From beach trips with her best friends, to the Golden Gate bridge, senior Laura McClintock captured the best moments of her summer on video. By creating a glance at her summer, Laura managed to focus on the highlights instead of letting the ongoing pandemic affect her memories. 

“I love making my montages because they let me revisit great memories from my trips in one place and I know my family looks forward to them,” Laura said.

She stumbled upon making her own videos two years ago on a family trip to Brazil. Unaware until then that there was a video option on her camera, she played around with it and finally produced her first video almost eight months later.

“I didn’t really have any expectations when I started making my first video,” Laura said. “I didn’t do enough research about editing softwares and I didn’t really know how to film, but I feel like I’ve gotten better with every video that I finish.”

Since Brazil, Laura has made a video for every vacation she goes on. 

“My favorite part about putting together a video is seeing my friends’ and family’s reactions to it when I am done,” Laura said.

As a member of the yearbook staff, she also uses her photography skills to take pictures of school events.

“I enjoy taking photos for yearbook because it allows me to cover special events at our school about people I know personally,” she said.

Laura knew nothing about cameras when she started documenting her life, but over the past two years she’s taken photography courses and practiced on her friends. In fact, they convinced Laura to create an Instagram for her creative projects and begin a senior photos business.

“My friend Nia was my first official senior photoshoot and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would,” she said. “I assumed it was going to be more stressful and too much work, and that’s why I didn’t start it until a year ago, but it was so cool.”

Laura said she’s still navigating having her own business and that researching other photographers like Vandegrift grad Elaina Eichorn, has helped her immensely.

“This is going to sound weird since I’ve never met her, but Elaina Eichorn inspired me a lot,” Laura said. “She is really talented and just knowing that she runs a very successful photography business when she took the same classes I am is really cool.”

While she loves her budding business, Laura’s favorite project to date was photographing and videographing her mom’s wedding in Las Vegas. She was the official witness, bridesmaid and personal photographer for the small family event.

“Taking the photos and putting them together in an album was kind of like my gift to her,” she said. “I am really proud of [the photos]. It made it more special knowing that I could have fun capturing that moment while also experiencing it in person.”

Laura plans to continue her work in photography and videography in college as a journalism major. Until then, she will continue to capture the rest of her senior year. 

“I am definitely not an expert and it’s more of a hobby, but I learn new things about my camera settings after every video that I make,” Laura said. “After spending a week minimum on a project, the best feeling is when I finally press export and I can share the final version.”