Behind the Lens
“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” - Ansel Adams
Click! "Alright everyone, welcome to the yearbook x-block! Find a seat and we will get started with attendance,” Randy said as we all scrambled to find our seats. As he began to take attendance,my eyes were wandering around the room. I came upon a set of cameras in a line, across the counter. I was surprised to find them sitting out in the open and not locked up somewhere. "Maxwell Richter!" I heard. "I go by Max!" I said quietly and my eyes return to their wandering state.
Randy called the last person on his list and said: "Who wants to make the best yearbook in High Tech High Media Arts history?" The class began to cheer. "Well, in order to do that, we are going to need a couple of things from this class. Who likes layout and design?" Randy asked. Almost every person raised their hand, except for one...that one, was me. "Ok...who likes photography?" I was the only one who raised a hand. Click! In that moment, I could feel the stare of everyone's beady eyes right on me. I put my hand down as fast as I could. I was the only freshman in the class. I felt like I was an outcast. The person who everyone was after. I felt as if I was the person who was going to be voted off the island first.
We continued our conversation on what was needed to make a successful yearbook. I sat alone in the back of the class and agreed to everything that was said. When the first x-block class of the 2011 - 2012 school year was over, I walked up to Randy and said, "I'm the one who is interested in Photography...what should I do?" Click! He stood up and walked me over to the line of cameras I was admiring at the beginning of the class. He picked up the largest of the three and said, "Pictures are obviously very important when it comes to making a successful yearbook. You can take this camera and take as many pictures as you would like." When he said that I could feel a big smile spread across my face. The only thing I said in reply was, "Ok.". I was ecstatic. I knew that this was going to be a good year.
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"Pack your stuff up and lets go over to the field for fitness Friday!" My teacher Chris said to the class. I picked up my stuff and remembered what Randy had said only 24 hours before. Click! It could be a good time to take pictures! I ran down the hall to go and pick up the camera. I walked into Randy's classroom, full of junior students hard at work. I picked up the camera and went to go catch up with my class.
I remember having the camera hanging from my neck. It almost felt like I had a sense of power when I had it in my possession. I remember pushing all of the buttons, turning all the dials, and doing anything else that I could to figure anything and everything out about the camera.
I decided to sit out of the first game of football and be that crazy person who runs up and down the sidelines taking pictures. At the start of the first play, I had the camera against my face focused and ready for the first picture. Click! Through the small viewfinder, I could see the ball flying through the air and landing right in the hands of Nathan. Click! My first picture. He began running down the field towards the end zone when he trips, falls and ends the first play. Click! Nathan picked up the ball and began the second play. Click! At the end of the day, I had more than 300 pictures that I had taken in a 45 minute period of time. That was when I realized that photography was something that I knew I had a future in.
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“Danielle, I sent you some pictures that I think you might like.” I said to the editor of the yearbook. “Ok, thanks! I’ll look at them in a minute!” She replied. It was a month since the first day of yearbook and Halloween had just past. Click! “Max, these pictures are great! I’m going to clean them up a little and send them to the people who are working on the Halloween spread.” Danielle said to me. “Sounds good!” I replied as I took the battery out of the camera to charge overnight.
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It was month of May and the 2011-2012 school year is beginning to come to an end.
The yearbook was almost finished. We were all beginning our final projects as well as preparing for finals. I have realized that photography is now my true passion. When the yearbook comes out, I cannot wait to see all the pictures altogether in a project that we have been working on since September. Click! Everything I do, I find a way to make a good picture out of it. Whenever I go to take a picture, I try to figure out what I can do to take the artistic beauty of it to the next level.