The Science of Photography by Andrew

The Science of Photography by Andrew - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

Obviously, there are no concrete similarities between a microscope and a canvas perched on an easel. For some reason though, science and art seemed to coexist in my life. To say that their roles were equal would be lying, because for a great majority of my life, I found myself being tugged left and right by my two unbalanced interests. To me, science involved studying what was known and then speculating about the unknown, while art was about creating the unknown. Because of their vast differences, I had to deal with the struggle of balancing the two, which is precisely what I did for much of my high school career.

Ever since I was little, my parents always wanted me to become a doctor. Now, unlike some of my friends whose parents attempted the same but failed, I was genuinely interested in science. I really did want to become a doctor - I still do. But unlike some of my other friends who were very set on becoming doctors, I had other interests and hobbies, a big one being my love of art. Throughout middle school, it was relatively easy for me to balance the two: we were required to take art classes every year, and middle school science was pretty laid back. I’ll be the first to admit that it was very naive of me to expect the same in high school.

Of course, high school took me by surprise: in my freshman year, the concepts in the specialized earth science course required extra effort to memorize and learn. I was told to dedicate the two spots in my schedule for elective courses to science research and other science-related courses, a suggestion I happily took in hopes of learning more and building a good transcript for college. Still, I was enjoying my classes, and I continued to dream of becoming a doctor. The start of high school was when I began to think that perhaps I was meant to focus on science and should dedicate most of my time to that.

As freshman year went by, I realized that while science certainly was fascinating, I still wanted art to play a role in my life. I always enjoyed the freedom that accompanied creating art, that whenever I’d make a mistake, it could easily be painted over, or turned into something very interesting, very abstract. I jokingly compared this to times in science lab, where there was no room for error; there were no calculations of percentage of error in painting.

When sophomore year began, my schedule was still filled with science electives, but I had convinced my parents to allow me to take Photography I. In that class, which was taught by one of my favorite teachers to this day, I learned the basics of film photography, and I looked forward to developing photos in the school’s darkroom every day. The turning of the lens and the clicks of the rewind crank seemed so natural to me, and I loved capturing, well, nearly everything. I fell in love with photography the same way I fell in love with science, the same way I fell in love with art. Photography was a specialized form of art, and it was one that I would always enjoy.

One seemingly uneventful day, my photography teacher announced to the class that submissions for the district art show was happening soon. I wasn’t considering it in particular, but my teacher seemed to want me to; she suggested that I send in my collage-compilation piece, one that she knew I worked very hard on and was particularly proud of. Humbled by her confidence in me, I decided that there was no harm in submitting it, even if I didn’t get a spot in the show.

Several weeks went by, and by then I had already forgotten about the submission, when my mom gets a call from the school, informing her that I had won a spot in the show. Absolutely ecstatic, I thanked my photography teacher for her support and for her believing in me. While even being a part of that photography class reassured me that art needed a place in my life, that accomplishment defined my realization and gave me the confidence and affirmation I needed. Photography was what reignited my love of art, and from that point on, I knew I needed to make more room in my life for art. I eagerly registered for Photography II in the second semester of my sophomore year. Later on in high school, I ended up taking both Photography III and AP Photography. Currently, I am at college, taking, you may have guessed, a photography course, majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Studio Art.