How many graduating students can say theyāve had a published book of their own photography and work sell out within a week? Not many! Meet Elise Schimke, a UW-Madison senior whose unique vision for a non-major photography courseās final project not only made her a recognizable face on campus, but also helped her explore entirely different opportunities and post-graduate futures!
Name: Elise Schimke
Majors: History and English Literature with a Certificate in European Studies
Year: Senior, graduating this May!
Can you briefly describe the background and inspirations for your project?
āMy project is called āLibraries of UW-Madison.ā It began as first semester project for my photography course, Art 176. The first project was a typology assignment, which means you have to photograph the same object in different settings, to weigh the similarities and differences where it occurs. While brainstorming, I came back to something one of my English professors said that I found very cool. He took us on a tour of campus and said something like, āIf you think about it, each of these buildings are vastly different and house very different subject matter. And you can often tell a lot about the relation of the architecture of the building to the interior information.ā I thought that was a really cool idea but I wanted to find a way to showcase that disparity in a visually more consistent way. I was trying to think of a component that is the same across buildings, and I was brought back to the little, fun fact campus tour guides always tell you, which is how many libraries we have!
I brought my idea to my sister because I consider her vastly more creative than I am. She said, āDonāt do the libraries idea, thatās way too much work.ā So I said, āOkay Iāll do it just to prove you wrong.ā And it snowballed from there. The university has 41 listed on their website and I visited and photographed each of those libraries. I sold the printed copies of the project on Etsy and sold out all I had ordered within the week it was released. So Iām going to have to reorder sometime!ā
What was the biggest challenge you faced during this project?
āThere was a lot of organizational challenges. I had to complete this two or three weeks before finals and had other projects going on at the time, yet, this one kept being a distraction that I wanted to work on because I enjoyed it! So, I cleared a week of my schedule and only went to the office, work, and class; the rest of the time I went to libraries until they were all done.
I made a bunch of little post-it notes which broke down the hours of the libraries and geographical location. Geographies were the next challenge because some of the libraries are not on the central campus. I had to go out to the arboretum for one of them, which was a half hour bus ride, I had to walk a mile and a half, and there were turkeys involvedā¦ it was a mess. Navigating that was difficult.ā
How did you deal with going semi-viral around campus, and what kinds of reactions and comments did you get from the community?
āI feel like I got nothing but positive comments, which was great! I only got a camera six months ago, so for people to be this supportive feels great and is encouragement for me to keep pursing this interest in the future. As far as dealing with the āviralā part of itā¦ as someone who is usually not very outgoing in public settings, it was kind of strange to have everyone talking about it. Iām usually not that attention-seeking, so Iām trying to take everything in stride. Itās been a good exercise for me in how to accept compliments.ā
You only began taking photos on a professional camera six months ago, so how do you think having this new interest and skill in photography will help you in your future career?
āAs Iām applying for jobs, itās given me a lot of different careers options to explore. I think itās always a great thing when youāre a student and thinking about your future career: to make sure that youāre diversifying and taking on as many new skills as possible because that will broaden your horizons in the future and make you a more valuable employee for anybody.ā
What are your post-graduate plans?
āI am just looking for any and all the jobs in communications-related fields. I want something, eventually, that allows me to explore a lot more of the creative work Iāve started exploring here, whether it be writing or photography. My ideal would be becoming part of a creative department at an ad agency. I think it would be really cool being able to test my skills in the writing and the image-based aspects of that.ā
As you graduate, whatās been your greatest experience at UW-Madison?
āProbably discovering this [the project]! Before this year, I didnāt know that art courses were available to non-art majors, so I think figuring that out. And just discovering the breadth of opportunities students have here was really neat and being able to jump on that and gain this interest and skill for photography.ā
Congrats Elise! We know youāre off to do great things with your future. Check out Eliseās Etsy page, where āLibraries of UW-Madisonā is sold, here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/502878834/libraries-of-uw-madison-photo-book-5×7?ref=market