Joe Poshek

Dean of Visual & Performing Arts

Office Location: Arts Center 303
Office Phone: 714-432-5536
Email: jposhek@occ.cccd.edu

A Minnesota native, Joe Poshek has been a Laguna Beach resident since 1983 where he resides with his wife Jeannie and three poodles. He is a professional musician, visual artist and educator. As a musician his six solo classical guitar recordings have sold over 120,000 copies and as a visual artist he exhibited in the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts for eight years.

He holds degrees – Master of Music and Bachelor of Music in classical guitar - from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition - from Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota.

Presently he is Dean of the Division of Visual & Performing Arts at Orange Coast College. His hobbies include tennis, wine and fine cuisine.

Blade Gillissen

Full-time Faculty / Department Chair

Office Location: Arts Center
Office Phone: 714-432-5844
Email: bgilliss@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A121, A160, A260, A261, A287

Blade has taught classes in basic photography, view camera, lighting, product, advanced darkroom techniques, the zone system, and alternative processes since 1998. He has a special interest in historical processes and has worked extensively with gum bichromate printing, platinum printing, and pinhole photography. He also works as a consultant, technical writer, and editor, most notably as a technical consultant for Photography, the textbook by Barbara London and John Upton. Blade is also an avid collector of photographic prints and rare photographic books. Before becoming an educator, he owned and operated a commercial photography business that specialized in product, lifestyle, and portrait photography.

Torii Ott

Department Coordinator / Part-time Faculty

Office Location: Arts Center 223
Office Phone: 714-432-5874
Email: tott@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A125, A123, A160, A161

Damian Tsutsumida

Instructional Associate / Part-time Faculty

Office Location: Fine Arts 118
Office Phone: 714-432-5523
Email: dtsutsumida@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A125, A160, A161, A289

Damian graduated from The School of Photography in 2001, and immediately started an architectural photography business in Southern California. He has an extensive client list ranging from DirecTV, Time Warner, Lennar Homes, and Fujifilm USA. His work has been featured in numerous publications including People Magazine, Elle Decor, Forbes Travel, and OC Homes. From 2003-2007, Damian was commissioned by Lennar Homes to extensively document the development of MCAS El Toro (Great Park), MCAS Tustin (Tustin Legacy), the Platinum Triangle, and Central Park West.

www.tsutsumidaphoto.com

Agatha Ibranossian

Full-time Faculty

Office Location: Fine Arts 118
Office Phone: 714-432-5703
Email: aibranossian@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A125, A180, A220, A282

Agatha Ibranossian began her teaching career in the spring of 2000, at Golden West Community College. She had the privilege of adding Los Angeles City College, and Glendale Community College to her teaching experience prior to joining the Orange Coast College faculty in 2006.  She earned her BFA degree in Photography from Art Center College of Design in 1999 and shortly thereafter; she joined forces with her creative partner Jay, to establish a commercial photography team. They have been shooting portraits, food, and fashion accessories for over ten years. In 2010 Agatha earned her MA degree in Educational Leadership and is currently teaching courses in professional photography, fashion and portraiture.

www.jayandani.com

Richard Kraft

Full-time Faculty

Office Location: Fine Arts 118
Office Phone: 714-432-5703
Email: rkraft@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A122, A125, A130

Richard Kraft joined the faculty of Orange Coast College in 2002. His work in photography, drawing, collage and performance has been widely exhibited and published.

Eve Luckring

Full-time Faculty

Office Location: Art Center 328
Office Phone: 714-432-5520
Email: eluckring@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A101, A120, A200, A283

Eve Luckring joined the faculty at Orange Coast College in the Fall of 1999. She is an internationally exhibited artist working in Photography, Installation and Video.

www.eveluckring.com

Leslie McCall

Full-time Faculty

Office Location: Fine Arts 118
Office Phone: 714-432-5520
Email: lmccall@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A123, A125, A205, A280

Leslie has seventeen years of creative and diverse experience in commercial, conceptual and digital photographic instruction, as well as, studio management. She is a graduate of Art Center College of Design and has operated her own studio for more than 10 years, specializing in food and product photography for advertising. Clients include: Nestle Corporation, Ralphs Grocery Stores, Albertson’s Grocery Stores, Gourmet Cuisine, Allen Wertz Candy, Rite Aid, Ford Motor Company, Ultra Wheel Corporation. Leslie also managed A&I Digital Imaging in Hollywood for more than two years where she became immersed in digital imaging. Digital remains a great passion.

