Dear Friends,

I haven’t been posting as much recently so I felt like I should give you an update!

As a full-time student I’ve had a lot on my plate recently. I’m taking 5 classes this semester towards my Biology and Studio Art double major. With Studio Art I am focusing on photography. This is different than commercial photography, but similar to the fine art/film photography that I’ve also posted on here. I aim to use my photography to advocate for social justice issues. I am also interested in teaching photography to underserved people as a means of giving them a voice. One organization that I’ve found a lot of inspiration in this regard is PhotoVoice. In the Biology realm I have been learning a lot about environmental sustainability as well as Public Health. I don’t have any immediate plans to apply to Public Health School, but I am considering it for the future. Public Health Disparities in the U.S. and Internationally are enormous social justice issues that need to be addressed.

In addition to classes I’ve been working 10 hours a week as the teaching assistant to the photography professor in both film and digital classes. I also did this last semester but this semester my hours were doubled. This has been a great experience for me to practice teaching others and helping them find their voice in photography.

This semester I am also the President of my school’s Social Justice Club. I’ve been heavily involved in this club since I was a freshman and I love being able to use my passion in a leadership position. My biggest accomplishment this semester was hosting a speaker about immigration reform. We had 150 people attend this! The weekend after this talk ten of us attended a conference on International Development at another college nearby. It was so great to be with so many people that are passionate about the same thing. I could not have done this without the help of the rest of our leadership team. This club has truly been one of the highlights of my college experience. Here is an article that I wrote about immigration reform for our school newspaper. (click to view larger)

Here are some things I’ve been working on photography-wise:

• I paid my taxes this weekend! If anyone was wondering, I am a registered business in Illinois. Yes, this means that I don’t get to keep as much of my income, but I feel much more professional and law-abiding this way. I was blessed to be able to make use of a free tax preparations program with the accounting students at my college. I would not have been able to do it without them! All beginning photography businesses should really look into whether this exists near them!
• I’ve begun booking for this summer. I’m already booked for 6 weddings! Some of these are personal weddings and some of them are through the studio that I work for. Send me an email as soon as possible if you have a wedding coming up so I can put a hold on your date!
• I have a shopping cart/proofing section on my website. I will still be doing in-person viewing and ordering sessions for my clients to see their photos for the first time, but this will be another option for sharing and ordering their photos (especially good for relatives!). This also includes features like making a collection of photographs that you would want put in an album.I’ve been fine-tuning my workflow with a specific timeline of deadlines for when I edit and return photos after sessions. This also includes a better system of organization and even more back-ups of photo sessions so that your photos will never be lost.
• A number of other surprises and updates have been floating around my head recently but they’re not ready to be announced yet. Stay tuned!