Junior Hailey Baird’s interest in photography was piqued when she first scrolled through the Instagram and Twitter profiles of photographers. Four years later, she has grown a business out of her hobby.

“I thought [of photography] for a while as something that I’d like to do and then I finally started,” Baird said. 

She specializes in portraits, senior pictures, and family shoots. Her favorite subjects are people.

“My favorite thing about photography is capturing emotion in pictures,” she said. “Another thing I like to incorporate in a shoot is color. I really like to bring bold and vibrant colors because it enhances the people in the shoot. I love black and white as well but when you add color it adds to the type of shoot you’re trying to portray.”

In addition to taking a Photojournalism I class her sophomore year, Hailey is practicing her photography in this year’s Prosper Career and Independent Study course. In this class, she has researched and met with photographers based in the DFW metroplex and will shadow Nick Glover, a fashion photographer, beginning this semester.

“I’m looking forward to learning a lot from him and gaining the exposure to fashion photography,” Baird said. “Observing his photography and his style has already led me to slowly incorporate fashion into more of my portraits.”

About six months ago, Hailey launched a website that showcases her work and attracts attention from people interested in her work.

“I think that [launching my website] has helped people to take me more seriously because by having a website and a gallery that people can go look at and read, it’s not just word of mouth anymore, there’s something that’s out there and that people can go see,” she said. “Especially since I am a teenager, it helps them me look more professional. I get contacted by people through direct messages on Instagram that are my age who are interested in doing a shoot.”

In addition to the launching of her website, Baird has started charging for photoshoots.

“For a long time I was just doing shoots for free just to gain experience, and then my parents talked to me and said I was using gas and time, and so maybe it would be a good idea to start charging for it,” said Baird. “On my website, there is a pricing page with what I charge for different things. It’s nothing crazy or anything, but I’ve learned that charging for my work leads other people to value it because it shows them that I value my work enough to charge for it.”

Ever since she began taking pictures, Hailey has grown to love it more and more, and it has become something that she plans to continue doing in the future.

“I spend a lot of time taking pictures. Right now, it’s the thing that I do most, so I don’t know if I’m going to study it in college, but I definitely want to make it a business on the side,” she said. “I’m thinking of attending an arts school for college, so I think that I would have a lot of opportunities to grow as a photographer in that environment.”

As for starting to take pictures and learning about photography, Hailey’s advice is to practice as much as possible.

“I know it sounds cliche, but find your style and practice as much as you can,” Baird said. “At the beginning, it was basically just me taking my friends or my sisters and figuring out what I like and what I don’t like by having them model for me. When I finally found out what I liked to do, it was because I spent a lot of time practicing.”

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