As the Digital Shootout comes to a close, I reflect on how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to experience these last two weeks. I am in awe of those around me; the creativity found within these walls is unmatched. Visionaries like Cristian Dimitrius, Berkley White, Erin Quigley, and Joel Penner have created masterpieces time and time again. Over the last two weeks, I’ve had many goals. I’ve wanted to learn everything that there is to learn, experience all there is to experience, and most of all, create what my soul desires. I was willing to rise to the occasion and learn from who I would consider to be the best people to learn from. 

One of the things that I am most proud of is spreading my disease of being a black-and-white photographer. In the first week, I was really struggling to (as Cristian would say) “find the flow.” I was trying to fall in line with everyone who was shooting in color. I sat in on the classes that taught how to get a perfectly white-balanced image, and I really made an effort to shoot in color. 

Anyone who pursues art will appreciate the feeling that you get when you know you’ve just done something perfectly. Perhaps it’s a final brush stroke that perfectly accents a painting, or maybe you’ve put the chords into the perfect order, and the timing is on point. For me as a photographer (and now videographer), that feeling is both all-consuming and nearly indescribable. It’s this feeling of electricity that pulses through your chest; you know that what you just did was a perfect translation of your mind to your hands. You know that what you just created was indeed art. When I was forcing myself to shoot for an audience, that feeling was missing. I couldn’t quite tell you why I love black-and-white images so much. Maybe it’s the high contrasts, the shafts of overly dramatic lighting, or maybe it’s all because of that pencil that stabbed my eye back in 6th grade and I simply don’t see the world right. But just as you know your favorite song when it comes on, I know that black-and-white photography is where I feel my soul fly. And that is why I struggled so much for that first week. I was shooting for others’ wants and needs, not my own. This, among other things, put a damper on that first week. I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t create like I wanted to. I had a lot of bottled-up emotions about finally graduating high school and leaving the life I knew behind. But last Sunday, something clicked. I realized that I could continue to make myself miserable and dwell on all the negative emotions and frustrations, or I could accept it and leave that world behind to find my own. I’m not trying to get all mushy here, I promise, but for me, art is a very personal and emotional thing to pursue, and I believe you do not only yourself, but the world, a disservice when you try to make it otherwise. 

I believe attending the Backscatter Digital Shootout has allowed me to realize how much of my soul art really is. When you’re around people who are creative and have their own songs, you start a little bit of a jam sesh. Maybe that just looks like showing photos in critique, or maybe someone asks a question that you were too scared to ask. No matter what the spark is, here at the Digital Shootout, we have found a way to light each other’s fire and allow our art to sing. 

One of my favorite parts of the Digital Shootout has been the camaraderie and dialogue between guests. It was the banter on the boat after being frustrated that everyone saw a Lemon Shark but you. The forming of nicknames after you forgot to take the lens cap off your camera. The amazing dinners—there really is nothing better than sharing a meal with a stranger. It was in the whispered praise to one another during critiques. All of that helped bring the community together. One of my favorite people on the trip was a man by the name of Chef Anton, a scuba magician. Constantly charismatic, Chef was consistently the highlight of the boat. He bestowed the nickname “Hollywood” onto me due to my choice of aviator sunglasses and headband, which he said made me look like some washed-up ’80s action star. I was even lucky enough to see some magic tricks during a safety stop. 

I attended many classes while I was at the DSO. All of the teachers were incredibly knowledgeable, and I was able to learn many, many, many skills. I sat in on everything from strobe placement to time remapping in Premiere Pro. The classes focusing on Premiere Pro skills were especially helpful because this trip was my first time ever using Premiere Pro. It’s a pretty good deal to be able to knock on your neighbor’s door whenever you have a question and have them be something like a world-class video editor. I have some prior video editing experience, but trying to learn a new user interface can be such a daunting task, especially when you just want to let the creative juices flow. But on this trip—seeing how this was the very best opportunity I was ever going to get to learn it—I dove in headfirst and made it my priority to learn and produce videos using Premiere Pro. I was able to produce two videos while there, both shot in black and white. Both can be found on the Boston Sea Rovers Intern Instagram page. 

I cannot thank the Backscatter crew enough for the incredible support they provided throughout this entire experience. Not only did they generously provide us with access to professional-grade gear, but they also brought with them what felt like an endless well of knowledge about underwater photography and camera systems. No matter what issue I ran into, whether it was a physical problem with my camera setup, confusion about certain settings, or simply trying to understand how to better optimize my equipment, there was always someone just a door away who was willing to help. What impressed me most was not just their technical expertise, but their genuine enthusiasm for teaching and helping others improve. It never felt like I was asking too many questions, and every interaction became another opportunity to learn. 

Over the course of these last two weeks, I have had the privilege of meeting so many incredibly talented and inspiring people, each of whom brought their own unique perspective, creativity, and passion to this experience. Being surrounded by individuals who care so deeply about what they do pushed me to grow not only as a photographer, but as a person as well. I leave this experience feeling far more confident in my abilities, more inspired creatively, and more certain than ever about the importance that art and storytelling hold in my life. 

Above all else, I feel an immense sense of gratitude. Opportunities like this do not come around often, and I recognize how unbelievably fortunate I have been to experience something so transformative at this point in my life. None of it would have been possible without the generosity and support of the Boston Sea Rovers, whose belief in creating opportunities for young people like myself has given me an experience that I know I will carry with me for years to come. For that, I am endlessly thankful.