Shadowe Light Imagery

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Who knew the yearbook team would start something so big…

Long before I understood camera settings or editing styles, I learned photography through storytelling. I didn’t know it at the time, but joining the yearbook team my sophomore year of high school would quietly shape the way I see the world through a lens even today.

Being on the yearbook team wasn’t about creating perfect photos. It was about documenting real life as it happened. Friday night football games under stadium lights, crowded hallways between classes, candid laughter at pep rallies—those moments mattered. We weren’t just taking pictures; we were preserving memories. That responsibility taught me to pay attention.

I learned quickly that the most meaningful images weren’t always planned. They happened in the in-between moments—the glance between friends, the deep breath before a performance, the joy that surfaced when no one thought the camera was watching. Shooting for the yearbook trained my eye to anticipate emotion instead of forcing it. To wait. To observe. To let moments unfold naturally.

There was also a sense of purpose behind every photo. Each image had a job to do: tell the story of a season, a team, a year of life that would never happen again. That awareness shaped how I framed my shots. I wasn’t just thinking about what looked good, but what felt true. Even then, authenticity mattered more to me than perfection.

As a sophomore, I didn’t have the language for composition or light, but I was learning them intuitively. I learned how to work with unpredictable lighting, fast-moving subjects, and moments you only get once. I learned to adapt, to trust my instincts, and to find beauty in chaos. Those early lessons still show up in my photography today.

Most importantly, the yearbook team taught me that photography is about people. It’s about connection, emotion, and memory. It’s about capturing something that will mean more years from now than it does in the moment it’s taken. That mindset became the foundation of my work.

Looking back, I’m grateful for that early start. It wasn’t glamorous, and it wasn’t perfect—but it was real. And real moments are what I’ve always been drawn to. The yearbook may have been my first assignment, but it gave me something far more lasting: a storyteller’s eye and a deep appreciation for the power of honest images.

That sophomore-year decision planted a seed I’m still growing today—one frame, one story, one moment at a time. ✨