Practice makes perfect, but for some people it doesn’t take as long as others. Senior Jayden Plummer picked up photography as a hobby about a year ago and has excelled in that short time, including recognition in a national competition.

Around two months ago, Plummer submitted a few photos he had taken into a competition titled “2018 :: Best of College & High School Photography Contest” on Photographer’s Forum. More recently, he was given the news that he was named a finalist in this competition, over almost 12,000 other photographers’ submissions. Plummer is still waiting to hear back on the final selections of winners from the 200 finalists.

According to the Photographer’s Forum website, the magazine “is an award-winning quarterly publication dedicated to quality reproduction of photography in the United States and Canada. Each issue strives to facilitate communication and publication experience among emerging professionals.”

Plummer is a self-taught photographer who has been inspired by other photographers on social media platforms such as Instagram and Youtube. In recent years, Instagram has been a major platform that has led to growth of an interest in photography for many people.  

“I just went for it,” Plummer said. “I thought it was cool.”

Plummer mostly focuses on portrait and landscape photography, which he posts on his Instagram @jayden_plummer. He also uses friends and family as his canvas in order to continually develop his skills in the area of portrait photography.