David Hopkins is retiring from Professional Photography after 44 years
David Hopkins’ association with the College began as a student at the Viger Campus in 1973. Just five years later, he started teaching non-credit photography classes at the tender age of 23, at what was then called the Dawson Institute of Photography.
David was instrumental in developing a series of non-credit photography courses for the Institute along with Martin Coles and Martin Segal. He also introduced weekend photo workshops on Ansel Adam’s Zone System, travel photography, on photographing the nude and on advanced darkroom printing techniques.
He went on to teach night classes in the AEC Photography program and eventually transitioned to the Professional Photography DEC program. He was chair of Professional Photography for three years, one of two writers for the program and a recipient of the College’s Teaching Excellence Award.
The first Warren G. Flowers Gallery committee benefited from David’s experience and he coordinated numerous photography exhibits at the Gallery and before that, at the modest foyer gallery at the original Dawson Institute of Photography at 460 Ste-Catherine Street.
He exhibited a collection of his own work in a joint exhibition with Peter Berra, and helped Peter put together the “Counterpart”, a collection of first-year photo student work exploring diversity at Dawson College.
David was instrumental in establishing Dawson’s Havana Photography Workshops where small groups of Professional Photography students spent a week in Havana doing documentary street photography. The last two workshops, coordinated by Laurel Breidon, offered the students the additional option of doing a week of fashion photography in Havana. This included working with professional models in the streets of Havana in a day-long shoot in a spectacular old Havana mansion popular with many of the world’s leading fashion photographers.
David was a member of the PIEA (Photo Imaging Education Association) for several years and coordinated exhibits of international student work in the Warren G. Flowers Gallery. He was also invited by the PIEA to its annual conference in Las Vegas to give a special workshop on digital negatives – a hybrid approach mixing digital photography with traditional darkroom printing.
Over the years he has written on photography for both popular magazines and art publications and has penned the introductions to several photography books.
“I have always felt at home at Dawson,” he said. “It has been something of a family affair too; my three sons attended Dawson College, and my wife Marilyn Aitken, photographer for the McCord Museum, also taught night classes here for several years.”
Photography remains David’s passion. He lives close to Mount Royal and continues to document its beauty and the Montrealers and tourists who enjoy it. Much of his personal work can be seen on Instagram at @dhopkinsagram.
He says he will miss the students and his colleagues. During his career he felt he learned along with them every day. His teaching philosophy was simple – teaching is sharing.
