“Is your leadership just a 9 to 5 situation or are those possibilities out there 24/7?” Daniel Caron asked those in attendance at the first Six O’clock Series of the semester this past Monday.

Caron stressed the ties between leadership and photography, along with how one can impact the other.

He shared his definition of leadership as, “taking people to a new and better place.”

In the realm of photography, Caron suggests that leadership deals with taking a new stance. He then dedicated a portion of his seminar to showing students that the stance a photographer chooses to take can create a different photo entirely.

One of the main points Caron focused on in his seminar was the pressing moment of the window of opportunity. From that, he crafted an analogy describing the suggestion of jumping at opportunities and new experiences.

Many pieces of advice were given to the students at the seminar, one snippet of them being, “My question to you as students, why not create a piece of artwork that might end up behind a magnet on the fridge…. why not create something from your heart?”

Shifting the topic of discussion to the growing spread of AI in professional settings, Caron highlighted what his inspiration and fear might be. The use of common technology. Though easily accessible, technology in photography can take away from the experience that Caron, and many others, have lived through and thrived in.

“Family connections. I just think it’s just a powerful, special, thing, and I don’t ever want it to get any medium or any process to the point where it’s so common it doesn’t have value,” Caron explained.

“I realize the best photograph that I can take will never match the beauty of what it is. And that’s also part of the humbling thing,” Caron commented on why he so deeply enjoys the art of photography.

“I want to be the best photographer in the world, but you know what? It [the image] will never replace the real thing.”

The IUP’s six o’clock series is held every Monday at 6 p.m., usually in the Elkin Hall Great Room. Next week will be a roundtable discussion on the Constitution featuring the actual, literal Founding Fathers in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building (HUB).