With a phone in hand, Dathan Austin is constantly capturing the world around him. Whether he is casually snapping photos or thoughtfully composing a shot, his camera roll is extensive. And in the photography class he is taking this semester, the number of photos on his phone continues to grow.

One of Austin’s most recent photos is titled “Sunrise.” To create it, he took one of his senior portraits and fiddled with the exposure and brightness. After multiple edits, Austin was left with a striking piece: a dark silhouette of his face and a background splashed with reds, yellows and pinks.

“I wanted to make something that was different,” Austin said. “The editing took me a really long time, but after I saw the shadows and funky colors, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.”

What was once a traditional photograph was transformed into a bright, pop art-like motif. But besides colorful editing, Austin enjoys the collaborative aspect of photography. Whether he is working on assignments for his photography class or organizing photo shoots outside of school, Austin has found that working with other people makes the process more enjoyable.

For example, Austin collaborated with a close friend on his senior photos. The two walked around town, snapping photos of one another, trying out different angles and poses. The photo shoot was a great reminder for Austin of just how valuable other people can be to the creative process.

“Working with other people is really important,” Austin said. “It’s awesome to be able to bounce ideas off of someone else and figure out the best way to capture your environment.”

In the company of friends or not, Austin continues to improve his skills. He takes any opportunity to whip out his phone and take photos, oftentimes sharing them to his Instagram account. And slowly his account has grown, filling with photos similar to “Sunrise.” Whether that is photos of himself, of close friends or of sunset-filled skies, he takes photos of anything that catches his eye.

“Photography is beautiful,” Austin said. “And when something is beautiful you should try to capture it.”

With each new photography assignment or Instagram post, Austin tries to do something new. And as he adds photo after photo to his camera roll, he finds the beauty all around him.