Will Stonebrook captures the world around him

Photo courtesy of Will Stonebrook

Maddie Ward, multimedia editor

With a keen eye and a camera on hand, freshman Will Stonebrook captures everyday moments that most ignore. Drawing inspiration from photographers and the world around him, Stonebrook has spent countless hours honing his photography skills by taking photos whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Since uncovering his love for the field in middle school, Stonebrook has discovered his favorite genre of photography.

“I really like street photography because it is landscape photography and portrait photography put into one,” freshman Stonebrook said. “Once you take a photo you can never recreate that photo because it was just at that one particular time.”

Over the years, Stonebrook has developed preferences on the kinds of cameras he uses to take photos. By using specific kinds of cameras, the young photographer is able to convey different messages and feelings through his images.

“I first started out taking photos on my phone and then once I realized I actually wanted to [take photos] I got a camera,” Stonebrook said. “I like film cameras because you can’t really get the same effect you get on film cameras with a normal digital camera.”

In order to develop his photographic taste and get inspiration on different styles or techniques to try out, Stonebrook looks at the work of other artists.

“I really look up to Zachary Leung because he takes the normal portrait photography style and puts his own twist on it. He has a lot of brighter colors and nice warmer tones. I also like Irving Penn and William Eggleston,” Stonebrook said.

One aspect of photography that drew Stonebrook in was the plethora of different options the field offers.

“There are so many things you can do with [photography]. You can do it as a job, you can do it as a hobby, there are so many different genres or styles that you can do. It is just so versatile,” Stonebrook said.

As technology advances and brings new levels to photography, there are endless numbers of skills to acquire. Stonebrook has found the field never ceases to interest him because you always have something new to learn.

“You can never get bored of it. If you master one thing you can go onto another thing and once you master that you can just keep going,” Stonebrook said.

Despite the fact that social media and technology are making it increasingly harder to be noticed amongst the multitude of other photographers, Stonebrook still has hopes that in the future photography will become more than a hobby to him.

“I definitely want to do it as a way of making money in the future but with so many photographers out there it is kind of hard to make a career out of it,” Stonebrook said.

To check out more of Will Stonebrook’s work you can look at his Instagram here.