Then and Now: Taking The Leap Into Digital Photography

On a warm September day in 2003, Bloomsburg University fully stepped into the world of fully digital photography.

Eric Foster, working for what is now the Strategic Communications and Marketing Office, was testing a new camera, a Canon 10D, the first digital SLR acquired by the university.

Near Carver Hall, he spotted friends, who had been cheerleaders in high school, practicing their lifts. The moment was captured as Katie McPeek ’07 got a boost from friends Keri Bachman, Kristie Gardner ’07,  Danielle Burke ’07, and Jennifer Liddell ‘07. (Not all shown) McPeek and Burke cheered for the Huskies during their time at Bloomsburg.

The image, that so perfectly illustrated striving and cooperation, was used in the magazine ad for the Bloomsburg University Foundation several years later.

For years prior to 2003, the university’s in-house photographers used Kodak slide film and black and white film that had been loaded into film canisters from bulk containers holding hundreds of feet of film.

Purchasing and processing this film cost thousands of dollars each year and it took days to get the photos back after a shoot. Though the university had purchased several small point-and-shoot cameras for photos to use on the internet, the quality wasn’t sufficient for large photos in major publications.

The new equipment changed that. Measured scientifically, images from film still showed more detail, but the digital images had much less grain, resulting in more apparent detail. For the university, film was out and digital was in. The remaining rolls of film were donated to the art department for student use in class.

The savings in film costs meant that instead of hundreds of images, it was possible to take thousands each year. And today, for certain assignments and signature moments like commencement, thousands in a day.

Photographers Jaime North and Foster travel to the university’s locations at Clearfield, Lock Haven, and Mansfield, as well as Bloomsburg. Their work, and that of other photographers on the campuses, is available to view on each of the campus’ Facebook pages and on Commonwealth’s Flickr page.

This story appears in the Summer 2024 issue of the Bloomsburg Magazine.

Story updated Sept. 17, 2024.