I have always had a fascination with production, and spent much time as a child thinking I wanted to be a director or a photographer when I grew up. Due to lack of access to these things and developing interests elsewhere, I didn’t get much experience in either of these professions or even get to explore them in anything other than daydreams as a child.
I would grow out of my interest in directing pretty early on, though I do truly believe that it influenced my becoming a cinephile. The photography aspect would continue to fascinate yet allude me. Then, I came to the University of Michigan in 2017 and I suddenly had access to more things, including editing software that I couldn’t afford on my own.
With that, and a single picture, I rededicated my interest in photography and began to rebuild a brand I had once only thought of as a dream. It was extremely slow going, at first, with my first edit happening in the Fall of 2019 and no regular editing occurring until late 2020, but there was one picture that started it all, and began the work I enjoy today, nature photography.
Pool Pride was just a camera photo I took when my brother visited me over his Spring Break one year. The photo really stood out to me though, and I wanted it to actually look the way I imagined. So, I bumbled my way through my first use of Photoshop and came out with the photo you see here. And, I got hooked.
While I still am learning immensely, I am so excited that I made this photo into something I always saw it as and that I was given the motivation to continue to teach myself. This one edit would lead to the dedication of buying a new camera for more professional photos. It would further have me learning how to edit photos and how to teach myself new tricks. Then, it would develop into a year-long goal of blogging and editing that would reintroduce the idea of a full personal and professional website for me.
Raven K 