When I was a freshman in high school, I took a photojournalism class. In the class, I didn't learn much except for the fact that I love taking photos. My mom let me use her camera for the class, and she never asked for it back. She was the first person to tell me I had an eye for photography, and after a friend asked me to take her senior photos soon after I began my photography joruney I never stopped. I fell in love with it in a way I had never experienced.
Photography is very important to me because it's one of the only things I've ever felt fully confident about. It obviously helped when people told me my work was good, but it was something I always knew I could be great at. I think with photography, it's very easy to keep shooting and editing in the exact same way. In my opinion, the joy in the art is making it better every time you do it. When you focus on that, it's wild to look back and see how far you've come.
Experiences I've had doing photoshoots have been some of the most exciting and humbling moments of my life. In 2023, a photographer I've looked up to for a long time was looking for a photographer to help her shoot an engagement and ended up selecting me for the job. It was insane to be trusted by someone I've admired and at the same time capture one of the most important events in the engaged couple's life. I also got to take photos of my freshman year roommate's engagement. I remember her talking to me about meeting her fiancé, and then I got to be the one who captured that moment. Photography is truly such a special art.
