Photography focuses on the subject of the photograph, but the person behind the lens has their own perspective.

For Daniel Ellis, photography runs in his family: “My dad is a photographer, so it was kind of a natural hobby for me to take on,” he said.

CANON EOS MARK 5D 2: Ellis is proficient in using programs like Photoshop. He enjoys landscape photography: “Shooting RAW photos gives you a lot of leniency with editing, which makes it turn out really cool,” he said.

ZEISS CONTAX 2. Ellis has developed a natural passion for photography: “I didn’t buy [the Canon EOS]; my dad got it for me as a gift for my Bar Mitzvah. The Zeiss I inherited from my grandfather.”

For Zelle, photography helps capture memories that she would like to look back on in the future: “I used to travel a lot and go to camp, so my parents would get me those disposable cameras and tell me to take lots of pictures…more for the memory in the moment rather than having them look good,” Zelle said.

SAVING MEMORIES. Junior Mira Zelle owns a Polaroid. She enjoys taking photos of people and capturing her experiences. “My tradition on opening [night] is to take pictures of people in the cast, because I think opening nights are fun.”

INSTAX MINI 8. Junior Mira Zelle takes photos for the moment rather than the aesthetic. ”I like that the polaroid comes out right away because I am really impatient, and also I don’t even know where to go now to get film developed. I also like  that everything has a cool filter,” Zelle said.

Senior Meley Akpa’s interest in social media inspired her photography: “[During sophomore year] I started stalking and finding as many cool photography accounts on Instagram as I could and they really helped inspire me to try photography out myself,” Akpa said.

85MM LENS. Akpa takes photos for fun and for Senior Art Seminar. “It is amazing for portraits and capturing details on people’s faces which I love doing. My least favorite part about my camera is how old it is. But although it is an old model and lacks many features, it still does what I want it to do and pictures turn out.”

NIKON D40. Senior Meley Akpa enjoys fashion design and photography. “I got [my Nikon] from National Camera Exchange about two years ago,” she said.