Life in Photography

    Aim, focus, say cheese and click. You have just captured a long lasting memory. Yet to many, photography is much more than capturing memories. It is a form of expression, a way of being and interpreting what they see through their own eyes. Photography is one of the many elective classes that allows students’ uniqueness, individuality, and ability of interpretation to rise to the surface.

     The class tries to help students improve their skills while enhancing their creative vision. It also helps them explore other realms of art and photography.
“The entire environment of photography, the dark room, the way it smells, the chemicals and all the funny stuff and things I’ve learned. I need to be there. It is like sports for an athlete,” said senior Erin Huff.

     “I encourage students to expand on their own personal vision and ideas and really make the artwork truly their own,” said Photography teacher Meredith Stevens, graduate of AHS class of 1999. While many schools in Fairfax County have a dark room, AHS is lucky enough to have one of the largest. In these classes, students are offered the opportunity to search through a labyrinth of creativity and apply the knowledge they acquire to the interpretation of their own artwork. “Anybody and everybody should and can take the class, as long as they are willing to work,” said Stevens.

    “I love it,” said IB photography student senior Katie Alvarez. “I love taking pictures. You get to do want you want. We take pictures, and have fun. We get projects and suggestions but from there you go on from your own ideas.” Alvarez plans to pursue photography in college.

    Photography is a class like no other. “I feel at home, happy and content when I know what I am doing. When I hold a camera in my hands I feel like I can do anything,” said Alvarez. The class allows students to take learning and working into their own hands as well.

    “In photography you will mess up a lot, but you just need to be positive about your art. When you keep doing it over and over again you get better. It’s basically a trial and error experience but eventually you’ll get what you want,” said Alvarez.

    Students learn how to develop film, work with angles and focus on details in their pictures. Yet the significance is much deeper than the outer perspective of things. In her quest and search to find out who she is as an artist senior Erin Huff said, “A lot of pictures always look the same. You always see a sunset and I always try to make a picture my own and try to mix it up in some way. I try to convey what I feel and my emotions through photography, whether I am happy or feeling kind of down.”

     Photography also helps students build people skills.

    “The people are the most interesting part of the class,” said senior Arielle Balicki. “Everyone here has a different point of view. There are a lot of people that you wouldn’t necessarily become friends with unless you’re in the photo class, but once you get to know them you begin to realize that art connects us all.”

    While Balicki has taken photography for three consecutive years, she does not plan on pursuing it in college. “I love it, but I don’t think I’ll go and major in photography in college. I’ve taken it for all these years because I always feel an urge to grab my camera,” said Balicki. “I feel like I have to go and create something. It may seem simple to snap pictures but it is not easy to get a good picture out of your camera. I love how you can literally view the world through a totally different lens.”
 
    Students love photography, but not just for the photographing itself; the photos they get out of it; the creativity they can bring out and express; the ways they can make things look; or for showing others what they see. “It is being able to create something out of nothing. It is putting yourself into your work. It is like a piece of you goes into every picture. A picture is worth more than a thousand words,” said Alvarez.

    Photography has been important to society in order to preserve a bit of our history and experiences on the face of this world. Whether it is in the dark room or exploring the endless possibilities that the world has to offer, these passionate students will continue to showcase their latest work which has been so finely crafted by the influence of the teacher, the class and their own perspectives. Before winter break the students plan on putting on a show of some of their works.  Be on the look out for student artwork in Clausen Hall, Art Gallery, or the Annandale Center.