Don Werthmann is a Professional Photography Faculty member in the Digital Media Arts Department at Washtenaw Community College, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ranging across thirty years his career is immersed in photography and education. His professional teaching career, spanning over twenty years, includes the film & digital eras, augmented with web design & development, and lighting for film & video. He was recently elected Department Co-Chair of the Digital Media Arts Department.
As a Michigan native, Don’s passion and appreciation for various forms of visual art and art history emerged when he was a teenager, which eventually led him to earning B.F.A. and M.A. degrees in Photography from Wayne State University, in Detroit. Immediately after obtaining his undergraduate degree in the mid-1980's, he worked as a freelance camera and lighting assistant in commercial, automotive studios in the Detroit area, producing national-level print advertisements & catalogs for many well-renowned auto companies.
In the early-1990’s Don discovered a strong calling to transition into a career in photo education, which led him to spending over eight years at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His tutelage under some of the most influential names in the photographic industry took incremental steps from student work-study, to teaching-assistant to being the Operations Manager for six years. Don was an instructor of two different, weeklong workshops for four years as well. During this pivotal phase of his career, Don learned to complement his instructional designs and learning outcomes with the organizational strategies and expectations practiced in the commercial sector of the photography industry.
The opening of the new century demanded earning a graduate degree and a simultaneous transition from film to digital capture workflow technologies. The combination of all these professional credentials uniquely position Don to teach with depth, the widest range of photography courses amongst his colleagues, which is evident in a list consisting of fifteen course titles ranging from beginner to advanced to mentoring to study abroad opportunities: see Vitae
Spain 2018 is Don's fourth study-abroad teaching experience, and his third visit to Spain. As a Visiting Scholar at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities, in Hikone, Japan, in 2006, 2008, & 2010, he taught a similar faculty-led course with American, study-abroad students. In addition to spending weeks living with homestay families in Japan, Nicaragua, and Spain, Don's international journeys have also led him to China, Costa Rica, France, Italy, Canada, and Mexico.
With outstanding logistic and curricular support of GEO staff in the USA & Spain, in addition to a deep infrastructure of campus and housing facilities, in partnership with the WCC Study Abroad Office; this promises to be a dynamic and memorable journey.
As an artist, Don is a practitioner in the genre of lyric documentary as his images are infused with curiosity, the lyricism of everyday life, and a naturally unfolding tapestry of events presented to the camera. He also enjoys producing expressive portraiture in the studio and on-location. His work can be viewed at Quatrain ƒotographic.com
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Don Werthmann
Washtenaw Community College
Digital Media Arts Department
›› Professional Photo Faculty
›› Department Co-Chair
Global Education Oregon [GEO]
›› Visiting Faculty
 donw@wccnet.edu
 734.973.3586
 GM300BB
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