Shutter Bugs: DHS Photographers
Capture the Attention of Fellow Students
More by Caroline Cone - 01/12
eople always talk about how “artsy” they can be or how they would like to act, like saying that they have this way that that should just be put into art, but those are just words that we tend to throw around these days. But sophomore Kyra Gardner and freshman Jackson McGoldrick are taking the word artsy to a whole new level through their photography. First up, Kyra Gardner. You may know her name from lacrosse, but when this athlete is not on the field she is outside taking pictures that would make anyone’s mouth hang open.
“My favorite thing about photography is that it can reflect a person's emotions so easily. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think that's definitely true,” Gardner said.
To Gardner, a single photograph is also a single moment that has been captured - a single moment that a photographer can always look back on. Darien High School offers photography classes, but for Gardner photography is not about technique. For her, it is about expressing the emotions that she really feels at a given time and taking the photos at moments when the lighting and people are just in that one position that will make an amazing photo.
“Lighting is important in photography, and outdoor lighting makes the shot look natural and generally looks better. My emotions are always reflected in my photography, as well as the emotions of the models that I am currently shooting with.” If you are friends with Kyra on Facebook, go on over and check out her album “Wonderland” (the most recent of her albums). Inside, an onlooker will find a collection of photographs that look like they could be printed in a magazine, such as her models in an open field area and also ones that are close-up shots of an object.
Freshman Jackson McGoldrick allows his graphic design skills to run through his veins and into his camera. Jackson’s approach to photography is more technical to Kyra’s in that that while Kyra tends to finish her craft while taking pictures, Jackson really enjoys playing with his photos in editing programs like Photoshop.
McGoldrick’s mother introduced him to his talent. "My mom’s a graphic designer and taught me things in Photoshop and I loved just playing around in it. [I enjoy] just making things that don't seem real," McGoldrick said.
Graphic design is more about taking what is not really there in a photo and making it appear in a way that looks real so that it makes a person wonder about how an object got into the photo or make the viewer question reality a bit more.
“I’m influenced strongly by Rosie Hardy (the photographer of the self-portrait on the Maroon 5 “Hands All Over” cover) and Brian Oldham [who’s] just a kid who decided to pick up a camera one day and is now highly celebrated,” McGoldrick said.If you have seen his “Photography and Graphic Design” album on Facebook, you would have noticed his fascination with clouds and levitation.
“I love creating the illusion of a world that is not really there, the daydreams you have put into a true form,” McGoldrick said about his pictures.
If you have seen their recent albums on Facebook than you may have noticed Gardner in McGoldrick’s photos and McGoldrick in Gardner’s photos. They love working together (jokingly saying that they are each other’s inspiration for some of the photos). In the views of these two young artists you will clearly see imagination and wonder that they themselves thought to create for the rest of us to see and thing about what really is not there.
Link to Jackson’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66834918@N08/6320729101/in/photostream
Link to Kyra’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyramary/
Check out last year's art show for more DHS artistic talent: http://www.darienps.org/neirad/1106artshowmain.php
