Hi, my name is Alani. I'm 12 years old and I go to Louisa Boren K-8. Some of the reasons why I decided to get into photography is because I wanted to see how I can express my feelings without having to talk or show my emotions, so I started doing it in my photos. Other things about me are that I'm an AWESOME SOCCER PLAYER! I love history. And of course PHOTOGRAPHY.

Hello, my name is Ayana. I'm 16 years old and I go to Garfield High School. This is my second class in the Youth in Focus class. I have always been interested in many different art forms, such as music, drawing and graphic design. Since my journey with photography is very new, I am slowly starting to learn new techniques that are crucial to making high quality photos. I can now take these skills and use them to incorporate my ideas into my photography making photos that are true to me.

My name is Chloe, I'm 14 and I go to eastside catholic this is my second class at youth and focus. I started photography because I’ve always had an interest in taking photos because I've always had a creative mindset. I enjoy photography because I feel like I can truly express myself through my art. I can show my mood through my pictures and I can capture amazing moments. I chose my self portrait and my final photo to be these 2 because I feel like they rly express who I am. I am a very confident fun person and I feel.

Pop culture photography opened my eyes to a whole new way of taking photos. I love contorting the lights and doing my own style while shooting. Since I like doing dark photos, I will do cool toned lighting or backgrounds. The way I would describe my style for this class would be funky and calm.

Hi my name is Mirabelle, I’m a sophomore in high school I have been with Youth In Focus for 3 years. As a teenage photographer, I'm constantly inspired by the world around me. While I’m still trying to find my favorite style I like photography because, with my photography I'm able to capture the fast-paced moments of life and freeze them in time, creating images that are both interesting to look at and remind me of moments from my life. Whether I am photographing nature, documenting my friends and family, or experimenting with new concepts, I'm always trying to push the boundaries of my photography. Through my photography, I hope to inspire others to see the little thing about life, and to appreciate the beauty and complexity of life.

My name is Parker and I am 14. I enjoy pottery, painting, photography, and hanging out with friends. I started digital photography a little over a year ago. This was my third class with Youth in Focus and throughout this class I learned a lot about lighting and how to control it. As an artist I think I would like to encapsulate emotion, even without people in frame. I want my drawings, paintings, and photographs to make people feel something no matter what’s in it as if I put my own emotion that I was feeling when making that piece into the piece itself.

Hello, my name is sarai s. I am a multimedia artist and photographer. I use photography as a tool to communicate through my subjects. I believe that every photo has a story, and a journey, much like people. In my art, I've noticed that a lot of my photos show common ideas, like vulnerability, and sorrow. Throughout these classes with youth in focus, I've discovered that I really love taking portraits, because I feel like they show often unnoticed sides of people. I take photos because I want others to look at them and feel seen, I want them to beable to relate to my images and the emotions they hold.

Wanting to be a photographer for behind-the-scenes filming stuff is super cool! It's all about loving movies and wanting to show what goes on behind the scenes, you know, the stuff most people don't see. You get to be part of the team and capture all the teamwork and fun moments that make movies happen. Being a behind-the-scenes photographer means you're like a secret keeper, showing how movies really come together. You want to make people feel like they're part of the movie-making journey too, by taking awesome pictures that tell the story. It's all about paying attention to the little things and capturing the real, honest moments. You'd totally rock at it, capturing all the vibes and feels of each production through your camera lens!

Dying is easy. It truly takes courage to live. To live without expression isn't truly living, and for me, expression is photography. Photography brings a light to life, constant or controlled, black and white or dripping with color. Its unique way of capturing life through a lens is beyond beautiful. My style of choice is portrait photography. People are messy, and messy is beautiful. And messy can be scary. And I'm scared because I'm going to die not being proud of how I lived. But photography; this photo here, this I’m proud of.