By Madalynn Bullock
She starts her day gathering all of her equipment for the day to come. She arrives 30 minutes early and starts to scout out all the places from where she would like to shoot. Her client arrives and they start the shoot.
Senior Maggie Manor unloads her Canon EOS from the case and goes to work.
“I would say that my photography is more of a hobby, but it has turned into a business,” Manor said.
Her “business” is becoming popular. She is booked up to three months in advance and has multiple shoots a week. She charges $150 for 30 minutes and $250 for an hour.
Several students at Delta however, enjoy photography as just a hobby or a business, or simply take yearbook to fulfill their desire to take photos.
Kaylee Kern is a sophomore and also does photography as a small business. She charges $40 for half an hour and $75 for an hour. She started photography during the Covid-19 quarantine and has made it a hobby and business since then.
Kern specializes in couples, portrait, lifestyle, and sports while Manor specializes in seniors, babies, families, and weddings.
Kern wants to make photography into a career and go into sports journalism. She wants to attend Ball State.
Manor said, “I would love to make this a career, but I think my best option is to make photography a side job.” In the future Manor wants to focus on engagements and weddings.
Ever since Manor was little she would use her mother’s camera to take pictures. Once she found her niche for photography she started to focus more on it. She got her own equipment and practiced, practiced, practiced.
For Kern, her mother also inspired her to start taking pictures. “She would always compliment my pictures I would take on my phone and how I edited them,” Kern said.
She thought a good time to start was during quarantine.
Without the practice that both girls had they wouldn’t have the experience and talent they have today.
For other students who want to do photography as a hobby or career they should try out new things and different editing techniques.
“Equipment is probably the biggest factor in good photos,” Manor said. “Yes, you have to have the ‘photographer’s eye,’ but the equipment really makes you go from a good photographer to a great one. Also just shoot as much as possible, because practice truly does make perfect.”
