WHEN IT ALL CLICKS

Balancing school while building a photography business is all in a day’s work.

By Edan Zinn ’23

When I got my first big-deal digital camera in eighth grade, I had my heart set on making movies. I was going to enroll in Digital Cinema classes during all four years of Upper School. I gathered microphones and tripods for use at home. But four years later, I haven’t finished a single short film, and my school schedule has taken a different turn. Instead, I’ve found myself drawn to the shutter button; the familiar click you get when capturing a still (clunk if you’re on a film camera). I bring my camera with me almost everywhere I go now, whether I’m hanging out with friends, at a community event or client photoshoot, in AP® Photography class, or in Journalism, where we produce our award-winning newspaper, The Gator. It’s an extension of my hands at this point; it makes me me.

Entering my senior year has offered me the opportunity to reflect on my nearly 14 years at Brimmer. Telling stories through journalism and capturing the world through my camera lens are passions I’ve discovered as a student here, and I look back on my experiences with incredible gratitude. My extraordinary art teacher from PK through Grade 5, Mrs. Clamage, first introduced me to the concept of a Renaissance man: someone who does it all. One might play in the band while performing in the musical while writing for the newspaper club…and that’s exactly what I wanted to do. From fifth to eighth grade, I filled my time with theater and clarinet rehearsals. But the click of the camera caught up to me, and I found myself taking pictures of nearly everything. I offered my theater friends new headshots for their next auditions; I brought my camera to Exploration Week to capture the scavenger hunt and design challenges. I was captivated by this newfound avenue of my art, and I pursued it by joining The Gator as a photographer in ninth grade. I simultaneously decided that my photography could be more than a new hobby, and in the summer of 2020 while bored in quarantine, I launched Edan Zinn Photography, taking on my first headshot, portrait, and event clients at a safe social distance.

My enthusiasm for journalism brought me to become Executive Editor of The Gator at the end of ninth grade and Co-Editor in-Chief at the end of 10th grade. I spent my first year of Photography classes using digital cameras due to pandemic restrictions around the use of a film darkroom. For the first time since I began taking pictures, I found focus in my work, improving my skills and working with my incredibly talented classmates. I remained enthralled with running all facets of my new photography business, learning how to draft client invoices while juggling my course load and pursuing the Creative Arts Diploma (CAP). That summer of 2021, through the referral of my CAP classmate and fellow business owner Eleanor Reyelt ’23 of Jewelz by Elle, I began a photography internship with a local bead and yarn store called Bead + Fiber, capturing photos to grow its online storefront. This internship opened many doors for my business and shows the true power of what can happen when student artists support each other in an environment like CAP. I began freelance contract work for Boston corporations, small businesses, and organizations, including the SoWa Art + Design District, a hub of commerce and culture in the city. I volunteered for Spontaneous Celebrations and took photos for local artists. I was learning so much about the commercial side of photography; I had shot fashion shows and products and events, and to this day, I greatly enjoy this kind of work. But now that I’ve experienced working with film in the darkroom, completed an independent study in Graphic Art, and continued to expand my learning in AP® Photography, I have the fine arts side of photography to work on as well. And I have a lot to learn.

Balancing newfound photography and journalism skills is one thing, but to do it during a pandemic was difficult. With COVID-19’s viral wrath and the start of remote learning, the pandemic temporarily halted my photography business and put The Gator’s newsroom in a remote setting. However, the pandemic years have inspired me to tell more Brimmer stories and showcase the unsung heroes that have kept Brimmer’s wheels running. When our city streets emptied as Massachusetts locked down back in March of 2020, I was inspired to get out there and capture scenes for my first photo essay, Boston Goes Dark. I realized that being part of a student newspaper during COVID-19 presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to document a massive generational event and its impact on our School. Future students might read The Gator and think, why are they all wearing masks and sitting six feet apart for class? And so, I went out, masked up, and with a camera in hand, became an investigative journalist documenting our pandemic lives both in Boston and at Brimmer.

TURNING A HOBBY INTO A BUSINESS, EDAN ZINN PHOTOGRAPHY LAUNCHED IN 2020 DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC.

The following fall, my fellow Editor Karly Hamilton ’21 and I documented the faculty and staff’s herculean efforts to make learning possible during the pandemic. I created another photo essay detailing students’ return to campus following half a semester of remote education, highlighting my peers’ and teachers’ voices—the uncertainty and the hope. Committed to COVID-19 coverage to inform and educate the community, Karly and I produced a podcast series featuring Brimmer alumni and parents, aimed at reporting the science behind COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine hesitancy. Working on these kinds of projects that localize national conversations to Brimmer’s community has helped me realize the impact that student journalism can have on our School. We have the power to combat widespread misinformation and bring vital coverage to our readers and listeners, often with more accessibility than major news outlets like CNN or The New York Times. As students, this is a priceless learning and community service opportunity, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work that we’re doing. Exactly two years after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, my co-editors and I published “March 12: A Day to Define Our Generation,” an editorial reflecting on the significance of this date, all that has changed since, and the lessons we will take with us into the future. With this editorial came an ongoing archive of COVID-19 coverage on The Gator’s website, an initiative we started so that Brimmer community members can continue to look back at primary-source coverage of the pandemic and its effects on our campus, including the setbacks and the silver linings.

