My Story, My Photos: High School

When I moved up from Middle School to High School, I was told that I had to make a choice. I could choose between Orchestra, Band, Chorus, or Art. Immediately I thought that this was ridiculous. I love being in band and I love art. How am I supposed to choose between these two things? Why should I have to choose between music and art? I have to take gym but I can't choose to have both of these instead? I HATE sports!!! Then, while meeting the guidance counselor (and I had 3 different ones over the course of High School so I don't remember which one) the magic word came up, photography. Apparently if I chose art, I could elect to take a photo class instead of a traditional art class (though by senior year I was so ahead in credits that I was allowed to take both). The down side of this was that there were only 2 photo classes, Photo I and Photo II, and they were only half a year. So I took Photo I.... and Photo II 3 times. I also took a design class where I learned Photoshop and Illustrator, which were both still very new at this point.

My first photo class consisted of nothing but checking out the darkroom and discussing how the camera works. I remember not even picking up a camera until the end of the semester. I was starting to think that this may not have been as much fun as I thought it would be, but after shooting, developing, and printing my own first roll of film I knew I was never going to stop. I was amazed at how what I decided to photograph was there forever. Like a vision coming to life. I was introduced to photographer Diane Arbus during this time because I was told that my photographs reminded my teacher of her. I researched her and fell in love. She photographed life, but also occasionally set up scenes to tell a story. I wanted to do that. So, I got my first all manual camera, a Canon A35 F, and started carrying it with me everywhere. By this point I was shooting only in Black and White on Ilford film so even though my camera was always at my hip, I was very selective of what I photographed. I had to be inspired or have a great idea in order to press the shutter. As I found my voice, I took more and more photos, but was not always happy with the outcome. I still loved photographing people, especially kids, but there was something about animals that I loved photographing as well. Maybe it was the excitement of trying to get the shot, not knowing if you actually will. It was like a game of chance and timing.

Junior year, I upgraded to a Canon AE1. Still my favorite camera today, and it really upped my skills. There were so many more settings and capabilities that my old camera didn't have. I also had a choice of lenses that I could buy and play around with. It was a lot easier to overexpose and underexpose when I wanted to. I had more control and used it to my advantage.