Ever since receiving a camera for Christmas in 6th grade, freshman Eden Christian has had a love for capturing the world around her. With a particular interest in portrait photography, Christian enjoys beings able to showcase the lives of her peers. 

Christian had a photo published in Elementia magazine in May when she participated in a contest for the prompt “Exploring the Unknown.” Christian used herself for the subject of her photo, titled “Are we out of the woods yet,” and explains her editing process for the pictures.

“I did a video, and it was kind of hard, I set up the camera and all the settings and I didn’t have any kind of autofocus,” Christian said. “So I just turned on the camera, went and did the poses and then I edited it.”

While Christian enjoys submitting photos for contests, her work can primarily be seen on her Instagram page,@edenphotography65. There, Christian posts portrait photos that she has taken of her various friends and clients.

Freshman Marianna Loya, a friend of Christian’s since elementary school, commissioned Christian to take her portrait near the beginning of the school year. For around $20, Christian produced portraits that Loya was satisfied with.

“I was really happy with [my photos]. I felt confident,” Loya said. “I would recommend having Eden [take your photos], her work is really cheap, and it’s really good.”

Christian enjoys photography as it lets her explore her creativity in different ways each time she picks up her camera.

“It’s a different hobby I think,” Christian said. “I never get bored of it, because I don’t do it every single day. I just do it once in a while, which I like because I don’t get bored of it. It’s always fun and it’s usually different every time I do it.”

According to Christian, portrait photography is one of her favorite types of photography not only because it is familiar to her, but because it lets her showcase different people.

“[Portraits are] what I started out doing,” Christian said. “I like capturing people’s beauty.”