Emily Morgan is Merrimack’s own artistic treasure. She has the brains to do a Rubik’s cube in two minutes, the fashion sense of a chic looking hipster with her glasses, and speaks a little Korean. But perhaps the most obvious talent she’s known for is her beautiful photography. Although Emily is from Holbrook, Massachusetts, during the school year you can find her in O’Brien Hall, where she is an RA.
Emily grew up in Holbrook, Massachusetts and had a special introduction to photography at a young age that was influenced by her dad, who was a wedding photographer. At age 11, Emily played around with her Dad’s old laptop, amazed at the dynamics of the program Photoshop. She taught herself how certain effects could transform pictures, changing the message of a picture. In a way, Photoshop was her videogame.
Seeing his daughter’s uncanny interest in photography, Mr. Morgan accompanied Emily on photo excursions and seminars. When she turned 16, he gave Emily her first camera. She photographed many landscapes, but during her junior year in high school discovered her love for portrait photography. While everyone else was babysitting for money, Emily was making money taking student’s senior portraits. Her love of photography and common sense approach to a career path, led Emily to major in marketing at Merrimack College.
At Merrimack, Emily crossed paths with the infamous Kevin Salemme, who is the Media Center Director and Photography Professor. They instantly bonded over their adoration for photoshop, portrait photography, and photographers. Kevin became Emily’s photo-mentor; teaching her everything from the importance of lighting to the infinite number of things you can do with a camera in your hand, while maintaining a healthy addiction to coffee. He hired Emily to photograph various events on campus, which exposed her to new people and experiences.
This past semester, Emily built her own twin lens camera, which is a camera that has two of the same length lenses. One lens is used for taking the picture and the other is used to focus the camera. The experience of being able to produce pictures from a camera she made with her own two hands was mind blowing. Ever since that moment, Emily has been looking for new ways to experiment with film by working with her Dad’s antique cameras and purchasing old film formats off EBay.
Emily’s photographic style imitates the way she lives her life; in the moment and not posed. Her photos capture the observer’s perspective. You may not know you are in a photo shoot with Emily as you are exploring some offbeat location. She will just start snapping photos, making the process and outcome much more candid. Emily has a wide array of goals including owning some of her own cameras, lenses, and strobes. While traveling the world, we are sure that one day soon Emily will do great things, including photographing a famous musician, which is only one of her many dreams in life.
Just as Emily sees the world differently through her camera lens, one could say that there is more to Emily than meets the eye.