World Photography Day

Today is World Photography Day! I first picked up a camera in 2022 after a lesson on the photographer Ansel Adams, and photography has been an important part of my life since. I started taking photos of my dogs and the nature around me. After a little more than a year, I expanded and started taking family photos and headshots of friends.

Then, in March of 2024, I reached out the @suffsmusical social media asking to be on the red carpet for opening night. I didn't really expect anything-I was eleven then, but as I said in my message to the Suffs team, quoting the Suffs promo poster, "If there isn't a trail, blaze one." When the incredible team for Suffs allowed me on the purple carpet, I was delighted. I had the best time photographing the carpet, and I'll always be so grateful to the PR team for allowing me the opportunity. Suffs brought me so many gifts-relationships, opportunities, experiences, and more. 

Not long after, I had a dream come true-I started volunteering at my local animal shelter, taking photos of the adoptable pets. I've loved animals for my whole life and I've always wanted to help animals get adopted. Using photography to find them homes brings me so much joy.

In August of 2024, I got to take a trip to Canada to stay at Parc Omega, a CZA accredited park with numerous wildlife species-foxes, deer, bison, elk, and my favorite animal, wolves! We stayed in a "Wolf Chalet", a lovely chalet with amazing views of the wolves that are basically in your backyard. Photographing my favorite animal was so surreal. On our way back from Canada, we stopped in Seneca Falls, the birthplace of suffrage and the home of the famous 1848 Convention-the very first women's rights convention ever in the US. I photographed the church in which the convention took place, the house of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a suffrage leader, and the quaint streets of Seneca Falls. It was truly the most fun photography trip!

I continued to expand my headshot/portrait business, and then in February of this year, I got the amazing opportunity to photograph the red carpet for Redwood the Musical. This was another incredible red carpet experience where I formed and solidified more relationships.

In April, I got to return to the Big Apple to photograph three Broadway openings and an influencer dog! @littlebearlumi is an adorable social media-famous samoyed. I had so much fun photographing him and his wonderful mom, Jackie. That night, I headed to Circle and the Square Theatre to photograph the opening night red carpet of Just in Time, the new Bobby Darin musical. The night became even more magical when my sweet cousin Valeria, who is a Siren in Just in Time, was posing on the carpet when she recognized me. We had communicated via social media and texting, but we'd never officially met. She came over to me and said, "What's your name?" I told her, "Isla", to which she replied, "Isla! You're my cousin!" and hugged me. It was such a sweet moment.

The next day, I got to photograph Kelly Belarmino, who played Liesl to my Brigitta in a regional production of The Sound of Music a few years ago, getting ready for her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre's Pirates! The Penzance Musical. This was my first experience photographing backstage and I loved it. It was extra special getting to capture the magic of my sweet show sister's debut. A few days later, I got to be on the red carpet for Real Women Have Curves, where I got to once again work with the incredible PR team from Rubenstein who I’d met at Suffs. Getting to walk onto this carpet and know so many people was so amazing.

Not only has photography opened doors to places I would not have otherwise had access to, it has also allowed me to hold a mirror up to the people, places, and things that I love the most. Getting to do all these big things in New York has not only created opportunities for me there, but also closer to home, and I couldn't be more grateful to get to photograph friends and family and capture their important moments. In July, I got to photograph the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of my cousin Campbell and his now-wife Morgan. This was such a full-circle moment and I loved getting to photograph my family celebrating someone we all love.

Getting to capture the world through the lens over the last three years has been amazing. There aren't even really words to describe everything photography means to me, but I'll just say that I'm so deeply grateful for everything photography has given-the experiences, the people, the relationships, everything.

Happy World Photography Day!

A Year Later: A Dream Come True

I've always loved animals. In fact, I've never had less than two at once in my house, sometimes, as many as four. All of my family's pets have been adopted from shelters, so I've been passionate about rescue my entire life. When I first started photography, I considered the idea of reaching out to local shelters and asking if I could photograph their adoptable animals. And I did. But...between the constant level of overworked and understaffed that most rescue groups are, and the fact that the emails were coming from an 11 year old, none responded.

