Jack Micallef: Photographer turned Businessman

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Jack Micallef edits a few pictures before posting them to Instagram. He made sure that the edits that he made don’t change the overall mood of the photo. “Editing photos is a key part of photography,” Micallef said.

Photography may just be another hobby to some but not for senior Jack Micallef. Photographing has heavily influenced his life, teaching him things like composition, communication, emotion, and exposure.

“I joined smartphone photography at Hopkinton High School sophomore year, and as the course progressed, I started to take a liking to photography and all of its aspects,” Senior Jack Micallef said.

After taking smartphone photography Micallef found an old DSLR camera in his basement and started playing around with it and took pictures with it.

“After I fixed up and took the first pictures on the DSLR, I fell in love and developed a passion for photography,” Micallef said.

As Micallef’s interest and passion grew, his desire to share his work also grew. As a result, at the start of junior year in high school, Micallef started his photography Instagram account.

“I’ve been posting pictures that I really liked, that I want to show my followers, my friends, and family, and make it known that I like photography and I really enjoy doing it,” said Micallef.

At the time of recording, Micallef has 230 followers and 209 posts on his photography account, jackthephotokid, with photos ranging from old cars to cereal boxes to other HHS students.

Near the end of junior year, Micallef started a senior picture business because his good friend, Sam Cote, had a business the year prior. Micallef advertised his new business by making flyers and posting on Instagram.

“Initially I only had three people sign up for a senior picture and I thought that was going to be a capping point. As the summer progressed, however, I got a huge flood of people who wanted to get their senior portraits done by me,” Micallef said.

Micallef said that as he was doing them, he got familiar with what it takes to make a good portrait, including composition, lighting, and poses too makes him seem like a professional photographer.

“The biggest hardship with starting a senior portrait business is timing and communication. People contacted me last minute to change the date for their senior portraits. I learned to be flexible and forthcoming,” Micallef said.

Micallef may have started photography with little experience, but will now leave high school with a new photography business and skills that can help him anywhere.