I still remember presenting my first set of photos to my Introduction to Photography high school class as a freshmen at New Canaan High School in New Canaan, CT. I was 14 with braces, acne and a nervous smile. My teacher, Mrs. McDonagh, was really excited about a picture I took of a partially frozen shoreline and multicolored beach rocks. She told me how she loved that I zoomed in, made the ice look like a design rather than just slabs of ice. She loved the vibrant colors of the beach rocks and – whether or not she was being honest – her encouragement fueled my interest.

Meet Henrietta

I couldn’t wait until the next assignment – which ended up being “Give a Chair a Life” – an assignment that was open to interpretation. I found an old, ratty wicker chair in my basement, named it Henrietta and for an entire weekend I took it around with me and photographed this small chair everywhere I went. Henrietta went to the movies, to a boatyard, a graveyard, a dog park, and to the diner (which my father was less than thrilled about.) I gave Henrietta a life of her own; I laughed all weekend at the absurdity and I loved the creativity the assignment demanded. I brought my photos to class, excited to see what everyone else came up with – but to my surprise, everyone else took pictures of stationary chairs. I was confused and kind of embarrassed that I had poured so much into the project. Some people laughed at my photos because they thought it was strange that I took the chair around with me to public places, “weren’t you embarrassed?” But Mrs. McDonagh, knowing I felt silly, took me aside after class and told me she was so excited about Henrietta and that I should think about expanding my creativity in some of the other classes the art department offered. She was the mentor I needed.

The Power of a Teacher

I was really lucky to have an excellent arts program offered by my high school and throughout my high school years I took classes like The Darkroom – where I learned the entire process of developing film in the darkroom. I took a course in Documentary Photography where I learned to power of black and white photography and documenting people and different public spaces. The Digital Photography course taught me the ins and outs of Adobe Photoshop. A course titled, Photo, Symbols and Dreams – taught me to think outside the box and it was for this course that I took a photograph of an apple I cut apart and stitched together. Mrs. McDonagh secretly entered that picture on my behalf into a national photo competition without my knowing. I won the Gold Medal for the State of Connecticut for a photograph. It was my proudest high school moment.

Aid Afghanistan

By my senior year, I had become heavily involved in the photography portion of my school’s art department. Together with Mrs. McDonagh and a professional photographer from Afghanistan, we launched a photography project called “Aid Afghanistan.” The project distributed 100 disposable cameras to school-aged girls in war torn Afghanistan – most of whom had never seen or held a camera. They were told to capture all aspects of their lives – a true “Day in the Life” theme. Mrs. McDonagh assigned the same “Day in the Life” theme to a few of her photography classes. The disposable cameras were sent back from Afghanistan and developed in the US. We held a show in New Canaan at the Waveny Carriage Barn juxtaposing the photographs from Afghanistan students with New Canaan High School students. The show was a powerful one and drew a lot of attention. What I remember most was a picture that a New Canaan student took of their dad’s birthday party – a family standing around a man with a party hat blowing out candles. The photograph was hung next to a photograph we received of a family birthday celebration taking place in Afghanistan. The images were  blown up to the same size with identical matting and frames. It struck the spectators to see that two countries at war were not so different deep down. Proceeds from the show helped reconstruct a school for the girls in Afghanistan.

Mom, Dad, Mrs. McDonagh

In the last week of high school, I won two awards at the Senior Award Ceremony – a yearly tradition at  my high school. Best in Show for the Senior Art Show and Best Photographer. I felt indebted to Mrs. McDonagh, who I seated next to my mother and father at the head table at my high school graduation party. She had given me the gift of developing a passion, and while launching my imagesbycaitlin website all these years later, I wouldn’t feel right about it without mentioning what a big role she played in the foundation of my photography passion.