Freshman photographer finds her passion

Freshman Nimisha Devanagondi

“Tilt your head down a little, and look slightly to the left. Okay, now relax … relax a little more. Now, smile! You look great!” freshman Nimisha Devanagondi says with a grin as she snaps a photo of her friend, freshman Rachel Zhang.

Zhang is one of the many students at SHS who has had a photoshoot from Devanagondi.

Some of the pictures Devanagondi takes during photoshoots can be viewed on her Facebook page, “A Thousand Pixels,” which currently has over 200 likes.

“I never even dreamed about having 100 likes yet 200,” she said. “I didn't think I was even good enough to have my own page but this kind of reassured me.”

Her passion for photography was influenced by her father, an avid landscape photographer. Three years ago during a trip to India, Devanagondi found herself with nothing to do, so her dad gave her an old point-and-shoot camera. She now has a __ .

“He put me on a website called the 365 Project, where I took a photo every single day (an album created by compiling photos you upload),” Devanagondi said. “I kept getting better and better.”

At first, Devanagondi only shot photos of her sister for fun, but she later began to take photos of her friend, freshman Mitali Shanbhag. Over the past five months, Devanagondi has started shooting photos for anyone who has asked.

“I realized I should take photos for other people because they started asking me to, and now it’s my first priority during the weekends because it’s nice to have two days to focus on doing what you love,” Devanagondi said.

Nearly every weekend, she holds photoshoots with friends in various locations around the South Bay. She takes the money that she earns, around $10 per photoshoot, and donates it to a different charity each month. In January, she donated to the American Cancer Society, an organization dedicated to fighting and preventing cancer through research, and before that she donated to the No Kill Nation, an organization focused on stopping the killing of treatable and healthy animals in shelters.

“I donate to charities because I have everything I could ever want,” Devanagondi said. “It’s also nice to know that you’ve helped someone else out and encouraged other people to do the same.”

According to the subjects of her photography, Devanagondi’s passion for photography is evident during photoshoots.

“You could see her enthusiasm and how much she loves what she does,” freshman Spring Ma said. “She was always smiling behind the camera and found ways to make me laugh.”

Zhang said that Devanagondi takes her time during photoshoots to get the best results, making sure details like lighting and background are perfect in every shot.

Devanagondi aspires to keep photography as a hobby and to open a studio when she is older.

“[Photography] is a way to look at things in a different point of view,” Devanagondi said. “It’s a way to communicate and to look at different parts of the world.”