose to focus on what she was passionate about, which was dancing. The photographs captured the dancers lives.
“I chose to photograph dancers because that is my life and I can comprehend it very well. I know what to say to my models and how to manipulate them to make the movement look a certain way when captured. I wanted to capture beautiful lines as well as movement and beautiful shapes,” said Choothesa.
When she is not photographing dancers, Choothesa becomes involved in dance in other ways.
This includes participating in dance herself as well as teaching it at the Connecticut Dance Conservatory in Stamford, Connecticut. She is also part of the Dance Community at the university.
As the event came to close, people still came by to give their praise to Choothesa.
“I came to this exhibition and it one of the most beautiful exhibitions I’ve seen. Sidney is one of my closest friends and it is something very creative and I honestly believe that she has a lot of talent and she will go places,” said freshman Francisco Viera.