One student’s passion began with Shippensburg University’s basic photography class, a rented camera and some advice from a wise and white-haired professor. 

Darin Robillard, recent graduate from the communication/journalism department, did not know much about photography a year ago, but now his camera is either slung on his hip or stuck to his scrunched face as he focuses his lens on the perfect shot.

Michael Drager, an associate professor in the communication/journalism department, taught Robillard in the basic photography class he took last spring. Drager had promised Robillard he would hang one of his pictures in the gallery in one of Rowland Hall’s hallways. This promise went unfulfilled until recently.

Drager had not forgotten — he kept his promise, paying with interest no less. In the display cases inside Rowland, Robillard has not just one photo, but 10 hung on the wall.

When Drager saw Robillard’s photos from a trip to Pittsburgh, he was thoroughly impressed, he said.

“[The photos] were extraordinary,” Drager said. “They were very well done.”

Drager asked for the digital files of Robillard’s Pittsburgh photos, printed them and hung them as a surprise. When Robillard walked into Rowland, on the ruse that he was going to help his girlfriend with a photography project, he was greeted not only by the three display cases of his photos but also his friends who came to support him.

Everyone was just as excited as Robillard — or rather, almost as excited — to witness his accomplishment.

“This is the most flattering thing ever,” Robillard said. “I don’t know how to speak. …I’m so happy I’m ready to burst.”

It is Robillard’s progress that caught Drager’s attention. Both Drager and Robillard admit that his first few handfuls of photos were “rough.” However, Robillard has kept practicing and asking questions on his own time, learning like a sponge, Drager said.

“A lot of what he has done, he has done on his own…He is where he’s at now through hard work, perseverance and passion,” Drager said.

It takes passion, Drager said, to go from knowing essentially nothing about photography to becoming as proficient as Robillard is now.

“Some of it is luck. Some of it is the fact that I go out and take photos whenever I can,” Robillard said. “I have my camera with me 90 percent of the time.”

Robillard graduated from Shippensburg University on May 7 with a degree in communication/journalism, public relations emphasis.

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