Sonya hails from Meel’e'wakayy (as the natives call it, I think I saw that in a movie once, but yeah Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Upon seeing her work, we immediately fell in love with her work. She is only 18 but takes photos with a mature refined sense of light. The capturing of intimate moments of her subjects is far beyond her age and it’s easy to spend lots of time sorting through her flickr page which you can see here. She told us she is finishing up her senior year of high school and attending New York University in the fall of this year. She also says photography began as a hobby when she got her first DSLR (Nikon d60). “I’ve grown so much more as a photographer with all the support I’ve gotten sharing my work on Flickr/Tumblr/Facebook/etc recently.” Sonya says, so keep up the support fans! Count us in! She just recently won two silver medals in the National Scholastic Awards, and will be flying out to NYC in May and awarded at Carnegie Hall.

She photographs her friends and herself around town, ” I’m trying to evoke something for the audience of my work with location/environment/props.” Sonya says, “Occasionally I’ll shoot inanimate subjects. I’m drawn to natural light. There’s this digital ‘vintage look’ trend inspired by analogue going around everywhere with photography/online sharing, I’m definitely intrigued by it, but I’ve been trying to maintain my own integrity at the same time while post processing with my own curves etc.”

You’ve been Witnessed Sonya, your work is amazing and we will be following you (in a non creepy way) and watching your art develop. Expect us to post more of her work soon!

Enjoy some of her work below and check out her website here.