Jenn Levin’s career began with experimentation and curiosity. In her seventh-grade graphic design class at Bannockburn, senior Jenn Levin began playing with a camera, testing out its features and taking pictures of everything around her. Now, after four years of art and photo classes at DHS, a summer program at New York University and the launching of her photography website, Levin plans to continue her career at the University of Missouri by studying magazine editorial and photo.

“I started experimenting with my camera and it was just a point and shoot kind of thing, I found a love for it. I started experimenting more with it and testing out lighting and I realized what I really want to pursue in my life as a fashion photographer,” Levin said.

Currently, much of Levin’s time is spent working with models, usually other DHS students, in the black and white medium. Often, Levin is inspired by something she sees online or in magazines. This helps guide her photo shoots, which usually take around three hours, including hair, makeup, clothing and editing.

“Most of the time I’ll get inspiration from something, whether it be Vogue or Vanity Fair, or I’ll see something on Instagram and I’ll develop the idea in my head. Then I think and I see a certain person that I know, whether it’s a friend or someone else, and I ask them to model for me,” Levin said.

One of her models, junior Lizzie Marks, explains that she heard about Levin and requested to work with her after a mutual friend posted photos of Levin’s work. On the day of the shoot, Marks had her makeup done and had Levin pick clothing for her that would best illustrate and convey the vision behind her photographs.

“She told me which clothes she wanted me to put on and she would fix my hair if she wanted it more teased and she would fix my body positions, she also did the lighting configuration and all that and she dictated the whole photo shoot and I would just add in little movements,” Marks said.

During the photo shoots, Levin’s main goal is to make the models feel comfortable, which she accomplishes by playing music and establishing a relationship with them. She has found that when the model is more comfortable and relaxed, the images look more natural. This year, Levin’s concentration is one of the images from the photo shoot with Marks that she has edited and enlarged.

“I made a huge 40×30 print, and it’s black and white, but then there are colored blocks that are coming off of her face. All the editing I do myself, I am also a graphic artist, it’s a passion of mine,” Levin said.

To broaden her audience and outreach, Levin has recently created a website (http://www.jenniferlevinphoto.com) to showcase her work and her past experiences. She explains that she also has the potential to sell her work on the site, although it currently acts only as a gallery. Marks is extremely supportive of the path Levin plans to take in photography and fashion, especially after working with her.

“She is incredible at what she does. In the future, I see her working for magazines, like fashion magazines, the way she takes pictures it looks like a cover shot for a magazine. It’s incredible and with more training I think that her photo skills would just continue to improve,” Marks said.

While reflecting on her body of work over the past four years, Levin explains that her favorite has been a project she created for AP photo last year. It displayed many of her strongest photographs on a human mannequin, highlighting her best work from that year.

“I created a human mannequin and I mod-podged a bunch of my black and white images on it and put a floppy hat on it, to make it seem human. The project didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, but I still love the concept of it so I hope to try it again in the future,” Levin said.

In addition to photography classes at DHS and work in the studio, Levin has also taken interest in graphic design. Now in the advanced levels, Levin has become extremely close with Mr. Moran over the past two years, who has had a large impact on her work. He describes that Jenn is a dynamic and creative student who is actively setting goals and chasing after them.

“Jenn is a student who has an old soul or is a very deep thinker who is aware of her surroundings, and that demeanor has served her well. As an artist, she sees the little details, takes in the experience and revels in its creation. She has a vision of the “big picture” and sees endless possibilities to achieve the outcome. That is what I find to be her biggest assets, ” Moran said.

Along with her experience at DHS, Levin picked up some of her photo skills by working among other passionate teenagers and applying her skills this past summer at NYU where she studied digital photography.

“The last night of the program was our exhibition. We showcased our personal projects all over the photography department of NYU Tisch. I was working and putting pieces up right up until the last minute until the elevator opened and attendees of the event started coming in for the opening. It was truly one of the most realistic feelings of what the life of a photographer in New York City is like,” Levin said.

Now, six years after Levin first entered her first graphic design class at Bannockburn, she has set her sights on studying at the University of Missouri and majoring in magazine editorial and photography.

“My hope is to one day be working for a magazine. I don’t know if you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada, but my dream job is to be the editor and chief of a fashion magazine just like the movie,” Levin said.