Looking Through the Lens

Mackenzie Kraft

Many people know a picture is worth a thousand

words, but only few realize it also contains hundreds of
thousands – sometimes millions – of pixels. While others
simply admire the image lying on the photo paper, my mind
races into a million questions. What camera was this taken
on? How many megapixels? Film
or digital?
My passion for photography
began on one of my typical
visit to grandmother’s house
for dinner. My grandmother is
a wholehearted, energetic woman from Maine,
and when she was not spoiling us with gifts, she was
stuffing our stomachs with mouthwatering food. I
walked into my grandmother’s pearly, white
kitchen, smelling the tender steak on the grill,
homemade mashed potatoes on the stove, and
warm, mushy “no-bake” cookies aside for dessert. As
walked in farther in, I noticed something else, three presents sitting on her glass table.
My grandmother, knowing the impatient eight year old I was, handed me the carefully
wrapped box. I quickly ripped my present open, beating both my brothers. I was filled
with joy as my eyes fell upon the package, my own film camera. Growing up, my mother
valued documenting every moment of our lives with photos, and she herself was quite a
photographer. Now, I thought, I could be like her. “These are not toys,” my

Note: The pictures used throughout the narrative are photos that I have taken and edited
throughout my life.
grandmother clarified, “these are for your trip to Maine next month. Now you can bring
your memories home with you.” Without even waiting until after dinner, I began
snapping the camera. I ran throughout the house taking pictures of anything that caught
my eyes. My film was filled with photos of flowers, my grandma’s two Yorkshire
Terriers, my two brothers, and anything else that caught my eye. It felt natural within my
hands, almost as though it was meant to be there. I took my first pictures, and the
clicking sound sent a tingle through my spine. That feeling never left the more I snapped
the camera, every picture I took, I felt the rush
and excitement throughout my body.
My love for cameras continued to
foster. My obsession kept cultivating to a
point where the camera never left my
hands. Within my house, the snapping
sound of the camera could be heard at all
times of the day. I matured in age as
technology matured in its own way,
allowing for cameras to take pictures
digitally, and I, of course, needed one.
Through a great deal of begging and
household chores, I had my own real digital camera, a Kodak EasySahre DX6490, 4
megapixels, and a 2.2in LCD. It was slick black metal, and felt as though it was made to
fit perfectly into my own small, young hands. Although it was digital, it still reproduced
the same clicking sounds I was used to hearing. I was astounded at its capabilities. It
could capture and store laughter, sadness, beauty, and life within. Today the camera
would be outdated, but 7 years ago, I felt on top of the world. Without needing to keep
replacing the film, there was nothing that could stop me from taking as many photos as I
wanted. Our computers soon became filled with random photos from a piece of candy on
the table to action shots of family members.
The digital camera opened up a whole new world for me that would consume
countless hours of my time. This new world was the world of graphic design. My first
experience was with PhotoExplosion. I was stunned, as the possibilities were endless. I

Note: The pictures used throughout the narrative are photos that I have taken and edited
throughout my life.
could edit photos for hours, and that is precisely what I did my entire junior high career.
I took pictures of flowers, friends, family, the sky, and anything else that lay in front of
me. After a photo shoot I would run to my desktop and sit for hours editing photos. My
family knew when they heard the frantic clicking of the mouse I was busy at work. My
first experience on this editor never left my memory, as I am always reminded when I
walk into our now colorful living room. I edited photos of the pink, vibrant flowers I had
photographed on our front porch the previous day. After “playing” with the editor for
hours, I showed my family the finished project. I was nervous to present my first
creation, unsure of how my audience – my family members- would react to this close up,
sketch-like digital creation of the florescent flowers. I was relieved to hear expressions
of awe and astonishment. My mother was so fascinated she framed and hung the pieces
along the white walls of our living room,
one of many “flower photos” within my
house.
I began working on many
projects with my mother as my skills
grew. We created photo books together,
edited family photos, and created more
“flower photos” to hang throughout our
house. Working on these projects
required me to spend long hours with
my mother, fixing every last detail.
“Maybe we should tone the color down …
never mind let’s try black and white … hmm now back to regular … maybe we should
use a different photo.” This process often was repeated multiple times throughout each
project, bringing about some frustration and tension. However, although we would
disagree sometimes or become annoyed, it brought us closer together. Not only did photo
editing strengthen my relationship with my mother, but also my father. By spending this
abundant amount of time on the computer with photo editing, I not only grew in my love
for photography, but also for technology. I went past just photo editing, learning all the
capabilities of the computer. My father, a test manager in systems for State Farm

Note: The pictures used throughout the narrative are photos that I have taken and edited
throughout my life.
encouraged me to keep pursuing this love for technology. We took trips to Best Buy to
see the “newest and latest” in the world of technology. We would start at the camera isle,
then slowly venture into other areas such as laptops, hard drives, and as technology
progressed, iPods, iPads, and anything else that caught our eye. The first words I heard
on Sunday mornings from my father were, “Did you see Best Buy’s ad today?” Moving
on to college has not changed this relationship, as I still receive texts such as “Have you
seen the Airview app for the iPhone?” or “The new iPad is expected to be released
April.” We can talk about technology together for hours.
By junior year of high school, I received my first internship at State Farm in the
Systems Department through my love for technology. Time for applying to college
rolled around and I had to start thinking about my major and where I wanted my life to
head. I chose Marketing and Computer Applications, a way to combine my love for
computers and technology with my love for digital art. I would never have become so
involved with computers and advertising were it not for my love of photography. Who
knew that when opening my grandmother’s present eleven years ago, I was
simultaneously opening a world of photography and technology. I still look back to the
day I received my first camera, and get the same butterflies in my stomach I did at age
eight. I would not be where I am today, were it not for the endless hours that I spent, and
still spend, capturing and editing photos.

Note: The pictures used throughout the narrative are photos that I have taken and edited
throughout my life.