From the time she was twelve, Erika Huezo could be found with a camera in her hand.  The 2016 BHS graduate learned from the best when she took photography classes from Alice Rowe.  With a specialization in nature and landscape photography, Huezo set her sights on entrepreneurship and is currently a Photography major at West Virginia University with a minor in Business Administration.

 

Last summer, Huezo had the opportunity to travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to capture landscapes as part of a photography workshop.  The experience only heightened her passion for photography and interest in seeing different parts of the world through her lens.  In March, she was selected as one of only ten WVU students to travel to France as part of a Global Positioning Study trip offered through the school of art and design.  

 

“The trip was not just about taking photos,” said Huezo. “It was about us finding our place in the world and being inspired on a global scale to make art.  We critiqued each other’s work often and each photo had to have reasoning or meaning behind it.”

 

Upon arriving in Paris, the group’s first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral.  Given that the iconic attraction was damaged by fire shortly after their visit, the time spent there was the most cherished part of Heuzo’s trip.

 

“My favorite memory was the Notre Dame Cathedral,” she said.  “We sat outside taking pictures for about an hour, just taking in the beauty of it all.  Then, we were in awe as we went inside and explored, photographing the art, the windows, the ceiling, and really sinking into the reality of what it represented and how fortunate we were to be a part of it.”

 

After three days touring the artistic and architectural wonders of Paris, the group traveled to the Loire Valley and the D-Day beaches.  Each stop along the way was paired with historical and artistic reading assignments to help students connect the past the present.  Visits to attractions also varied in respect to time of day, lighting, and activities so students could capture different angles and visual aspects of each attraction.

 

The visited the Forest of Fontainebleau, an artistic hotspot in the 1830’s where Monet once painted.  

 

“It was surreal to see all the historical places I had read about in person,” said Huezo. “It inspired my art, made me introspective about my life and helped me to shape where I want to go as a photographer.”