Senior Kaya Nadu held a photo gallery on Wednesday, April 15, to showcase students’ artwork in the Upper School library. Nadu held this event as a part of her Senior Ventures project and to share her love for the art of photography. Kaya began to show interest in taking photos in the eighth-grade photography class. In ninth grade, she expanded and began to take more diverse pictures of many different things for the yearbook.

“I’ve been taking pictures since 8th grade, so about 5 years now. I really got into taking pictures freshman year,” Nadu said. “Mr. [Ethan] Pender assigned me some things to help out with the yearbook. I would say it impacts the community by capturing the moment and being able to preserve those special memories for the people experiencing them and future generations.” 

Nadu’s project helped students showcase their artwork and some of their favorite photographs. It also gave students the chance to display their range of pieces and be recognized for their talent.

“I really love photography. I’ve always had a little bit of a passion for it. My uncle and aunt are professional photographers, so they taught me a little about photography,” sophomore Alex Childers said. “Kaya is one of my really good friends. So I just wanted to submit photos in support for her and also get my photos up there.”

 The support from both sides was really beneficial to both groups. Nadu wanted to help inspire those students who had captured really amazing images and give photographers a chance to display their work for people to see, while also giving students an outlet to support Nadu’s senior venture project.

“I was really excited when I heard about this project because I had a perfect picture to submit,” freshman Anna Kate Atkins said. “Last summer, I went to California and the flowers were beautiful, which I really like, bright colors and the seasons, summer and spring, so I took a few pictures of pink and white flowers. I also liked that since I submitted, I got a free dress down day.” 

 The students who submitted to the photo gallery received a free dress-down day for submitting their work. Sometimes, a little incentive for the students to get their photographs and projects submitted is helpful and beneficial.

“I actually took those at the spur of the moment, both of the photos that I submitted,” Childers said. “One of them was of a butterfly that I saw in Costa Rica, the other was of a jellyfish and an aquarium, which I was inspired by because I really like animals and nature.”