“If I could design my own job, I would use photography to raise awareness of social issues,” she says. Croll took another step in that direction after Vincent Ferraro’s MHC course in world politics got her very interested in what is going on in the Middle East. While traveling with Thomas Shaw, the Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts, Croll photographed the West Bank and lived with a Palestinian family. Despite machine guns on every roof, piles of rotting garbage, and other Jessica Croll daily challenges, Croll calls her time there “one of the best experiences of my life.” Croll later exhibited these photos in western Massachusetts galleries and coffee shops. “I’ve always admired people from other cultures, and am envious of people with such rich cultures that are so mysterious to me,” Croll explains. While still in high school, she lived with Native Americans in the Taos Pueblo, as part of a National Geographic-sponsored photography program. This summer she plans to work in New York with photographer Steve McCurry, famed for his haunting National Geographic cover shot of an Afghan girl. Though Croll’s artistic medium is a silent one, talking is key to her photographic endeavors. “I talk to everyone,” Croll admits. Being a young woman, she says, lets her ask questions without intimidating anyone. Still, she says, her curiosity sometimes worries her parents. For example, some might have shied away from the subject of her portrait Motorcycle Grandpa, a man with unkempt hair and a forbidding glare. But Croll engaged him in conversation because he smelled like linseed oil, which she associated with oil painting. The man, a former college professor, and Croll later discussed painting perspective over lemonade in his studio. “I am attracted to people different from myself. I am still defining my own beliefs, and the more I learn, the more it helps me,” she explains.
P h o t o o f jessica C r o ll : M andy C arnley
Thanks to her parents’ encouragement, Croll picked up her first camera about three years ago. Although fairly new to this art form, Croll grew up with “lots of art in my home and going to museums all the time,” and has made her own art since childhood.
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As a high school senior, Croll took a course that required her to interview women’s college students and alumnae. Suddenly, the selfdescribed shy person became less reserved. “I learned that one of the best ways to get people talking is to say, ‘I’m in a class; tell me about yourself.’ They’ll tell you their story.” Croll still finds the camera a useful way to get to know people. For her, the photos are more a means to that end than an aesthetic goal in themselves. Croll’s genuine interest in people seems to help others open up and share their lives with her, and that same honesty shows in her photos. “Gaining someone’s trust,” Croll says, “is the best gift one can be given.” ❐
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