The Teacher Behind my Lens by Cadence

The Teacher Behind my Lens by Cadence - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

 During my junior year of high school, I really wanted to be a part of the yearbook team. Before I could enroll, however, I learned from my counselor that the class was already full. She gave me an alternative option to be placed in photography class. After some consideration, I decided to take this new opportunity presented to me. I had always liked taking pictures casually with my friends, and I thought it was the closest substitute to being in the yearbook class. However, this class was more advanced than I anticipated as we would be learning all the settings of expensive cameras and how to take pictures with them. I walked into my first session and met my teacher, Mrs. Pedroza, and she greeted me by the door. She was very sweet and welcoming, and told me to take any open seat.
    The first quarter of the class, Mrs. Pedroza taught the elements of art and composition techniques. While most of my class did not pay attention to her lessons, I found myself intrigued by the art of photography. When we were not taking notes on how to use the camera, she would send us out around campus to take pictures that pertained to the notes we took. When we learned about color theory, we were assigned to take photos reflecting color theory. All our assignments directly reflected what we were learning in class, and this relationship of lectures and assignments engaged me on a level I have experienced in a class before.  I loved the hands-on experience of being able to take pictures outside, and wanted to do it more often.
    For a while, I had been interested in sports photography and decided to start attending games to take pictures for the teams. Mrs. Pedroza would let me borrow the school’s professional cameras to shoot at these events. Originally, I did not edit any of my photos and would leave them a bit out of focus and unsaturated. I decided I wanted to improve my photo quality and asked Mrs. P how I could improve my skills. She helped me learn how to edit my photos through the editing software, Lightroom and Photoshop, and how to manually shoot with the cameras. As I began to submit my newly enhanced photos using the skills I had learned, my photography teacher saw potential in me. I really enjoyed her guidance, and it motivated me to put more effort into improving my work. Mrs. Pedroza allowed me special access to our laptops by granting me the permission to take one home to further work on my photos. Mrs. P was with me all the way through my photography journey, offering insight and motivation to continue growing. Many of the photos I have shown to her have even been printed and hung on her wall when you walk into the classroom now.
  Around late November 2023, my photography teacher told me that she submitted one of my photos to the CBU photo showcase. I was nervous and reluctant to attend, but Mrs. Pedroza reassured me of my talents. I attended the showcase and upon examining my photo, I realized that my photo was awarded a scholarship. Confused, I asked Mrs. P what meant for me. When she saw it, her eyes widened and told me that I had been selected to attend the CBU photo program at the end of the year. I was pretty surprised that one of my photos had earned me a scholarship, and it was all thanks to Mrs. Pedroza. I was able to attend CBU last summer for a week, and when I came back to Mrs. P’s class for Photography level 2 this year, I was excited to tell her about all I had learned. I even showed her how to take media day photos with the lights on, rather than in the dark, something she wasn’t as experienced with before. 
Mrs. Pedroza has helped me so much in my photography journey. I have learned and experienced so much in the past year and going forward, as I have been able to try so many amazing things in her class. Some of the things I've been able to accomplish because of her mentorship is the opportunity to be hired by the Boys Varsity Basketball team, as I captured their media day photos this past month. I am so blessed to have Mrs. Pedroza as my teacher, as she has been so supportive and helpful in allowing me to become a better photographer. 
Now that I am a senior preparing myself for graduation in May; my goal is to one day work for either the NFL, MLB, or the NBA as a sports photographer. I am hopeful that one day I can come back to Mrs. Pedroza’s classroom as a successful product of her mentorship, and show her students that it is very possible for them to accomplish the goals that they set for themselves through photography.