Written and photographed by Michelle Carmona
I am a third-year photography student and commercial photographer. I grew up in the Snellville area here in Georgia and was introduced to photography at a very young age. It was a hobby my uncle had taken up and because of that, I was constantly around cameras. I became very familiar with them and wanted my own, begging my parents for a camera at the age of eight for Christmas. It was a cheap Sony cyber-shot which I still have to this day; that camera followed me everywhere and I photographed everything in sight. It was not until my senior year of high school when I took my first official photography class that I realized it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I had a hard time expressing myself through my words and found it much easier to do so through photographs. My work itself is a mixture of commercial and travel-based. This combination leads to the idea and process of my ongoing ‘Geometry’ series. The series started off as a way to take me out of my comfort zone as previously, my work was solely done in the studio or on location. I wanted to find a way of combining both into one series where I built these very over-size shapes and worked with models to achieve this juxtaposition scenery within the series as well as simplicity.
Photo by Michelle Carmona. 
Photo by Michelle Carmona.
Photo by Michelle Carmona. 
Photo by Michelle Carmona.
SCAD makes it possible for me to bring my ideas to life in many different ways: having the equipment that one would need for the shoot and professors who have a way of giving us that push to continue to do better and develop our styles. Something important to keep in mind as an artist is to take a step back every once in a while. This just leads to the inspiration that one would then find through our everyday lives. That is how I find most of my inspiration for what I do. As for what I see in my future, I am not completely clear on what exactly lays ahead when there is still plenty to learn and understand, but what is clear is that I will still be doing what I am passionate about — photography.
