22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com talking about. (The original sink was wood, and no longer sealed, and was too high for most people.) On a Tuesday afternoon in March, a group of students is working in the darkroom. Among them, dressed in a black T-shirt and with many tattoos walks Brister, who in 2025 received MPC’s IDEAA Impact Award in recognition of her commitment to advancing Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, AntiRacism and Accessibility. Brister has been teaching photography at the community college level since 2006. She was one of those California kids who experienced equity barriers shared by a lot of students to get into a UC system. Education was not a big subject in her family and she wasn’t sure what career to pursue. “I had found the photo program at the community college and incredible mentors and teachers who really helped me,” she says. Quickly, she realized she wanted to do the same: help others. After grad school (the fine art program at UCLA), her conviction that community college is special solidified when it comes to supporting the students, whatever life phase they are in. “It’s the diversity of students,” she says. “You have people out of high school, like I was, but then students who have returned to school later in life.” In her current MPC classes, she teaches students as young as 12, and as old as 82. Some drive from as far as Gilroy. “It’s a pretty wide range of ages and experiences. Anybody can sign up.” Brister started teaching at MPC in early 2024, becoming the first full-time photography faculty since the pandemic, when enrollment had dropped. When Brister arrived, she immediately saw the photo department needed to be cleaned and repainted. Getting rid of things that were built in and putting in more accessible features was essential. The enrollment rate for the photography program is now at over 90 percent. MPC offers photography students an Associate of Arts degree or a certificate of achievement. In addition to Brister, there are four part-time instructors. One can take 13 different photo classes at MPC, from introduction to photography to narrative photography and alternative processes. The school is also working to build a video program to offer a video production course in fall 2026. According to Brister, there’s strong interest in fine art photography. It is an outlet for creativity and a way to explore identity. Commercial photographers also use the skills learned in fine art photography. Students want to learn analog photography not only to do fine art. “Commercial photographers are once again leaning toward the aesthetic qualities of film,” Brister says. “Culturally, there seems to be a shift back to film and analog processes; digital fatigue exists across generations.” Finally, there is a matter of AI in digital photography. It has been part of photography since the early 2000s, with Photoshop’s healing brush, noise reduction, etc. “Earlier, AI was assistive,” Brister says. “Now, AI can be generative. An artist needs to be intentional in working with AI for it to work with them.” MPC also offers several classes through continuing education—a lot of older students that just want to take photography classes for fun. Marigee Bacolod is a professor of economics at MPC, who enrolled in the MPC photo program in 2025. Brister was her first teacher; she first helped her to find a camera. Bacolod has been interested in analog photography since high school, but while working full-time and raising a family, she had no time to pursue it. “I’m your traditional community college student,” Bacolod says. “I always wanted to know how to use the darkroom and develop photography, and found that here through the MPC community. I learned not just from Becky and the other instructors, but also from the other students.” Photography students often run into a barrier for purchasing materials. “The administration at MPC has helped purchase instructional supplies like film and paper,” Brister says. “There is no cost to students, material-wise.” The MPC Foundation is also helping, raising money for photography supplies, which can be costly. Dianne Yost enrolled in the program in the spring of 2022, before Brister arrived, and is a witness to the big changes. “The program was taught by part-timers, with no leadership and students had to pay for everything out of pocket,” she says. “When Becky came, she made everything equitable. If you are on a fixed income like me and need materials, paper and chemicals—she made it accessible to everyone.” Yost does both digital and analog photography. A vice president of the MPC photo club, which Brister resurrected, she already got her degree in 2025 and this is her last semester. She says that she stays because her heart is in it—the photography itself but also the community she found. The MPC photography department was invited to participate in the inaugural PhotoCarmel, held in 2025. They went for it. Brister and Arts Division Chair Jamie Dagdigian spent spring break in 2025 sanding and cleaning and patching the MPC Art Gallery, which had been inactive since the pandemic. This year, the gallery is opening again for PhotoCarmel, with a show, Through a Community Lens, starting April 10, composed of works by former and current students and teachers—about 40 photographers in total. Among the pieces are works by Wynn and Edna Bullock, Martha Casanave, Jane Olin, Ryuijie and Cathy Jaeger. Among contemporary local female photographers, many went through the MPC photo program, from the arts teacher at Santa Catalina School, Celia Lara, to photographer and educator at The Weston Collective, Nadia Gutierrez. The voices of female photographers currently enrolled, like Dianne Yost and Marigee Bacolod, are also part of the exhibit. Brister marvels over the support she found in the local photo community, including the group Salon Jane (to which Casanave also belongs). “Especially women in this community are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met in my life,” she says. “The entire group has been so incredible.” From the early 21st century, thanks to Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Monterey County became associated with American modernism in photography. The forever seductive Big Sur coastline and the natural kingdom of Point Lobos play a key role in this story as well, inspiring both black-and-white landscape and alternative process photography. Local photographic groups have always been at the core of this story, from the 1867-founded Friends of Photography to its already mature in years successor, the Center for Photographic Art (CfPA), the organizer The current head of the MPC Photography Department, Becky Brister, right, teaching a photography class. The refurbished MPC Photography Department includes the film development station (left) and a darkroom. Right: Students develop film in the darkroom, in addition to learning digital techniques. DANIEL DREIFUSS DANIEL DREIFUSS DANIEL DREIFUSS
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