Pristine white walls are sharply contrasted by the crisp black frames of nearly a hundred photographs. Images, portraying reality and imagination, hang at eye-level to the observer, offering up a story they are eager to tell.

For the next two weeks, Seattle University's Vachon Gallery will be home to the BFA Photography exhibit in a stunning portrayal of five photo students' long months of hard work.

"It's the most accomplished I've ever felt in my life," said photographer Heath Braun. His photo project, titled Anamensis, was an exploration of memories.

"Memories are kind of this idea that we have that we remember an event exactly how it happened and that no matter what, that's how it happened," he said. "But I'm kind of exploring the idea that memories can change; memories can evolve. It's remembering an event but it's in light of today and in light of all the events that have happened in between."

Each photo student has a different photo display, one that is entirely their own and entirely unique to their interests and ideas. Classmate, Tania Stearns, decided to focus on portraits of people her age and explore perceptions of self.

"I've always been really interested in the dimensions between how people see themselves and what they show to the world," she said. "I really think it's fascinating what people showed me. They could bring whatever they wanted to the shoots and wear whatever they wanted. It was kind of aboutm artistic collaboration."

Molly Magee, another photo student, focused on children. After moving in with a friend who had a young son, she became surrounded by the learning and thinking of children. So much so that it inspired her pieces.

"I was really fascinated by how quickly he was learning and how he perceived sensory impulse or sensory experience," she said. "His communication and ability to articulate was progressing at such a quick rate that it became just this project on its own."

In contrast to childhood and innocence, Cody Goodfellow's project, titled the OXY Trap, delves into the debilitating life drug-addicts face under the influence of Oxycontin and Heroin.

"One of the kids that I interviewed died one month after I interviewed him. He committed suicide," Goodfellow said. Though the topic he chose was far from easy, Goodfellow wants people to see his project as educational and eye-opening.

"In other countries, other people do drugs because it's celebrative and convivial and it's occasional, but [in America] we do it all the time, it's addictive, and it kills us."

Classmate Melissa Ettman focused on a form of external scarring to human's biggest organ: skin.

"You don't know it by looking at someone and they have this entire story that you can never understand unless you get to know them and even then there are big gaps in the experiences and how it gets recorded on our skin." She said.

Because she was focusing on skin, several of Ettman's photographs are of nude models, an experience entirely new for her and her models.

"It ended up being a lot more freeing then I expected it to be and I think its really cool and I'm really really excited about it," said one of the models, Cydni Carter.

The show is a culmination of ideas and hard work and one that deserves to be recognized.

"It takes stamina to get through all of this. It's mental, it's emotional and then it comes down to physical," Ettman said. "We really had to push ourselves to get to this point."

Though long and arduous, it was a journey they were willing to take.

"I like photography because it's an act of creation," said Braun. "It's a recording of events but it's also an interpretation and creation and everything that art is. I like the way it can show truth or not truth or anything. There are so many things to be done with it."

Colleen may be reached at cfontana@su-spectator.com