Annalee Durland-Jones got her first camera at the age of seven, but became interested in photography years later when she became a sophomore at Western. When she got her first camera she thought it was “just pressing buttons, but photography is not just pressing buttons.” She now takes photography class at Western where she has learned how be a great photographer with proficiency in editing with programs like Photoshop and Lightroom. She has had to also learn how to airbrush people, use lighting and filters, and fill out model release forms in order to post photographs of other people.

The senior started a photography business over the summer after she went to a Harvard program called “Summer Seminary” and took photos for their religious studies program that were published on their website and in their magazine. “I shared my images with them and they use them for publications and marketing” said Annalee. Since then she has been hired to take senior photos and has worked with an Instagram model named Natalia Castellar Calvani. She spotted the Instagram-verified model outside during a photography class field trip to Richmond and asked if she could take her photo. She only realized that the girl was a model after she took photos of her and the girl handed her a business card. “I got to send her some of the photos I did and I got to talk to the photographer that was also there,” said Annalee.

This year Annalee is in the advanced photography class and was assigned to make a website which she has marketed with her instagram. The website gets around one hundred views a week. She also publishes her photos on Flickr, which has gotten half a million views. Annalee can often be found taking photos of events around the school, like singing valentines, gingerbread house competition, and the jazz show during lunch. She posts her photos of people or events with links to her Flickr page so other students can post one of those photos, “It’s another way to like get the word out and that like a really good marketing link for me as well too because when people would post a photo from that they would usually tag my account in it so I get more views and more people to look at my photos that way,” said Annalee.

In only the short time her business has been running, she has already made back the cost of buying her camera and stands. “I have gotten paid for all the jobs I’ve done, and I had to buy my camera and all my equipment, so I’ve made the money back.” Annalee’s business logo was designed by another student at Western, Remy Green. She made her own business cards which she hands out to people that approach her at Atlas Coffee where she works.

You can look at her work by going to www.photosbyannalee.com. You can follow her at photosbyannalee on Instagram and annaleedj on Flickr.