Last May, that changed. I went to a "Kitten Shower" hosted by my local Humane Society. They had some of their youngest kittens and were having a kitten party to raise donations and supplies. I'd reached out earlier that day through their social media to ask if I could bring my camera and capture a few images of the cats interacting with the guests and each other. They said that would be fine, and I loved getting to photograph those tiny kittens. As I was leaving, one of the volunteers asked if she'd seen me on the news-I'd been interviewed about my Suffs experience, where I'd actually mentioned that next goal was to photograph shelter animals. Turns out, she was the same woman who'd allowed me to bring my camera that evening! I brought up volunteering, and while I was younger than most volunteers, she said she'd see what she could do. I was thrilled!

She reached out the next morning, and sent me an application-including a requirement for my mom to chaperone as well as get the animals from thheir crates for safety reasons. A few days later, Elizabeth, the volunteer coordinator, emailed me and offered me the (volunteer) job! When I tell you I squealed-I squealed. The next week, on June 12, one year ago yesterday, I went into thhe shelter and explained that I was a photo volunteer. Elizabeth gave me my first subject, Shalimar. He was a sweet, adorable, wild pit bull mix puppy. I took him outside to one of the Humane Society's "Henry's Houses", which have little fenced yards, where I let Shalimar safely run free. I threw tennis balls, bribed him with treats to sit and pose, and took photos of him running and playing. The next day I sent my images to Shana, the amzing adoption specialist I now check in with weekly.

Since then, I've photographed well over 200 animals, and had so much fun. I can't fully articulate how much this means to me. Getting to help shelter pets get adopted has always been a dream of mine, and getting to specifically use photography to do that-it's incredible. This passion project is so important to me.

When we adopted Blizzy, my sweet husky, it was partially because we first saw her photo on the shelter's website, and so I'll always be grateful for that photographer, for catching our eyes with Blizzy looking so mischievious and cute. I wanted to do that.

I wanted to use my talents to help these beautiful animals find loving homes-and thankfully, for the last year, that's what I've done.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible, and thank you, especially, to all the kind volunteers and staff at the Lexington Humane Society. One thing I've learned over the past year is how many it takes to help shelter animals find loving homes, and how tirelessly they work. I've watched shelter staff and volunteers fight for the creatures in their care, I've seen them get emotional over animals with sad stories, and I've watched them cheer when long term residents find forever homes. I've watched them tackle the less glamorous parts of animal rescue-cleaning crates, walking dogs in poor weather, treating illness-and I've watched them give treats and belly rubs and love the adoptable animals as they likely do their own pets. I'm so thankful to get to know so many of those wonderful people and to be the tiniest part of that very important work. Thank you all for making this experience what it is.

The Trip of A Lifetime-Part Two

To see the galleries from the events I photographed, check out my portfolio!

To read about part one of my trip, check out my blog post here!

Friday I had some time to begin editing and spend with my parents exploring before we went to see Just in Time. I knew it would be a fun night when I got to see the sweetest press agents for the show, Hannah and Nina, at the entrance of the the theatre before we waked in. The show tells the story of famed singer Bobby Darin's life. Just in Time is a beautiful, fast-paced, new musical that stars Jonathan Groff, Erika Henningsen, and Gracie Lawrence along with an incredibly talented ensemble. I loved this show, and I especially loved seeing Valeria perform. The three Sirens-Valeria, Christine, and Julia-never stop moving dring the course of the show- they're always onstage, singing and dancing amazingly. I don't know how they manage the many quick changes they have! After the show, we waited in the lobby of the Circle in the Square Theatre for Valeria. We got to talk with her outside for a few minutes, and we planned to get coffee with her that Sunday. It was such a fun evening, spent with family, and seeing an amazing show.

