Senior Victor Yeung’s journey discovering photography and attempting to revive Photography Club
There are around 80 active clubs at AHS, ranging from student associations celebrating Afghan, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Indian cultures, to academic groups exploring chemistry and biology, to clubs centered around sharing common student interests. For almost every interest, passion, or need a student could have, there is a club for it. However, one is visibly absent: a photography club.
Victor Yeung (12), a photographer and Digital Photography student, has noticed this absence. “There are many passionate student photographers in AHS who don’t have a community they can join to represent their interests. It could be a chance for students who have never used a dedicated camera before to try one out,” he said.
Yeung first became interested in photography after trying out some older equipment his dad had kept in storage for years. He said, “Learning how to use a dedicated camera was quite difficult in the beginning, but it was a unique experience that drew me into the hobby.”
Hoping to promote digital art and foster creativity, Yeung sought to create a photography club at AHS. “I would host meetings to help teach members—to refine their technique and creative style,” he said, knowing personally how rewarding it is to shoot and edit images. “I would like to run club collaborations where we would help shoot content for school events. There would likely be photography competitions hosted as well.”
Victor Yeung (12) holding his own Nikon camera (Photo Credit: Kingsley Yeung (9)).
However, his path did not lack difficulties. “Photography Club ran into issues in the past with their advisor, poor management, and poor planning,” he said. “I was hoping to convince Club Committee or ASB that there was a strong demand for bringing back the photography club.”
Mr. Anderson, the activities coordinator and leadership teacher, said, “Normally, we have a deadline that’s back in April or May, and they didn’t ask us until this school year, way past the deadline. If we’re going to have these rules or standards, everyone has to follow them.”
Though Yeung understood how the situation was handled from a professional standpoint, he was still disheartened. “Since clubs are mostly student-governed, I thought they would have at least considered listening to a petition with so much student support behind it,” he said. Yeung’s petition for restarting the photography club garnered 275 student signatures, around 10% of the AHS student body.
Mr. Anderson has suggested other avenues Yeung and other hopeful photographers could take to pursue their interest. “There are a lot of events at the school where people can come to take pictures, practice, and post online. I know some students in the past who have done these kinds of things.”
Yeung remains optimistic about the future of his hobby and has even submitted entries in a few local and national photography competitions. He said, “I plan to keep exploring new genres of photography as well as refining my style. Visiting new places to document what I see and to create art out of that is something that I’m looking forward to.”
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