Show Your Worth

[Quinn Wiley]

The Photography club had become some sort of second home to Quinn. When he was not in class, he was either locked in his room, wandering around the school to take pictures while being as unnoticed as possible or in here, looking at his pictures and editing his film. Photography was actually something he was serious about and probably the only think people may see him passionate about. The boy looked so apathetic all the time that the simple fact he was still doing it, and sometimes getting in trouble while taking pictures, proved he was passionate about it, even though his exterior might not show it as much. Quinn always tried not to show any emotion. When you were happy, there was always someone to bring you down but when you were sad there was no one to comfort you so there really was no point in his mind to show his emotions to people who could not care any less about him.

Quinn had taken pictures of a girl while she was dancing. She knew he was there, of course, he didn’t hid behind a wall to snap pictures of her without her knowing about it. He even asked her sometimes to do some of the moves she did again but slightly differently, to create even more shape. Now that he was looking at the result, he was rather proud. She looked like a ballerina with how elongated she was and with her leg stretched but there was also something about it he thought was more than just the snapshot of a girl dancing. He really liked that one and the work he did on it. What the girl did too, of course, but mostly what he did. He only wished it had been done in front of a screen so he could have added the appropriate background but it was still pretty good and the dance club wasn’t so bad of a background in the end.

If Quinn had any friends, he’d show it to them in the hope they found it as nice as he did. But Quinn didn’t have friends or, at least, none he thought could appreciate a photo like this one. He knew he was likely to be the only one seeing it. Or the girl, as he promised to show it to her once it would be done. The thought depressed him. He didn’t want people around him but he also wanted them to so he could show his value.

[Kiara Kennedy]

Kiara walked into the club room with her sunglasses on her head on her camera bag and laptop bag slung over her shoulders. She had just gotten back from Kalispell and a shoot she had convinced her friend to do. She hadn't thought to go to the art studio, to develop her photos. She had left an envelope of new pictures in the club room and it would be easier to pick up the pictures, do some blogging and then head off. She wasn't expecting anybody to be in there so she was surprised when she saw a boy, staring at a picture.

She was hoping to actually get some done since she had ignored her blog for awhile. Besides the Zoe, she hadn't really found anyone to help her with blog and she wasn't sure the girl would actually post anything on it. She walked into the room and shut the door quietly, or at least quietly enough. She sat down her stuff in an empty space and turned to face the boy. "Hi, I'm Kiara, what's your name?" She asked and then started taking out her stuff. It included her camera, her laptop, and an extra film cartridge.

After she was set, she had replaced the full cartridge with an empty one and placed the used up film in a container to preserve it and marked it. She didn't want to bother the guy but she was curious as to what he was doing she she asked from her seat which wasn't far from his. 'Whatcha doing?"

[Quinn Wiley]

Despite being a member of this club for a while, Quinn had little interaction with the other members. He did his thing, that was about it. He joined this club only because his aunt thought it might be good for him and it was about a passion of his. He used whatever equipment they put at the members’ disposal but he never really dared asking anyone else in there what they thought of his work. He always feared a bad critic. Because he couldn’t take critic well. He thought he could put on a good show to those who offered him their comments but he knew deep down how much he feared their opinion on the matter. It was silly and he knew he had to get over it some time, if he ever wanted to be published one day. Still, when you were competing with Zoe, it was hard to have confidence. Not only the girl made good photos but she was more popular than he would ever be despite being just as socially awkward as he was. He didn’t know how she did it. Probably by talking to people despite her stuttering. Yeah, he bet that was how.

He noticed the girl coming inside. He’d seen her before, here, but never really bothered to talk to her or even introduce himself to her. He figured she came here for the same reason he did: to do his thing, work on her project and then be on her way. He was wrong. She came near him to talk to him. “I know who you are, I’ve seen you here before. You’re from the club,” he pointed out as he looked at her. She was taking her things off her bag and placing them on the working space next to his. “I’m Quinn,” he finally answered. She did ask for him name. He could give her as much.

He still had the vain hope she might go back to her stuff after this. But she intended to talk to him while they were here. “Nothing, just looking at some photos,” he explained. That much was obvious, since he had some on the desk and even one in his hands still. But he was not going to say more.