High school students aren’t just dreaming big—they’re building big. Julia Martin, 11th grade, is practically NDCL Athletics’ own personal photographer.
Julia runs a “production, photography, and videography business”. She takes and develops pictures at sporting events, fundraisers, senior pictures, and other special events for her clients. She has taken pictures for hundreds of events and acquires her clients through her Instagram page and word of mouth. Her main clientele are teens and their parents.
Working hard at her job she remarks that her priorities are, “school, photo, then [her] social life.” Julia says her business is her life. All of the money that she makes at this job goes straight back into the business. The money goes to things like buying better camera equipment and computer software. Julia noted that after photographing professionally she doesn’t feel as much passion for it, partly because of the high demand for her pictures. People love her photos so much Julia says sometimes the pressure gets stressful as she feels like she has to make every single picture perfect for her clients and for the NDCL players. Although she makes money producing and selling her photos right now she “[doesn’t] see [herself] going into that career field” Julia says, because it wouldn’t make a sustainable amount of money.
NDCL was the birthplace of her passion for photography. Julia reflected that “if it wasn’t for ‘intro to photo’ class with Mr. Y [she] wouldn’t be where [she] is today,” because he taught her her skills and how to utilize them. NDCL athletic events are where she mainly takes her photos, but she generously doesn’t charge our players for their pictures.
Lastly, Julia wants to “thank all the athletes at NDCL for trusting the process and giving her support to keep making media”