Saturday was the "two-doe-shay" of our trip. We got up and had breakfast in the Upper East Side, then we got ready for show #1- Real Women Have Curves! Based on the 2002 movie, Real Women Have Curves tells the story of undocumented factory workers finding joy, hope, and family. The show has themes of resilience, family, and hope-and spectacular music. I loved the show! It was fun and beautiful, and my mom and I are still singing the songs weeks later. After seeing RWHC, we got ready for show #2- Pirates! The Penzance Musical! Before the show, we had one of my favorite parts of the trip; dinner with the amazing Jenny Anderson-my photo hero! Jenny is every bit as kind as she is talented, and I love being in her orbit. My Dad asked for her thoughts on almost every show of the season, and they discussed upcoming Tony noms while my mom and I wanted to hear all about her recent BOOK RELEASE and subsequent press events. It was surreal when my mom pulled out a copy of Jenny's new book and she signed it for me-it's currently in a prime spot on my bookshelf. It was so nice to see her and catch up. When we finished dinner, we realized it was pouring rain-and the radar said it wouldn't stop for an hour. My parents and I were already dressed up, ready to go to the show. We didn't know what to do. We tried to call an Uber, but there were none in the area and the app said it would take 20 minutes for one to get to the restaurant- the show would be starting by then! Jenny, being a true New Yorker, ran into the street, in the rain, and hailed a taxi for us. We ran out, thanked her, and hopped in. Jenny to the rescue!

We got to the theatre, and settled in our seats. Pirates! is a fun, sweet revival starring Jinxx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce, and Ramin Karimloo and full of silliness and laughter with some thought provoking seriousness mixed in. Kelly was incredible in her role, and I was so proud watching her shine on a Broadway stage. Kelly's whole family was at the show, and I mean an entire cheering section, but she made sure I still got to snag a moment to hug her and thank her for letting me photograph her on opening. 

On Sunday morning, we had coffee with Valeria at a busy spot near our hotel and her theatre before her call time. It was so nice to get to hang out with her and hear about her experiences, and getting to spend time with her was a highlight of the entire trip. Then I got ready for the opening red carpet for Real Women Have Curves, one of the shows we'd seen the day before! The same amazing press agents, Amy, Marta and Nicole, who I'd met and worked with at Suffs, were working on RWHC, and when I discovered that I decided to reach out and see if there was any space on the carpet. I was so excited when they said yes!

So Sunday afternoon, I found myself on another Broadway carpet, and I was surrounded this time by kind photographers I had met at other carpets, many of whom I now consider friends. It was such a good feeling to take my spot on the carpet and know everyone around me was supportive and had my back. It felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. The talented cast walked first, and it was amazing to photograph these people I'd watched perform so beautifully just the day before. After the cast, the celebrities and VIPs walked. This included Lin-Manuel Miranda (again!) and his family- his wife, the incredible Vanessa Nadal, and his amazing parents Luz and Luis, as well as Sara Bareilles, Karine Jean-Pierre, Henry Munoz, Barry and Fran Weissler, Ana Villafane, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and more. This was such a fun carpet that was bursting with so much energy and joy, and it was an honor to capture that. 

The next morning, it was time to sadly bid farewell to the Big Apple. We had coffee with dear family friends, wandered to the Tudor overpass to snap a few pics, and it was time to grab our bags and head to the airport. I'd finished all the fun-now it was time for the mountain of editing!

I'm so deeply grateful to everyone who made this trip happen. Thank you, of course, to my parents for supporting me and helping me manage everything. Thank you to Hannah and Nina, the wonderful Polk and Co. press agents who allowed me to be on the Just in Time carpet-and made this trip happen. Thank you to Jackie for letting me photograph Lumi and being so kind. Thank you to Chaliece and Ashlyn, the amazing press agents who gave me permission to follow Kelly backstage. Thank you to Kelly, for trusting me with capturing such an important day of her life. Thank you to the spectacular Marta and Nicole, who not only allowed me to be on the carpet for RWHC, but, last year, took a chance on the random eleven-year-old who's never done a red carpet before and reached out expecting nothing. Thank you so much.

This trip was filled to the brim with opportunities, experiences, exciting moments, and so much joy. These six days in the city were six days I know I'll always remember.