WATERVILLE, Maine — A recent Colby College graduate, who is also a firefighter, highlighted Waterville Fire and Rescue in her senior art exhibit.
You may have heard the adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Studio art major Morgan Cheney embodied this by capturing the day-to-day of first responders at Waterville Fire and Rescue.
"This exhibit is actually called 'Pride In Duty.' That is the mission statement of the Waterville Fire Department," Cheney said.
Cheney used a Sony digital camera and her dad's film camera, which he used when he was in college, for her capstone project which was on display at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center.
"I'm in the fire department, but I'm also a photographer," Cheney said. "I think I had a very special role in that I can capture the relationships that I have with those people through the camera and sort of create a more raw feeling to the pictures and sort of give that connection to the viewer."
Cheney wanted to use this project to shine a light on the people she looks up to.
"The people that I was training under were such great role models. I wanted to show the world the role models I had and for them to see also the people who are helping them on the worst days of their life," Cheney said.
Cheney started at Waterville Fire and Rescue two years ago as an EMT but has been a firefighter for the past year.
Waterville Fire Chief Shawn Esler is proud of Cheney's hard work.
"When she chose the fire department, specifically 'Pride In Duty' as her project, we felt extremely honored," Esler said.
For EMS Deputy Chief Everett Flannery, the exhibit felt very authentic.
"Looking at the photographs, it just elicits raw emotion," Flannery said. "A lot of the shots, people didn't know it was happening so it's very real."
Each picture shows the humanity behind first responders.
"We're all human, yes we all work 24-hour shifts," Cheney said. "Sometimes we see not-so-great things, but the people we're surrounded by in the firehouse make it the place that it is."
The exhibit also shares a glimpse of a job that can be hard and demanding.
"Her work really sheds a [light] on the strong work that goes into training, and operational readiness to make sure we're prepared to respond to emergencies," Esler said.
Cheney has pride both in her final college project and in her second family at Waterville Fire and Rescue.
"I wanted to keep that connection going of every time that we step into the fire department and we're going to work, we have pride in what we do," Cheney said.
The exhibit "Pride In Duty" is no longer up, but Fire Chief Esler has plans to hang some of Cheney's photos around the Waterville Fire station.
Cheney originally planned to double major in biochemistry, but a love for photography helped her find her way to graduating as a studio art major.
Even though Cheney graduated this past weekend, she plans to stay in Waterville as a firefighter for at least the next few years.