This semester's photography courses currently held in McLellan may soon have studio space closer to campus. Brunwick Tour & Travel closed its Maine Street location last Friday, opening up the space for Bowdoin use.
"The top floor of the building will become a digital media lab," wrote Director of Academic Budget and Operations Ann Ostwald in an e-mail to the Orient. "Our current plans are to use the bottom floor for costume and prop storage for the theater and dance department, given the building's proximity to Memorial Hall."
"We started to reconfigure the space up there," said Associate Dean for Academic Affairs James Higginbotham, who has been leading the project for over a year. The visual arts department received a grant, "enough to get started," said Higginbotham. The goal was to "start a place on campus where we can capture pictures."
Most of the computers that will be used for digital photography will be transferred from the McLellan Building and some new equipment, such as screens, scanners and printers, will be bought.
"Space is tight on campus," said Higginbotham. "How to efficiently use what we have is one of our most important considerations."
The space is currently slated for academic use, but students who are not enrolled in photography courses may be able to uses the facilities in the future, said Higginbotham.
Brunswick Tour & Travel has been in business for 51 years and will continue to operate from owner Cecille Tetrev's Woolwich home. Tetrev, who has owned the business for 31 years, relocated the business to her home last Friday, after a contract with the College expired.
In 2007, Bowdoin College bought the building from Tetrev on the condition that she could rent it for three years. That contract ended on February 12.
"It was a good time to sell," said Tetrev. "It was profitable."
For most of her 600-some clients, nothing will change, Tetrev said. The majority of them already communicate by e-mail and phone.
Even then, Tetrev will be employing new advertising techniques to reach out to more customers. She plans to send a newsletter to her clients, create an e-mail list, and advertise sales on the internet through specials and coupons offered on the business' Web site, which she maintains.
Tetrev shared a memorable story of her first big sale. In 1979, when Tetrev bought the business, a Bowdoin student purchased a $7,000 ticket to travel around the world over winter break.
A "fair amount" of Bowdoin students still consult her for Spring Break travel plans, Tetrev said.