Literary Journal for Young Writers
Marmalade Skyline is a photo I took at my uncle’s farm in South Dakota in the summer. It’s setting is the mile long driveway taken in the finishing minutes of the golden hour. The photo showcases how easy it is to end up lost in a daydream when the surrounding area is illuminated with marmalade colors.
Rachel Bownik is a photographer and filmmaker from MN. When not taking endless photos of the sunset, she works as a professional breadmaker.
Ava Wang is a senior at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. She has works recognized at the city, state, and national level by Wildlife Forever, the PTA Reflections, and the River of Words. She is the Teen Ink Summer Issue Cover Art Winner, Teen Ink #1 Top Voted Photo Winner, and the winner of multiple Editor’s Choice Awards. Her works are also displayed at the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport as well as the High Art Museum every year and had been published in multiple Embryo and Teen Ink Magazines. Additionally, she is the head editor for her school’s arts and literary magazine, the founder of Art Heals Foundation, and a board member of the Together, We Can Foundation. She also enjoys teaching her after-school art class at ASK!
Living in Hawaii, I am lucky enough to be surrounded by beauty at all times. The photo above was taken at an overlook facing the magnificent Waimea Canyon, through the links of a wire fence. In order to capture the image, I had to crouch down and bend sideways, receiving more than a couple of strange looks from the other occupants of the overlook—my own family not excluded. However, I think that the resulting image more than makes up for any minor discomfort I might have experienced.
“A Sticker for You” is a self portrait using markers and pens. In this piece, I chose to draw an image of my face covered in stickers because stickers, believe it or not, have played a huge role in my life. When I first came to the United States in fifth grade, I neither knew how to speak English nor did I feel particularly inclined to learn it. However, my tutor found a way to make me want to finish all my grammar and reading worksheets by giving me a sticker for every sheet I finished. In this way, I was motivated by my desire to collect as many Hello Kitty, Avengers, and glittery stars stickers as I could to learn English and work towards my goals. Ultimately, these stickers became a part of my identity as they served as the reason I learned English as well as the catalyst for the work habits I have developed over the years.
I’ve been doing journalism for the past four years, and because I was first introduced seriously to photography in journalism, I was taught to learn to capture the moment, capture the spontaneous, capture the candid. But when I was given an assignment, this was part of my portfolio for an application, I wanted to experiment with photography without having to capture the moment. I wanted to experience photography where I could map out every element, and I really wanted to see what kind of visuals I could get, compared to my candid ones, if they were all set up exactly how I wanted it. I had seen lights and rainbows used by popular celebrities on Instagram, but I wanted to add my own backstory to it. My friend shown in this picture is a dancer, so we styled her hair into a bun and put her in a leotard. Although it is not obvious in the photo, I wanted to capture the feelings of a dancer on stage, the way they look into the lights and the rainbows created by the lights against the air.
Seo Yoon Yang’s dream is to attend a film college and become a film director in L.A. She started a YouTube channel under her name Yoonie Yang and is hoping to start her film career with that social media program. She loves photography, journalism, and animals.
For my second piece, yellow glasses, yellow prisms, yellow background, full spectrum people, I wanted to make a point about racist jokes. As an Asian American, I have dealt with racism through a modern form: racist jokes. Being called chopsticks, rice, and yellow were my least favorite. But especially being called yellow. I felt judged and ugly called that color. It impacted my self esteem and the way I held myself to the beauty standard growing up. In the picture, both of my friends are Asian, and I purposely styled them with yellow glasses, yellow background, and yellow prisms because I wanted to portray the idea that although they were surrounded by their stereotypes and the judgments held by others by being an Asian American in America, they could still be full spectrum people, people who weren’t confined by their racial stereotypes. I feel very strongly about this photo because of my backstory.
Seo Yoon Yang’s dream is to attend a film college and become a film director in L.A. She started a youtube channel under the name Yoonie Yang and is hoping to start her film career with that social media program. she loves photography, journalism, and animals.
Augmented Reality is a still life painting of objects I found around my house placed behind different glasses of water. With this piece, I wanted to capture the reflections and refractions through a transparent, glossy surface, in this case, glass, and how it alters the scene of a still life. I ultimately used this piece as an investigation of surfaces and visual illusions