{"id":1267,"date":"2019-05-15T15:19:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T15:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2019-05-25T23:19:32","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T23:19:32","slug":"sophomore-lila-amin-capturing-the-imperfect-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2019\/05\/sophomore-lila-amin-capturing-the-imperfect-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer aims to capture life’s ‘imperfect moments’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While the rest of us live in our selfie culture of the \u201cperfect moment\u201d and the era of Instagram, one Hunter sophomore is seeking to capture the \u201cimperfect moments\u201d and show that those can be even more meaningful.<\/p>\n

It all started for Lila Amin when she was asked to join her high school yearbook club. As soon as she started shooting pictures of her classmates at Walt Whitman High School on Long Island in 2015, Amin, now a Hunter sophomore majoring in psychology, knew this was something she would love to explore.<\/p>\n

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Portrait of Amin- who is usually behind the camera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI finally found something that allowed me to get out of my own head and focus on other people,\u201d says Amin, who has suffered from depression. If she was having a tough time at home or school, photography became an escape for her. \u201cIt\u2019s an outlet where I can be creative and help others express themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

She began to save up her money for her own camera by working part-time jobs, and soon had enough to get a Canon t6i, which she uses today. She takes all her photos using natural light, so she doesn\u2019t need any equipment besides a camera.<\/p>\n

Practicing photography for four years now, Amin focuses on portraits and is currently trying to build a portfolio by shooting other Hunter students. Mayar Safwat, who has done multiple photoshoots with Amin, explains how from the beginning they just gelled together and it felt like a good fit. \u201cI instantly felt comfortable. She really has a great energy and I felt like I could be myself.\u201d Amin wanted to practice her photography and Safwat offered to be a model for her. They traveled throughout New York City to find clever spots for photoshoots and have been working together for over a year now.<\/p>\n

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Image Captured By Amin<\/figcaption> Photo by Lila Amin<\/span><\/figure>\n

Amin\u2019s favorite part about photographing others is finding those who are uncomfortable thinking about their own image \u2013 rather than models — and helping them find confidence by doing a photoshoot for them. \u201cIt makes them feel good about themselves, which makes me feel good about myself in return,\u201d says Amin.<\/p>\n

Safwat added that Amin\u2019s portrait sessions have been a confidence booster.<\/p>\n

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Image Captured By Amin<\/figcaption> Photo by Lila Amin<\/span><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think everyone struggles with insecurities at some point and it can be hard to overcome,\u201d says Safwat. \u201cWhen I did my first shoot with Lila I was nervous to see how the pictures were going to come out. Now I get eager to see because through the photos she takes I feel confident, empowered, and my insecurities slowly go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nate Hiatt, another client of Amin\u2019s, met her at the 79th Street dorms and instantly they connected over their shared passion for photography. \u201cUsually I am the one behind the camera, so it was nice to find someone who is a photographer and I get good photos back in return,\u201d Hiatt said.<\/p>\n

Amin directs the subject on how to pose at each photoshoot, which helps her explore her artistic side. But makes a deliberate effort to look past that idea of capturing the \u2018perfect moment\u2019 \u2013 something so prevalent in our selfie culture and era of Instagram. That is not her goal at all; instead, Amin tries to capture the \u2018imperfect moments\u2019 and show that those, too, can be considered \u2018perfect.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the selfie culture of the \u201cperfect moment\u201d and the era of Instagram, one Hunter sophomore is seeking to capture the less perfect and show that those moments can be even more meaningful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[55,14,97,40],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-art","tag-hunter-college","tag-photography","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1523,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions\/1523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}