Waynesboro native featured in art shows
By Diana Royal Staff Writer

When Jami Hargrove graduated from high school, she followed her dreams - and with the first year of college now behind her, she's beginning to see those dreams come to fruition.

Last year, Jami packed up and moved to South Carolina, beginning her freshman year at the College of Charleston (CofC) where she picked a double-major in both Studio Art (with a concentration in photography) and English.

"My dream is to work for National Geographic or National Geographic Traveler," she says, adding that she wants to travel the world and take pictures ... "pictures that people see and never forget ... I'm in love with the fact that with the click of a button, I can freeze a moment in time."

In a world of technologicallyadvanced photography, Jami has no intentions of "going digital" anytime soon. "I love actually developing my own film and being in the darkroom printing my own pictures," she says. "It's the best feeling in the world when I see my picture appear in the tray of developer and know that I alone made that picture, with no help from PhotoShop."

Her talents have already been recognized, as her photograph of the millhouse on Brinson Pond Road in Burke County was selected for exhibition in the Young Contemporaries Art Show at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at CofC.

This photograph of the millhouse on Brinson Pond Road was displayed in two separate art shows in Charleston.

While on display at the art show, Jami's picture was chosen by Joseph Bailey, director of Bailey's BASH Foundation, to be displayed at a press conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Charleston.

While her classmates were scouring Charleston for photo ideas, Jami knew she wanted to get pictures that no one else would have - so she chose the millhouse to reflect her hometown.

"Moving to Charleston has made me really appreciate Burke County and has made me proud to claim it as my home," she says. "I want people to know where I come from because I feel like to really get where I want to go, I have to first appreciate where I come from."

CofC has only peeked the interest of the photojournalist hopeful, as Jami talks excitedly about her landscape photography class and working with infrared film. In the spring, she plans to travel to Italy, and she is already considering graduate school.

"I came to CofC all by myself," she says, reiterating how the move has helped her appreciate home while allowing her to "get out there" and accomplish her goals. "I think it's one of the best things I have ever done."