The Story

11 years ago, 9-year-old Aquilina picked up a camera for the first time. On a whim, I asked my mama if it was alright to play with the little purple pocket camera that had been her birthday present, fully expecting the answer to be no. Instead, I heard a “yes.”


I took it outside, taking pictures of anything I felt like photographing. I brought it inside, taking picture after picture for around an hour. Finally, after taking an experimental photo of my bare feet on the basement staircase, I had a thought. The thought stuck with me through 10 years of life, through middle and high school, and into college. Through doubts and fears, joys and wins.


“If this is something a person can do for a living, this is what I will do.”

Photo from my first day experimenting with a camera

When I was 11, I got my very own pocket camera. It was a beautiful, deep metallic red. 

I learned that camera. Inside and out, top to bottom. I experimented, goofed off, and goofed off some more. After a while, I started to create images that I was proud of. Photography became a language I understood, and I spoke it hesitantly.

That thought was still in my head when I inherited my late grandfather’s professional camera in high school. It was old and wasn’t worth more than spare change, but to me it was the world.

I continued to make photographs that I loved, but I began to question the practicality of photography as a career. Everyone said making a living that way might be too hard. I wondered if getting a standard degree in something like finance would serve me better. I could work a “real job,” and confine my photography skills to a hobby.

When it came time to choose a path in college, I experienced a fierce internal struggle. Should I get a photography education, or should I do something more “practical?” 

I found a program at Mt. Hood Community College for photography, but I constantly second guessed my choice. “Is this a waste of time? What if I can’t make it? Is photography a responsible career, or will I end up never having enough to support a future family?”

I went to school for photography, and for the first year, I still had nagging questions about whether I made the right choice. 


But meanwhile, I was learning so much. More than I had dreamed. Breakthrough after breakthrough, how to take the kinds of photos I wanted to take. How to shape light, how to compose, how to work on the fly, how to produce photographs that had impact. I learned how to make videos, how to fly drones, how to develop film, how to set up a business, how to market. I learned to speak the language of photography fluently. 

I learned that my dream was possible.

Here I am today!

Pursuing and living my dream of being a professional photographer,

and still learning more every day.


Being able to capture your family memories is a gift, and it makes me truly joyful to see your love preserved through timeless portraiture.


Thanks for stopping by!

Aquilina

Photo by Chelsea Belozer