I got my first camera a little over two years ago now, and in that time photography has so dramatically added to my life that it’s genuinely difficult to remember how I spent most of my time and energy before I picked up this hobby turned lifestyle. But aside from a few people I looked up to and the one class that I took my Junior year, almost everything I’ve learned along the way has been self-taught, in terms of both technical abilities, like lighting and posing, as well as softer skills, like running photoshoots and learning to interact with a wide range personalities. Princeton, for whatever reason, doesn’t really have much of a photography community, and that meant for a while my learning experience, while fun, was unfortunately very solitary.
Some photos I took on my first day with my camera
Heading into my senior year, I’ve reached a point where I feel incredibly happy with the work that I’ve been able to do and overly blessed by the people with whom I’ve been able to do that work. Photography has reminded me on a daily basis not to take for granted just how lucky I am to live with and learn from the people around me, but though another year at school will no doubt bring many more cherished memories and people into my life, more recently I’ve been yearning to do something else too, something that gives back in a way other than nice photos for others. This blog, I think, is a good place to start.
Photography comes up at least once in virtually every conversation I have nowadays, and recently those conversations have turned from technical studies of my work to more philosophical discussions of the impact it’s had on me and can in turn have on others. This blog is a place to not only share with others the technical knowledge I’ve learned and the crazy experiences I’ve had in the past few years, but also to make more permanent the many wonderful musings I’ve had with others. If all goes well, these posts will serve to not only demystify the physical and mental processes that my work take, but also invite and encourage others to experience what I’ve experienced for themselves, too.