Photos decorated the WSU Vancouver Firstenburg Student Commons for the annual Travel Cafe event on Nov. 28, hosted by the Salmon Creek Journal (SCJ) and the Office of Student Involvement. The theme, “Symbiotic” differed from this year’s journal theme, “Divergence.” According to the journal’s editor-in-chief, Alex Duffield, the Travel Cafe is, “A chance for the community, students, staff, alumni and faculty to share travel photos and to talk about their work over coffee with a friend or stranger.” Duffield added how the event is “An opportunity for new artists to be seen and for value to be actualized. All photos that are submitted for Travel Cafe are also considered for journal publication.”
The journal’s staff members filter through the submissions and choose what they believe to be the most qualifying, based on photo characteristics and relevance to the theme, according to Duffield. Seventy-six submissions were entered in this year’s Travel Cafe, but only 43 were selected by the SCJ editors for display.
The 43 staff-picks are then presented to a panel of judges, which this year was comprised of the Art X club president, Riana Vincent, The VanCougar photographer, Sydnie Kobza and Fine Arts professor, Ruth Lantz. After the board picks the top three photos, another seven are posted to SCJ’s social media pages and are voted on by followers, resulting in “the social media pick.” On the day of the event, all 43 photos were framed and displayed throughout the Firstenburg Student Commons where attendees voted for the “audience choice.”
“This year’s photos really showed the season’s colors compared to last year’s Travel Cafe gallery, which took place in February. The dark greens, oranges, browns and grays of the symbiotic photos were really representative of the damp, decaying and changing season. Still, our photographers were able to find people, things and environments which worked together in unity, contributing to something larger than their solitary presence,” Duffield said.
The displayed entries included photos from, “France, Mexico, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, India, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Nepal and the Bermuda Triangle waters,” Duffield explained.
All photos of the event are courtesy of The VanCougar photographer, Sydnie Kobza.
Learn more about the 2018 Travel Cafe winner, Bailey Granneman and her entry, “Wreckage” in issue no. 9 of The VanCougar, on stands Jan. 7.
First place photo, “Wreckage” by Bailey Granneman. 
Third place photo, “Standing with the Stars” by Joel Lindberg. 
“Dock Sunrise” by Dale Strouse. 
“Standing with the Stars” by Joel Lindberg. 
Students voting on photos at the Travel Cafe on Nov. 28. 
Salmon Creek Journal staff, left to right: Nikki Johnson, poetry editor, Richard Boneski, marketing director, Alex Duffield, editor-in-chief, Kaitlyn Slorey, visual arts editor, Kaikee Perry, website and layout manager and Randal Houle, prose editor.
Anna Nelson is the Editor in Chief for the VanCougar. She is a senior and is studying strategic communications.