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<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRegan chose to attend Colgate upon the advice of a National Geographic<\/em> editor. She\u2019d been an avid photographer since childhood, carrying around an Instamatic Kodak 104 and turning her bathroom into a makeshift darkroom by stuffing towels under the door to block light. She grew up in Camillus, N.Y., and knew of Colgate\u2019s excellent reputation. The liberal arts were a draw, but Regan wondered if she should instead enroll in a photography program. A fan of National Geographic<\/em>, she penned a letter asking the editor for advice. \u201cHe wrote me the most heartfelt letter about the value of the liberal arts,\u201d she remembers. \u201cHe basically said, you can always learn the technical [skills], but what you [become] as a photographer will be enhanced by what you read, what you experience, the places you see, the things you\u2019re thinking \u2014 that will make a difference in what you do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colgate didn\u2019t offer many photography classes at the time, so Regan gained experience through the Maroon<\/em>, the Salmagundi<\/em>, and covering visiting musicians, including Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, and Fleetwood Mac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter graduation, Regan was a writer\/photographer for higher education institutions before deciding to focus solely on photography and open her own studio in Geneva, N.Y., where she still lives. She\u2019s had a variety of commissions, including more music photography. She serves as the photographer for Geneva\u2019s Smith Opera House and has photographed the Syracuse Symphony as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom she spent several years traveling Europe and Asia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That gig ended with the beginning of the pandemic. During those months of isolation, Regan started \u201cPorch Portraits,\u201d an Instagram series documenting the pandemic through the people in her town, which she turned into an award-winning book. \u201cIt was a wonderful way to connect to people across my community during that strange time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nShe\u2019s also connected with the central New York community in her commission for the tourism bureau. Through the work, she finds delight in the unexpected. \u201cSo many trails! Waterfalls, the Erie Canal, Farm Days, unusual shopping\u2026,\u201d she says. \u201cNeedless to say, Madison County has been a repeatedly interesting client for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photographer Jan Regan \u201978 captures unexpected moments in Madison County. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":12150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[463,762,1585,91],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-12116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-endeavor","tag-central-new-york","tag-madison-county","tag-photographer","tag-photography"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-39q","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/05\/DSC_3974.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12116"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12419,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions\/12419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}