The average high school student has a phone for a camera and uses it for selfies and pictures to post on Instagram. Junior Chris Muth, meanwhile, works as a freelance photographer and a burgeoning filmmaker.
As with most high school publicity, Muth’s work began gaining popularity through social media. After posting his photos on Instagram and realizing how much others enjoyed them, Muth began his career as a freelance photographer. Social media continues to be helpful in making connections and providing inspiration for his projects.
“I draw from a lot of people on social media, friends of mine that are in my own little community, and I draw inspiration from a lot of professional work,” said Muth.
In the past year alone, his work has paid off, as his models have noticed significant improvement in his work. Senior Sarah Strohecker, who works as a professional model, was one of Muth’s first consistent portrait models, and began working with him early last year.
“Chris is fantastic, and it’s really interesting to see his growth as a photographer because when we first started shooting together, I would probably get two or three pictures that I could use, and he’s definitely improved over just this past year alone,” said Strohecker. “I can consistently get five or six really great pictures that I can use in my portfolio.”
All of Muth’s electives have dealt with his desire for a career in film. He’s currently in his third year of photography and is taking Film Study along with actual filmmaking classes.
“We both have Film—it’s an academy at Fairfax High School—and we became close friends after we got into groups,” said senior Daryn Blackwell. “He’s very talented: a talented photographer and a talented videographer.”
Muth’s ultimate goal is to be a filmmaker, although photography remains a major point of interest for him. His history as a videographer is much shorter than his history as a photographer, but the latter has been a useful instrument in learning his way around a camera.
“I wanted to be a filmmaker before I wanted to take pictures—I still want to be a filmmaker more than a photographer, but I was always interested in using cameras and video to tell stories and stuff,” said Muth. “I draw that from photography, and getting a picture is a lot different than getting one continuous shot, but it helps me learn that kind of art form.”
Muth has made one short film, Lucid, a horror-drama hybrid that was shot in two days. The actor and actress, junior Yosef Etana and senior Lourdes Turnblom, are from WS and the script was written in one of Muth’s film classes with his friends. Muth did most of the heavy lifting, as he likes to do with most of his projects, which left him busy as he shot, co-wrote, edited, directed, and produced the video, not that he complained.
“My favorite part of doing all of that is after it’s all done and seeing what it can become or what it has become, ‘cause I could spend hours and hours on a single picture until I get it right, but once it’s done, it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m on to the next one,’ like it’s over. And then you post it somewhere or you show someone and it can have a lasting effect on them,” said Muth.