www.montereycountynow.com MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 21 Half a century later, Bullock-Wilson, now a historian of the local photography scene, started to hear good things about the MPC photography department. In late 2025, she visited the campus and met the new head of the department, Becky Brister. She was pleased with what she saw—a clean new darkroom, adequate space for students, everything in order. “As a community, we could do so much more to make the photography heritage of our area a vibrant, living legacy that can enrich practice and foster future creativity,” she wrote to Brister shortly after her visit. “It feels like you have the vision, Becky, for MPC to become a key player in that.” It’s worth pointing the lens today on MPC’s art photography department, founded in the mid-1950s, but more specifically its spectacular revival in the last couple of years. Fruits of this program, past and current, will be on display in the MPC Art Gallery in an exhibit titled Through a Community Lens, as part of PhotoCarmel 2026, a six-week-long celebration of local photography that kicks off on March 27 in venues across the Central Coast. The story of photography in Monterey County is one of brilliant female photographers, from Ruth Bernhard (1905-2006) through longtime MPC instructor Martha Casanave to contemporary photographers Cara Weston and Debra Achen. (Achen will be giving a talk about her pieces from the Landscape ReEnvisioned show at the Monterey Museum of Art as part of PhotoCarmel 2026.) Bullock-Wilson and Casanave are enthusiastic about the current renaissance of the department under Brister’s leadership. “It took a woman to do it,” Casanave says. “Photography at MPC is thriving. There is a lot to be excited about.” Things were not always rosy at the MPC photography department. Around the time when Edna Bullock started taking classes at MPC, Casanave, a now-Pacific Grove-based photographer known for black-andwhite portraits with natural light, took a studio lighting class there. Back then, there was no photography by women around, she recalls. Later, in 1991, Casanave became a part-time photography teacher at MPC, where she remained until 2019. Having experience teaching at a wellequipped photo department at Cabrillo College where she started seven years earlier, she found the MPC photography department disorganized, dirty and without proper ventilation, which often resulted in headaches. There was no funding; the department was not noticed by the administration, she says. Casanave recalls efforts by Ansel Adams himself, with whom Casanave used to work, who tried to intervene, but Adams left with the impression the department couldn’t be helped. “The MPC photo department never got off the ground,” Casanave says. “It has been limping along all these years and very nearly closed altogether. There were horrendous safety and health issues that never got addressed.” What Brister has done since 2024 Casanave thought was impossible to achieve. “Nothing short of a revolution,” Casanave says. “Becky has been able to access funding to expand the physical premises—opening up a whole new room with new computers and digital printers, creating a new classroom, which she also made into a camera obscura. She knows digital and she is bringing the department up to date.” According to Casanave and Bullock, MPC was always meant to be the place for local photography, being located geographically in the heart of the photography legacy that has been attracting photographers for decades. “MPC rises from the ashes, at last,” Casanave says. “Under Brister, it finally has a chance.” The photography department in building 36 on the MPC campus looks very different today than it did just a couple of years ago. The huge, 23-person darkroom is clean and organized; it has a new stainless steel sink the instructors and students can’t stop Edna Bullock’s 1988 photo, “Jane and Marc,” will be displayed at the MPC Art Gallery during PhotoCarmel. The exhibit features photos from across generations. Below: Photographer and longtime MPC Photography department educator Martha Casanave in her apartment in Pacific Grove. Below right: Casanave’s work “Untitled” is part of the Through a Community Lens show at MPC Art Gallery and part of PhotoCarmel 2026. DANIEL DREIFUSS © BULLOCK FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY LLC MARTHA CASANAVE
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