Clairbourn School

Portrait of classmate, Spike Larr, from Miranda’s photography exhibit “13.”Making Her Mark in PhotographyEIGHTH-GRADER, MIRANDA STEINWithin every person are special talents waiting to bediscovered. They usually burst onto the scene whenone encounters a key stimulus. For some it can be the fi rsttime they sit down at a piano, pick up a basketball, or turnon a computer. But for Clairbourn eighth-grader, MirandaStein, a natural talent for photography appeared at 11years old when she began playing with one of her mom’sold cameras. Her interest was further developed whenher mother, Molly Stein, who is a trained photographer,showed her a few professional tips on how to use thecamera and taught her some basic lessons on what makesa picture memorable. Miranda soon realized she shared alove for her mom’s favorite photography subject—people.She followed her mother’s advice to create pictoral interestby shooting the subject up close or having something inthe foreground out-of-focus between the camera lens andthe subject. With some basic lessons in hand and hernatural intuitive sense, Miranda started to build a body ofhighly accomplished photographic work.To deepen her understanding, Mrs. Stein shared withMiranda her collection of photography books, enablingher to study the work of famous American photographerssuch as Mary Ellen Mark, William Eggleston, Diane Arbus,Gary Winogrand, and Keith Carter. “They all made melook at people and the way the light works and changesin a whole new way. Most of all, they taught me that6 BRANCHING OUT SPRING 2008