"I regard digital imaging as an exciting tool for creative expression and a necessity in commercial photography." "My teaching philosophy is based upon a profound commitment to the learning process and facilitating students’ progress toward their personal and professional goals. I feel strongly that a technical foundation must be balanced with conceptual exploration. I regard the learning process as a partnership between student and instructor."

Rick Steadry

Full-time Faculty

Office Location: Fine Arts 332
Office Phone: 714-432-5521
Email: rsteadry@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A160, A188, A290

Rick Steadry received his BA degree and a Master of Arts in Teaching (Fine Arts/Photography) from Harvard University. He taught photography at Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for Visual Arts and later was a photographer and filmmaker in the design office of Charles and Ray Eames. He joined the Orange Coast College faculty in 1971. He teaches courses in commercial photography and advertising illustration. He remains endlessly fascinated by light and empowered by hope."

Chauncey Bayes

Part-time Faculty

Office Phone: 714-432-5021
Email: cbayes@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120, A187

A native of the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa area, Chauncey has been a commercial photographer and designer for over 30 years. His clients included such companies as IBM, TimeLife Books, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, City of New York and Volt International.

His specialties are in corporate and institutional publications and advertising. This includes conceptual design, photographic imaging, production and printing. His experiences in corporate advertising have given him a broad base from which to draw from and he brings that working knowledge to the classroom. He has extensive experience in all photographic formats and mediums including high-end digital imaging and imaging software."

Chuck Barrett

Part-time Faculty

Email: cbarrett@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120

Random accomplishments (at least what I consider to be accomplishments):

Without any automotive training, completely rebuilt a 1964 Jaguar XKE (see photo). Drove it from Massachusetts to California.

Attended a few pretty good universities to study Physical and Biological Science. Graduate of U.C. Berkeley.

Most of my formal photographic education was at Orange Coast College. I learned the art and business of Photography from the working photographers who taught courses here. Among those highly accomplished photographers, I found a mentor who was an artist, philosopher and commercial photographer.

My experiences in the OCC Photography Department led me to a long and varied career in commercial photography. I have been lucky enough to learn my craft in the age of film and then carry those skills into digital media. The constant has always been and will always be the skillful and creative use of whatever tools are available to create photographs that influence our fellow men.

As an instructor, my mission is to carry on the legacy of the great teachers I have had by passing on the knowledge I acquired from them and to add the lessons learned from my own career.

Jonathan Fletcher

Part-time Faculty

Office Phone: 949-378-2525
Email: jfletch646@earthlink.net
Photo A100, A120, A121, A122, A123, A160, A187

Jonathan Fletcher has been involved in photography for more than 25 years. He holds an MFA from the Art Institute of Boston and a BA from UC Santa Barbara. He has worked in both commercial and fine arts photography. His personal work, which is held in collections throughout the country, explores aspects of time and perspective using self-built pinhole cameras. In 2006 he served as technical advisor to The Great Picture project, a massive effort to turn an F-18 jet hanger at El Toro Marine Corps base into the worlds largest pinhole camera. The resulting 31ft x 111ft image is listed with the Guinness Book as the world's largest single photograph. He also has a passion for all of the antiquated "alternative" processes used in the late 19th and early 20th century. Jonathan has taught photography for the past 10 years at The School of Photography at Orange Coast College.

