EDITOR'S NOTE: Cellar Roots, published annually by the Student Media Team at EMU, in late March, released the 51st edition of its arts and literature magazine in late March 2025. This article, one in a series, focuses on one of the artists whose work was selected for publication.
Photography was, originally, a blowoff class Andrew Nosay took as a senior in high school. Instead of dismissing the work, he fell in love with the art of photography.
In just one semester, the trajectory of Nosay's educational and artistic life changed. Nosay received his associate’s degree in Photography from Washtenaw Community College in December 2019 and now is a senior studying Visual Arts Education at Eastern Michigan University.
In his photography course at Salem High School, students learned composition techniques, how to use Photoshop, and how to develop black and white film made from a homemade pinhole camera in the dark room. After graduation, Nosay and his photography teacher stayed in touch. In August 2021, that teacher contacted Nosay and asked him to serve as a long-term substitute for her beginning photography classes while she was away on maternity leave.
Nosay agreed and began his journey as an educator.
Adapting and thriving in a new environment, Nosay took on the challenge of teaching without prior experience. After COVID-19, the beginning photography classes had paused the film unit, and there was no developing or shooting. He, however, wanted to bring back what created his love for film, in the place where he found his passion.
“Hey, let's do film. Let go off of these plans and like bring film back and do like the whole big film unit again. We did it and all my students loved film,” Nosay said.
Nosay said he is inspired by films, specifically directors and cinematographers. Wong Kar Wai (director) and Christopher Doyle (director of photography/cinematographer) are a duo that have created “Chungking Express,” and “Fallen Angels,” and are known for films that incorporate high contrast, vivid, colorful and dreamy themes. These concepts can be seen in Nosay's work, "General Portraiture and Aloneness/Loneliness."
Orson Welle' high-contrast black and white films, including “Touch of Evil,” and “Citizen Kane,” are reminiscent of Nosay’s work titled, "These Are Not Portraits, Large Format II," and the "West Virginia Penitentiary."
“If I get to go on a trip, a place I've never been, everything is photogenic. It's all new,” Nosay said.
The series "West Virginia Penitentiary" was inspired by a trip that Nosay said he and his mother took in the summer of 2024. After researching the history about the penitentiary, Nosay said, he was inspired to shoot the guided tour. Nosay used his Sureshot Telemax point-and-shoot camera, and Ilford XP2 Super 35mm black and white film to capture an untitled 17-photo series.
Four of the still shots from that series are included in the 51st volume of Cellar Roots, the arts and literature magazine published annually by the Student Media Team at Eastern. The 51st volume was released to the public in late March 2025.
"I think with these, it was a bit more intentional," Nosay said of the penitentiary images. "I feel like untitled photos kind of let them speak for themselves a little bit, especially when you see them together."
Nosay said when shooting the West Virginia Penitentiary, he used a point-and-shoot camera loaded with black and white film. Point-and-shoot cameras have limited settings for adjusting the way images will turn out. For many, including Nosay, the simplicity allows for focus to remain on the subject and composition.
"I realized how dilapidated this place is, and I feel like you can just kind of feel the weight of all of the bad things that happened in this place," Nosay said. "So, I decided to shoot with a point-shoot camera, and I shot black and white film. With black and white, it feels timeless. Since the prison did close in the 90s everything was kept in place, including the stuff that was like falling apart.”
Andrew Nosay and other work can be found at Andrewnosay.com or on Instagram @Moofish.
Cellar Roots Volume 51 is available for purchase on Amazon or directly from the student media team by emailing cellartoots@easternecho.com.
The latest edition of Cellar Roots being featured at Eagle-Con 2025, which was held on Tuesday, March 18th at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center.
