After years of smartphone dominance in photography, a revival of traditional alternative devices have emerged among teenagers. From digital camera trends to using professional lenses, some students are utilizing different tools to display unique perspectives and aesthetics.

Sophomore Djoni Muresan had experimented with various equipment, such as buying devices from TikTok shop and inheriting a Sony camera from his father. He enjoys the retro and clear features of cameras.

Muresan, however, recently discovered a smartphone app that gives the same old feel with more convenience.

“What I usually use nowadays because I love the vintage feel of cameras but it’s hard to take it around, there’s this app called OldRoll that I found on Pinterest,” Muresan said. “You can use different types of cameras, so they have digital and one use (cameras).”

Seeing other individuals on social media using digital cameras, senior Jocelyn Luna also wanted to be involved in the trend. Luna uses two different types of cameras, a Nikon and a Canon, enjoying the different effects each one gives.

“I like using the digital cameras because I feel like it’s more memorable. When you take the photos, everyone poses and says, ‘Cheese,’ and it flashes,” Luna said. “The flash especially is different from the phone flash where it’s bright white. It’s an actual flash.”

Muresan’s passion for photography began during his time as freshman class publicist, where he was in charge of documenting school events. Outside of school, he enjoyed taking photos with friends as a way to preserve his high school memories.

“I’m a cheerleader, so when I go to cheer games, I love taking photos of myself with my teammates on the digital cameras,” Muresan said. “I want to look back on it and have a nice aesthetic view.”

Similar to Muresan, Luna also enjoys photography with friends. She uses her photos to appreciate past experiences as well as post them on social media. Luna explained her future plans for the digital camera photos.

“When I go to college, I’ll print them out and put them on my wall,” Luna said. “I just really like the memories with it and it looks like it was from super long ago, but it was just like last week.”

Junior Kiran Sivasubramanian has a different passion for photo taking. He primarily focuses on landscape photography, especially while traveling. Sivasubramanian often uses and prefers a drone for scenic photos. He uses a Pentax camera, however, for other general pictures.

“You can get different perspectives with the drone and usually I take photos from above and straight down, so it looks completely different,” Sivasubramanian said. “With photos using my camera, I can’t capture that as well since it’s more focused on objects or really specific subjects rather than a scene.”

While Sivasubramanian has a passion for capturing scenic landscapes, senior Ashton Balina developed an interest in the art of street photography. Through social media, Balina was introduced to street photography, a genre of filming everyday life in public spaces.

Now, Balina finds opportunities for photos through attending car shows or being around people to take candids. He uses this hobby as a way to connect with others who share his interests.

“Photography is subjective, so what I might think would look good, some people have their own criticisms,” Balina said. “With some of my friends, I would ask, ‘What do you think about this composition? What do you think of these colors? How do you think I edited this? What do you think I need to change?’”

With many students having different passions and motives for taking pictures, photography teacher Ara Tanajian described how some take his class as an opportunity to continue their interests, especially through forming a club.

“Some students started a photography club last year, so that was new. There is a group of students that come once every couple weeks and have a meeting, and they do their own lessons,” Tanajian said. “They’re very serious in teaching each other photography and going over different concepts of photography.”

Balina continues his passion for photography through taking the class at school, but he also has a social media account where he shares his final edited photos. To further his hobby, Balina began doing videography as well.

“I did record a recent trip that I took to Disneyland with my family, but I just haven’t gotten the time to fully edit it,” Balina said. “I’m definitely thinking about editing videos and posting them somewhere like a YouTube channel.”

Sivasubramanian also has a social media account where he posts pictures from his travels, but since it is a leisure activity for him, his account is not a large priority.

“It’s more for me to share my work. It’s not really important to me how many followers or likes my posts get. It’s something I enjoy doing, and I want to share that with my friends,” Sivasubramanian said.

With years of experience, Tanajian teaches different ways of editing pictures to his students. He realized most students have access to effective editing softwares on their phones. In addition to taking great pictures, Tanajian believes iPhone editing features are able to get the job done.

“I don’t really carry a DSLR with me all the time because I don’t really want to. They’re heavy and they’re bulky, and if I lose it, it would suck. That’s where your phone is just awesome,” Tanajian said. “It’s a great starting point for taking photos. The quality is good, and the editing is fairly simple.”

While Balina agrees that phone photography is more convenient, he finds more joy using his camera to take pictures.

“With the camera, I’ll stand still for a couple minutes, take a test shot and see how I like that. Maybe switch my position, switch how I’m holding the camera, change any of the settings I need to, but it’s just more fun that way,” Balina said.

Luna frequently uses her phone due to convenience, but she pointed out how her digital camera motivates her to capture more memories.

“I used to take a lot of photos when I just had my phone, but now with a digital camera, I want to take so many more photos and so many more photos of my friends and things around me,” Luna said.

Even though students’ purposes range from savoring memories to capturing scenery, photography has the ability to stir the senses.

“I tried it (photography) out and I ended up really liking it. I kept doing it. I pursued it, and I found myself liking it a lot,” Sivasubramanian said. “It’s the feeling of taking the photo, looking at it, and saying, ‘Wow.’”