Photography as an Outlet Allison Johnston

A good majority of the time, a camera body and lens are strapped around my neck, waiting to capture the world’s beauty. It seems like a cliche for a teenage girl to buy a camera and assume that she is a photographer. However, I see it differently. My eyes are focused lenses on the beauty in the world, and my camera is just an expensive tool to capture it. I am not a girl who wants to be famous for her photographs, like many girls aspire to, but instead to depict myself through photography.

I never, not for one second, contemplated being a photographer, though dozens of people have tried to convince me otherwise. My mind has been made up on becoming a nurse as long as I can remember. In my life, I want to have a profession that will always be a passion of mine. Becoming a photographer isn’t something I will always aspire to be. To me, photography is an outlet anyone can purchase at a Best Buy or Target. When I was thirteen years old, I saved money from holidays and household chores for months and months until one day, I was able to buy myself a dSLR camera. From that moment on, my life became much easier. Instead of seeing the leaves fall on a chilly autumn day with no reminder of that sight come winter, I was now...