“I have never photographed someone who did not look good in my pictures. Everyone is beautiful, unique, and eye catching in their own way, and I love being able to capture and portray that,” said senior Edan Scott.

You’ve all probably seen Scott’s photos on Facebook or website of different photo shoots she has shot. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you scroll through her pictures. Looking at them, you almost feel like you are there, with that person in the picture. You can feel the models emotion through their facial expressions as if they were your own.

“I first started fooling around with photography when I was a sophomore,” Scott said. “I started with just  a normal digital camera and progressed to a Canon 60D, which I use now.”

Usually Scott shoots people from school, or friends of hers. She just puts up a Facebook status asking for models, and then picks who gets to be a model at random. A normal shoot takes place at a location that helps enhance the picture by its own attributes. Some of Scott’s locations include the beach, Bahia Temple, graffiti walls, horse stables, cemeteries, and as Scott says “the most common place to have a photo shoot: the forest.”

“As I drive around Skokie and other cities in the area, I am constantly keeping an eye out for new places to serve as a location for a photo shoot,” Scott said. “I like using places you really wouldn’t see unless you were looking for them, like places with arches, paths, walls. Something out of the ordinary that adds a little extra umph to the picture.”

Her models pose as Scott gently pushes the top, black button of her camera, capturing the emotion and beauty of the model in that exact moment. They continue on like this, pose, shoot, pose, shoot, until Scott has felt that she has captured her model in most of their unique beauty.

“It’s a spontaneous feeling,” Scott said. “It has to just happen, I can’t make it happen because if I do, I just run through the motions, instead of concentrating on the beauty of the picture. I really have to be in the right mood to get a good picture, then I run with it from there.”

Scott is also an artist, and in her paintings, she captures that same beauty and emotion that she captures in her photos.

“I go with what looks good. I’m always looking at different art and artists for inspiration. I can’t pick one favorite because I like them all for different reasons, and each one’s work is different,” Scott said.

For a picture to look really good, the lighting has to be right. Not too much, and not too little, otherwise the picture will look washed out.

“The best time to take a picture is when the sun is going up or down because then the sunlight is not so harsh, and it reflects and illuminates all the right places in the photo,” Scott said. “Now I basically just shared my biggest secret with everyone,” Scott said laughing. “So, taking a picture between the times of 11am and 3pm are the worst times because direct sunlight is bad.”

“I like to say that I am commissioned,” Scott said.

Sometimes Scott is paid for her work, and other times she does it for the pure enjoyment of taking pictures. It all really depends on who the people are and the event.

“I love photography just because it’s pretty,” Scott said. “It’s hard to put into words my passions for photography, but all I can say is I love it and the beauty it captures.”