A Photography class assignment entitled “Light”

In The Gator Newsroom.

One of my favorite pandemic journalism projects was following the Upper School Band as they improvised and adapted to changing restrictions. I sat in on rehearsals and performances all year long, taking photos and interviewing Band members to learn their stories of overcoming challenges, like how concurrent learner Jerry Dong ’23 rehearsed music on Zoom and Dieter Gartner ’22 and Ugonnaya Adiele ’23 learned to play piano in mere months due to masking requirements on their primary instruments. The resulting photo essay remains one of my proudest works, and community spotlights have since been the most special for me of the stories I share on The Gator. We need to lift each other up in these times, and I love to do that through visual journalism. Words on a page can only say so much, especially about a community like Brimmer, so I strive for my photos to tell stories too. I’ve had the privilege of photographing student performances, like Marlie Kass ’23’s stunning original student-directed play, Troupe of Tropes, as well as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Greenline and Band concerts. I keep coming back to these student shows, in awe of what my classmates are creating.

Performing in Thumbelina in 2015.

This past summer, I had the privilege of joining the Brimmer Summer staff as a Photography, Videography, and Social Media Intern. Working with children ages three through 11, I refocused my commercial photography skills to create new content for the website. I also turned to videography, an area in which I have much less experience, and created video advertisements to promote the summer programs as well as internal videos to share with parents on social media. Working with children, counselors, and specialists was a valuable experience for me, and I’m so glad that the entrepreneurship I put toward my photography business Now in my senior year, I’m busier than ever between photography, journalism, and schoolwork. As Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Gator, I post article after article throughout the week, and each new headline and story I get to workshop with a writer gives me a rush of satisfaction. The coaching side of editing is incredibly rewarding, and it makes me happy to see growth in my writers’ abilities. Something I did not realize when I became an editor, however, is that the job leaves little time to work on my own writing. I treasure my experiences of getting out there to report, take photos, and craft my own stories, and I’m always trying to figure out how to do it all. Being a full-time student while maintaining time for extracurricular passions is a true balancing act. My CoEditor Natalie Kozhemiakin ’23 knows this well; her daily ballet routines have her coming home as late as 9:00 p.m. Then, with articles to edit, duties to complete for her Puerto Rico–based dance nonprofit, Tutus Para Todas, and homework to finish for AP® Microeconomics and English Language, it’s hard to get enough sleep to stay strong. “I love it so much, though,” Natalie always reminds me. We both get that; when you do get to write your own op-eds and articles, it’s worth the wait. Her work has won awards from the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association and other fantastic honors. But the feeling of writing stories you care about—it’s unmatched. It’s the fuel that keeps us going and makes the job worthwhile. I can think of many times when I have been engulfed in my art and writing and then looked at the clock to see that it was past 2:00 a.m.—and then stayed up later anyway. We all have those passions.

There’s something special about Brimmer students that I’ve noticed. Being a community that values participation in all areas of School life, including academics, athletics, arts, and extracurriculars, everyone is performing their own unique juggling act—and somehow, we keep all our pins aligned. Every student deeply committed to their passions, whether they be art and global studies like my classmate Hebe Qiang ’23, or baseball and photography like Zak Adler ’23, is juggling—and excelling at it. It takes a supportive and diverse environment like Brimmer to foster a talent show like the one we put on every day from 7:50 a.m. to bedtime. We owe that to our teachers and mentors. But it also takes the creativity and drive that each of us brings to the table to make magic happen, to paint another portrait, or win another basketball game.

Through Brimmer, we find balance in the things we love. Passion is what I admire most about the Brimmer community. It’s in all of us; every teacher, administrator, kitchen and maintenance staffer, and student, surrounded by the inspiring adults who make our dreams come true. We bring it all.

My gratitude for the nearly 14 years I’ve spent here is endless. I hope to give back through my work, and that someday, future Brimmer students will be able to view Brimmer the way I did—through the lens of my camera and my writing for The Gator. To the faculty and former students who have mentored me in these passions, like renowned videographer Sophia Spring ’22, my journalism teacher David Cutler, and my Creative Arts Diploma Program mentors Kathryn Lee and Bill Jacob—thank you. I owe so much to you for inspiring me and showing me how to balance the passions that bring me joy. Whatever comes next, no matter where I’ll be snapping photos or telling stories, I hope to keep some of the passion I’ve found here at Brimmer with me forever. I’ll only be a student here until next June, but you can almost guarantee that my senior year will be full of many clicks and clunks. 16,253... ■

Performing in Seussical in 2019.

Competing for the Cross Country Team.

Read Edan’s work with The Gator, including his award-winning photo essays and editorials documenting the early days of the pandemic.