Photography is a newfound love of mine. Since art is something I have enjoyed most of my life, photography naturally has become a passion. I started paying attention to photography in high school, then I began to assess, breakdown, and analyze the elements of photography, and in recent years I have enthusiastically cultivated this pastime of mine.
In high school I was head editor (of course) of The Round Table, the school newspaper. Before I became the head editor I was the photo/graphics editor. I had to use a very inexpensive, mostly broken, digital “point and shoot” camera. I had to go to sporting events, musicals, and club meetings and document said occasions. As someone who was not particularly very cool in high school, I felt very cool getting to go onto the field during a football game and glance at my high school crush whilst he sat on the sideline; obviously I wasn’t going to like the star of the team, that would require a true knowledge about sports and I do not possess any desire to know sports. I would then take those photos into our journalism office, a truly safe space for high school me, and would download those photos and practice editing on the first version of Photoshop ever made. Looking back now, that experience was so impactful, since currently I use Photoshop on a weekly basis, and yes, my skills have improved in the last 10 years.
When I started teaching I was hired to teach English and Yearbook. I had no experience in yearbook, especially since yearbook and newspaper were fierce rivals when I was in high school, but I needed a job. (Little tip, when it comes to education, teachers will volunteer to do anything to get a job.) “Sure, no problem! At 21 years old and a first year teacher, I am fully capable to run a $60,000 business on 90 minutes a day with high school students!”
As someone who loves learning, being thrust into yearbook was the perfect place for me to be. I learned how to use InDesign, Photoshop (on a much more comprehensive level), how to be a saleswoman, how to manage a small business, promotion, fundraise, take 20 high schools to another state (on planes!) for multiple days, and a number of other skills you are not taught in Education school classes. Among those skills, photography was something I became most invested in during those five years as the yearbook advisor. The most important thing about yearbooks? The photos. Sure, in 20 years you’ll read the stories that accompany those photos, but today, photos are what draw in a high school student to spend $55 on a 368 page, full color yearbook. In addition to teaching the yearbook staff how to create a yearbook, I had to teach the yearbook photographers how to take photographs. I had one idiom that I followed that first year of teaching, “sink or swim” and photography was a great place to figure out which one I was going to do.
Those five years I was introduced to DSLRs and a better camera creates a better chance for better photos. After our bills were paid each year, with some of the leftover funds, I took measures to fix our older DSLRs, purchased one, and petitioned to get gently used DSLRs donated. Word began to spread that I could take decent photos so I began doing a few random shoots. A baby dedication was the first time I shot anything outside of school. And I loved it.
I quit being the yearbook advisor two years ago but that artistic desire did not fade, in fact, it intensified. A friend who knew I did some photography asked if I would shoot their family members’ wedding. Wedding photographers cost thousands of dollars and they wanted someone like me, who only had a handful of photo shoots under her belt, to shoot their wedding. (Little did I know what I was getting myself into and that experience is definitely worthy of a totally separate blog post.) Even though I was terrified, I did it; I shot a wedding. I did not get paid thousands of dollars, but it was an amazing learning opportunity.
After the wedding, I began shooting baby photos, family portraits, and senior photos. And while it is some nice extra cash, it truly is a fun experience. Being able to document someone’s family or precious moment is such an intimate experience. Watching a mother interact with her crying baby, capturing a three year old running through the leaves, and documenting a senior’s mixed emotional journey that is their senior year of high school allows me to view these moments in an alternate way. Writing about those moments in something I inherently think about, but photographing those moments forces me to interact with those images in a very different way.
With all this talk about photos, I thought I would share a few of my favorites below.
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