By Eric Allen, News Staff

On her way home from class, Alice Bialobrodec just started knocking on doors in Mission Hill. She’s in the middle of her photo project for a class at the New England School of Photography (NESOP), a two-year school. The program is focused specifically on training photographers with a hands-on method; she majors in portraiture.
She’s photographing people in their houses to illustrate diversity in Mission Hill. And she’s doing this after spending seven hours in class.
‘I hate free time,’ she said, eating a salad with bacon on her leather couch. ‘My life is crazy. I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
She started out at Southern Connecticut State University where she majored in photography. Only it wasn’t working.
‘I had to take all these other classes,’ she said.
So she left, and decided to start something new.
‘I get to take pictures with people who like taking pictures,’ she said.
For about six months, she worked and saved money, and then made her way to NESOP.
She doesn’t just go to school though. She’s a waitress and photographer for hire – at NESOP, students need to purchase all of their photo equipment themselves, so she’s well-prepared for life as a professional photographer.
‘I’ve done three weddings. I’ve done plays for Emmanuel [College],’ she said. ‘I do engagement photos, too.’
It’s a photographer’s job to make the subject look good when the subject is paying, she said. But when photographing for her school project, she has more control.
‘The expression is the most important thing ‘- the eyes,’ she said.
She made up cards to pass out to prospective Mission Hill photo subjects. The back gives a description of her project, and the front has four portraits she’s done of people in their houses:’ an old woman holding her pet bird, a guy in a striped shirt sitting on his bed, a girl lounging on blankets and a father and daughter in their kitchen.
During her interview, Bialobrodec made a salad in the kitchen she shares with her two roommates, and then sat on her leather couch while ‘Seinfeld’ was on in the background. Up on the wall was a large Radiohead poster one of her roommates colored in and she wore a black sweatshirt and black and white polka dot shirt.
‘Going to NESOP is the best thing that could have happened to me,’ she said.