Our Instructors
Titus Brooks Heagins
Titus Brooks Heagins, who recently moved from Durham to Charlotte, holds a BA degree in political science from Duke University in Durham and an MFA degree from the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His work can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, Washington, DC, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, and the Casa de Africa, Havana, Cuba, among others.
“Contemporary Southern identity is complex. Black Southern identity is layered with historical truths, with equal amounts of lies and betrayals. My images capture the essence of the South and her dark people. My calling is to visually interrogate the spirit of existing within the margins of a placid society and those who are “othered” by past structural norms.
I am convinced that photography can be redemptive, as images free us to see who we are, outside ourselves, if but momentarily. If it visualizes the expressions that hold sway over a population; and endeavors to capture the people, and how they inhabit their own place, even if that space is a dream.
What is not a dream, is that we live in a realm where despair and hope coexist. I’ve tried to make a portrait in and out of that space. The images become two-dimensional provocations of silent statements and are unavoidable confrontations between the viewer and sitter.” – Titus Brooks Heagins
Kevin “Surf” Mitchell
Visual creative professional and N.W.S.A. High School graduate; Surf’s work ranges from videography, portraits, and installation art. Creator of the photo series Couchsurfing, a travel photography series based in the USA, Kevin uses this work to reflect the harsh reality for many of his struggling artist friends who inspired him to take his craft to the streets to explore the beauty and pain behind their sacrifice. Surf’s work has been featured in numerous national and local brands including Creative Loafing, BET, lnterscope Records, Universal Records, Universal Music Group, and Warner Brothers.
Trent Glass
Trent Glass is a landscape and street photographer from Charlotte NC, as a broadcasting graduate at CPCC Trent’s skills includes videography, film photography, and darkroom printing. Trent’s documentary photography has been published in the Charlotte Observer and other online and print news publications. His street and landscape work has been displayed in various galleries and exhibitions. He enjoys sharing his skills, knowledge, and passion for photography with others.
Caroline Waterman
Caroline Waterman grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She moved to the United States in 1986 and lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband and three children. She took film photography classes in Dublin in the 1980’s and again in Boston; she completed her BFA in Photography from UNCC in May 2016. During her time at UNCC Caroline has explored various historic processes and concentrates on large format analog photography. Caroline specializes in Silver Gelatin Lith and Platinum Palladium printing. Her work deals with the themes of memory and loss and she has drawn on her connections to family, heritage and place as inspiration. She has conducted workshops on Lith printing at UNCC, at Appalachian State University and at the Light Factory. Her Silver Gelatin Lith prints are currently being exhibited at the University Hilton Hotel in Concord, NC and Caroline has also exhibited her work at UNCC and The Photo Place Gallery in Vermont. Her first solo show opened in September 2017 at Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC.