UCLA art student’s photographs allow insider look at teens’ lives
First-year undergraduate student Nico Young's photos were featured in a 12-page spread in the New York Times Magazine when he was a high school student. Now, he's explored other mediums during his studies at UCLA, but still names photography as his favorite art form to work with.
"Nico Young’s after-school skate session ended up on the cover of The New York Times Magazine.
In 2016, the first-year art student’s high school photography teacher sent his photo essay project, which centered around his two friend groups, to The New York Times’ photo editors.
Young said he didn’t expect much, but the resulting assignment from the editors took up several pages in The New York Times Magazine.
Though he has explored other art forms since coming to UCLA as an art student, Young said photography is still his favorite. He enjoys capturing fleeting, spontaneous moments with his peers, a style he said results from his youth, and which sets him apart from other photographers.
“What compels me to shoot is noticing something that nobody else sees when there’s no one but my friends and the camera,” Young said. “There’s something that’s so fleeting and fugitive that if I don’t photograph it, then no one else will ever see it again.”
Young’s photo assignment for The New York Times, titled “Inside Santa Monica High,” centered on the lives of his classmates. It continued throughout the summer, when he photographed his friends partying, skating and hanging out. Young said he chose to photograph his friends and peers in typical settings, such as prom or the skate park.
Martin Ledford, the photography teacher who originally submitted Young’s class assignment to The New York Times, attributes his former student’s success to his curiosity about photography and his friendly demeanor. Ledford said that Young’s subtlety with his camera and ability to blend into the social situations he photographed allowed him to quickly capture genuine photos other photographers wouldn’t be able to."— Claire Locke, Feb. 26, 2018
This post is an excerpt, read the full article at the Daily Bruin website.
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