For the past three years, junior journalism major Rachel Weyhe has been documenting life with her camera.

The story of how she began her love affair with photography is a rather simple one.

“A friend of mine had a camera lying around so I started taking photos of anything, really,” Weyhe said. “It’s simple, I know, but I was really inspired by everything around me.”

Weyhe is no stranger to the art world, having been surrounded and influenced by art her entire life.  Her grandfather is notable New York-based sculptor Arthur Weyhe, and her great-grandfather was an art collector and trader.

“There’s always been a lot of artwork around me and in my home. Not quite photography, but certainly a lot of classic artwork,” Weyhe said.

Weyhe’s talents really flourished after taking a class in the art form, which allowed her to learn about more sophisticated cameras and lenses, as opposed to the point-and-shoot models that she was already acquainted with.

“The best knowledge I acquired from taking that class was photographing on a manual setting, which I enjoy doing because it puts more of a challenge into getting the right picture. You really have to manipulate a lot on the camera.”

When photographing, Weyhe focuses mostly on the people or interesting objects around her. This includes friends, strangers, architecture, and landscapes.

While she admits that candid photos are always nice, Weyhe’s favorite technique is something she calls “half-staged,” manipulating readily available objects in ways that she sees fit.

The young photographer feels an overwhelming sense of gratification from photographing, citing her “art-high” for the main reason she keeps going.

“When I take a great picture, it energizes me and reminds me why I keep doing this,” Weyhe said.  “It’s rather exciting, really.”

Weyhe is a transfer student from Pace’s NYC campus and is so far enjoying her first semester in Pleasantville.

“I came up here because I was told by many that the curriculum for journalistic studies is far better than down there [in NYC],” Weyhe said. “I’m just trying to absorb as much as possible here and see where it takes me.”