Conceptual photographer Nigel Poor spoke at De Anza on June 4 as part of the Photography Lecture series.

Poor’s conceptual work uses everyday objects to create extraordinary work.

“It is about story telling, which is what photography is all about,” said Poor.

Poor is an associate professor at Sacramento State University.  Her work has been shown at several museums and galleries including the San Jose Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

She collects ordinary objects and uses them in projects that make them extraordinary.

“I like to use photography as a delivery system for ideas,” Poor said.

She has branched out from photography over the years but it has remained her “first love.”

Poor showed images from her first project, from 1998-2000, she collected one object she found each day during a walk for one year.  She talked about the challenge of finding, organizing and photographing 365 objects.

She said it took six months to finish the job.

The next project Poor showed involved flies she collected during a residency at Bowden College. She said she found many dead flies and it reminded her of “The Amityville Horror”. She decided if she collected them, they would be less distasteful and she could use them for a future project.

Poor spoke about several more of her projects and the meaning they have for her.

She explained the challenges of her work at San Quentin prison, where she has been  for the past three years. In 2011, Poor started teaching the history of photography as part of the University Prison Project.

Working at San Quentin is rewarding and the students she works with are dedicated and hard working, she said.

Poor played a recording of one of her students, Michael, who got in trouble and was in solitary confinement during the assignment. He wrote a nine-page paper comparing a set of images while in solitary.

Michael told Poor that while working on the assignment he learned the power of photography.

Helping her students discover the power of photography and seeing something fascinating in the ordinary are the rewards of working with students at San Quentin.