Katie Stanis-Swaner (’23) loves taking photos and singing in her free time. She is a part of the yearbook and loves playing with her dogs and cats.

Currently Stanis-Swaner is in a photography class to help with her camera skills, and she says it is a good experience and a lot of fun.

“It’s a creative outlet,” Stanis-Swaner said when asked about why she likes photography. “The class gives me a break from my academic school work.”

The hardest assignment Stanis-Swaner has had to do was a light painting. This means she had to capture the movement of light in a photograph. Once she figured it out, however, Stanis-Swaner was in love with the result.

Some of her favorite things to photograph are her dogs, cats and travels.

“I like taking pictures of my pets because I don’t have any siblings that I can blackmail into photo shoots,” Stanis-Swaner explained.

Stanis-Swaner draws her inspiration from Jack Gillespie, a student at the University of Chicago. She also takes photos because she simply wants to catch as many memories as she can.

“The hardest part for me is I always want perfection,” Stanis-Swaner said. “I spend a lot of time trying to perfect one shot, but in the end I always find it to be worthwhile.”

Stanis-Swaner loves photography and would love to be a personal photographer, but she does not see that in her future. However she does think she’ll carry on with photography after high school just for fun. 

“The best part of photography is the fun atmosphere and Mrs. Naar, who truly is an icon,”she said.