Rachelle W. Chuang

Part-time Faculty

Email: profrchuang@gmail.com
Photo A196

{creativist: someone who is attuned creatively to their surroundings; a person who understands and expresses their life through creative works or motifs. -urbandictionary.com}

Rachelle Woo Chuang is an artist, educator and creative consultant. She dips into a varied palette which includes vision-casting, promoting, organizing, planning, networking, and connecting people, events and opportunities. In addition to her graphic design and seminary education from Biola University and Talbot Theological Seminary, she studied hand papermaking and letterpress at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center and worked with Ellen Mears Kennedy while on the East Coast. In 2006 she received her MFA in Book Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Rachelle is a “freeway flyer” adjunct instructor at Chapman University, Biola University, Irvine Valley College and Orange Coast College. She also teaches book arts and letterpress in multiple locations including the Cerritos Public Library and Irvine Fine Arts Center and takes time to play in her own art studio in Laguna Beach. Volunteer activities include directing the annual Los Angeles Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA and staying involved at Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, CA. She is a member of San Diego Book Arts. Mostly she considers herself a wanderer, worshiper and wonderer and finds joy in beauty, creativity and empowering others.

myers-briggs | introvert (yes!) :: intuitive :: feeling :: judgment = infj strengths finders | maximizer :: positivity :: connectivity :: activator :: learner

www.rachellewchuang.com

Mikki Goracke

Part-time Faculty

Email: mgoracke@occ.cccd.edu
Photo A120

Mikki moved from Nebraska to Southern California at the age of eighteen and has resided in Huntington Beach ever since. After graduating from The School of Photography she started a commercial photography business specializing in portraiture.

She earned her BA in Geography from California State University, Fullerton and is currently completing her Master's.   She enjoys traveling and taking pictures.

www.michellegoracke.com

John Hesketh

Part-time Faculty

Email:  jhesketh@photomation.com
Photo A225

I’m a second-generation photographer living in the suburbs of Southern California. I have attended Orange Coast College and California State University, Fullerton, but much of my training in photography came from the family business which started the year that I was born.

Since 1996 I have been teaching Photography at Orange Coast College and until June, 2000, I was also the director of the Photographic Gallery.

I have been exhibiting my work locally and internationally since 1986 and I am included in photographic collections at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and the Maison Europeene de la Photographie in Paris.

My work always seems to have something to do with time. Whether it is a long exposure that conjures a dream, or a sequence of images that explores memory, photography’s description of time is fundamental to my work.

www.johnhesketh.com

Maria Piscopo

Part-time Faculty

Email: maria@mpiscopo.com
Photo A241 (Spring Only)

Advisor & Speaker Born in New York, raised and educated in California. Maria started her own business as a marketing representative for artists and photographers in 1978. She teaches artists, designers and photographers at the internationally renown Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and for Dynamic Graphics Educational Foundation.

Maria also writes print and electronic media magazine articles and columns in more than a dozen visual arts industry publications. Her first book, THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING AND SELF-PROMOTION, was published by Writer’s Digest Books in 1988. Maria’s second book, MARKETING & PROMOTING YOUR WORK was published last year by NorthLight Books (Cincinnati,OH) in their Graphic Design Basics Series. The 4th  Edition of THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S GUIDE TO MARKETING AND SELF-PROMOTION, will be published by Allworth Press (New York NY) in June 2010.

Maria’s series of four videos was produced at the same time by Turner Communications (Newport Beach CA) on the topics of her seminars and conference workshops. She has been a speaker at the PHOTO Conference since 1985. A member of SPAR and the University of California at Long Beach Arts & Humanities Board she joined the PHOTO Advisory Board in l996. Maria Doyle, Creative Services Consultant.

www.mpiscopo.com

Walter Urie

Part-time Faculty

Email: walter@uriephoto.com
Photo A122, A200, A288, A290

I have been a commercial and editorial photographer in Orange County, CA for the past 27 years. During that time I have won over 100 awards and have worked for many Fortune 100 companies. I have specialized in Annual Report
photography for the past decade, but during my career I have had the opportunity to master many areas of studio and location photography including: portraiture, documentary, product, industrial, landscape, editorial, and automotive.

www.uriephoto.com

John Upton

Part-time Faculty

Email: john@johnuponphotography.com
Photo A152

One of the founders of The Orange Coast College Photography Program, John taught in the department for over 35 years. During his tenure, John brought noteriety to the department through famous photography gallery exhibitions and lectures. In addition, John is the co-author of Photography, one of the most widely used photography instruction books in the country.

www.johnuptonphotography.com