On a long walk, then 13 year old, senior Gabriel Larkin, grabs his mom’s Canon T13 out. He takes pictures of the flowers. The trees. The bugs crawling on the pavement beneath him. This nature walk was an assignment for his homeschooling work; his mom had him go back home and journal about all that he saw. Larkin didn’t know that messing around with his mom’s camera when he was thirteen was going to be of any significance to his high school career.

Larkin always wants to be involved. There was never one specific thing that Larkin wanted to do; he wanted to do it all.

 “I’ve always said, I’m one for experiences,” Larkin said, “I say yes to any opportunity, if I get to try something new.” 

What he was going to do after his school career was never really on Larkin’s mind. At church one day, freshman year, he talked with his friend Josh. Josh was soon going into the military. A strict routine and having to stick with one specific thing for four years was something he was really considering. Larkin thought that Josh had given good insight on the experiences, and it just seemed like the most reasonable career at the time. 

“If I did go through with that, I think in the end, my creative brain would have gotten too held up.” 

At the beginning of his senior year, Larkin finally had space in his schedule to take photo journalism class. He had missed out the year prior, not knowing there were tryouts, but this year he tried out, and got in.

“Everyones really connected in Photo J. It was really welcoming, and everyone was super nice, it’s like a family” Larkin said, “ It’s a student-led class which was fun to step into.”

This class wasn’t just taking photos of pretty trees, or a gorgeous mountain Larkin would see on trips. It was about someone’s story. He learned what it was like to add meaning to a picture, like telling a personal story of a classmate. 

“Photo J really introduced me to capturing certain expressions and capturing moments. Then finding out in an interview later about a deeper, emotional connection they had that moment” Larkin said.

One night during a football game, Larkin was there taking pictures of the players. He happened to take one of the freshmen on the varsity team, and the photo showed pure joy on his friend’s face, all tackling each other after the game. After talking with the player, Larkin found out that the student being tackled was the first freshman in around 5 years to be on varsity.

Being able to talk to him and find out about the significance of this moment for this player, changed Larkin’s perspective on a strong photo. 

“I liked showing other people my photography the most, and that was my drive as a kid. Now I really enjoy taking the photo and making it meaningful” Larkin said, “That’s the step above showing people, is actually making the photo meaningful by having a story behind it.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Gabriel Larkin

Journalism was now a part of Larkin’s everyday life. After school, instead of rehearsals for Cinderella, he chose to go take pictures of a soccer game.

“Stepping into room 151 has been eye opening” Larkin said, “I wish I joined freshman year. Journalism is a different side of things, who knows, maybe I could have built a bigger portfolio if I joined earlier, or even set myself up more for this to be a career,” Larkin said.

This class isn’t a class to Larkin. He didn’t think of assignments as a chore or finding someone for a caption as an extra task to get done. 

“I know it’s something I’ll be doing my whole life, taking photos,” Larkin said, “With only one year left of high school, I want to spend it doing something I enjoy.” 

After highschool, Larkin plans to attend a traveling ministry school in California. He will get to continue his passion for photography, while spending time traveling and connecting with religion through his education.