5 minute read
Something lit up in my heart"
DURING FALL FAMILY WEEKEND, SENIOR AND ACCOMPLISHED ARTS STUDENT HUSTON SGRO GAVE A CHAPEL TALK THAT REFLECTED ON THE IMPACT PHOTOGRAPHY HAS HAD ON HER LIFE — AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO REDISCOVER YOUR INNER CHILD.
Growing up, the only time I felt close to home without my parents around was when I would go to my grandparents’ house in North Carolina. They smothered me with love and affection while stuffing me with various sweets and endless questions as if their lives depended on it. My grandmother, Nonnie, an amateur photographer, once showed me her old camera. It was a big, heavy, fully manual Nikon. I remember sitting next to her and looking at those pictures from “back in the day.” …
My grandmother used to say taking photographs of the people she loved made her feel as if she was giving more to the world than just her love for others. It was the chance to preserve her love of our family for years to come in a way she adored.
In 2020, after my grandmother died, I often reminisced about our time together — not by looking back at her photos of golden sunsets and blue-gray mountains but at the photos she took of our family at our happiest times. I found Nonnie’s camera and SD cards just days after her death, and thought to myself, “What if I went out and tried to take some pictures of my own with that old camera?”
I spent the next week shooting every person, animal, or thing within a two-hundred foot radius of me. After three days of trying to figure out how to download the pictures onto my school Chromebook, I was finally able to see them, the thousands and thousands of photos I had taken: my sister playing on the
“I have loved getting to know so many wonderful people and sharing my love for the world in the best way possible.”
field hockey field, my brother with my great-grandfather’s golf clubs, and my three sweet dogs sprawled out in the sun. It felt as if something lit up in my heart from looking at what I’d accomplished in attempting to keep Nonnie’s memory alive. …
From that day, I have continued to adore photography, whether it is working with families to photograph important moments like birthdays and births, meeting with seniors to capture their last year of grade school before leaving to start life on their own, or even meeting with college kids who need help getting sorority photos taken for the next chapter in their life. I have loved getting to know so many wonderful people and sharing my love for the world in the best way possible, just as Nonnie would have done.
But of all the subjects I have worked with, the most genuine images emerge when I work with children. They are unique, and not afraid to be their authentic and enthusiastic selves, no matter who is watching or if a camera is pointed in their direction. We as people in this society have inevitably been taught that to fit in or to be accepted, you have to act, look, dress, or speak a certain way. Kids don’t conform to these same standards that we do, and if you haven’t noticed quite yet, I’ll tell you that they seem to be happier, healthier, and so much more lovingly quirky than almost all of us teenagers and adults combined.
There is always something new to learn, especially from the young girls and boys in our lives, and my challenge to all of you is to rediscover your inner child again. For me, this was looking through Nonnie’s old photographs to see a young Huston staring back at me in her small pink smocked dress and her hair in the tiny blonde bob, this is how I know our inner children are all within us. When I am with my inner child, I don’t hide my face and hair from the rain, I don’t sit in the shade hiding from the sun, and I don’t even squirm at the sight of a bug on the floor or the wall.
Not only does being more like your inner child allow you more freedom, but it makes you more unique. I’ve never seen two kids go for the same picture pose, but on multiple occasions, I’ve seen two teenage girls do the same exact thing when I’m taking their pictures. From the true smiles I have seen in the happy moments of this school, I know you are all amazing and perfect in so many ways, and I fear the best and most unique parts of everyone could be hidden behind a polished door we are too afraid to open.
So next time I or someone else asks to take your picture, or even if you’re taking a picture of yourself, don’t be afraid to show the real you and your genuine smile. And the next time it rains or snows, don’t hide from it. Instead, enjoy it the same way you would have when you were only five years old. Let that inner child play, even if only for a minute, and even if it’s uncomfortable. Because I know I’m not the only person who would be delighted to know all of the real you. Let’s make it our mission to make every young kid in our lives proud — even Nonnie who is watching over us, overjoyed that we’re letting our little inner child out to play.
