Junior Diana Chao sees the world through a different lens as she takes photographs for her website Moonglass Studios. Aside from her website, Chao has also had her photographs published on fashion and photography websites such as ‘Vogue Italia’s PhotoVogue’ and ‘Redbubble,’ and is represented by an art agency in New York with whom she is currently working to promote her artistic pieces.

“I took my first official photography class in the summer of sixth grade. My teacher taught me all the basics of the technical parts of the camera. Beyond that, I did not really do any official classes; it was all experimentation,” Chao said.

Moonglass Studios was founded by Chao as a way to turn her passion for conceptual and fine art photography into a business. She has a total of three photographic collections, one of which is her current project, ‘A Musical Metamorphosis.’ This collection revolves around the effect music has on people, and each photo features a poem that Chao wrote herself to embody a certain photograph. Chao also does photo sessions for anybody who needs their picture taken for portrait or commercial intents.

Chao began her photography career when she applied to be an assistant for world-renowned fashion and glamour photographer Zhang Jingna whose photographs have appeared in Elle magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Chao was selected along with Alex Stoddord, another widely-known photographer. Afterwards, Chao accompanied Jingna on several shoots where she met a network of associates that helped her become affiliated with the art agency who presently represents her.

“I learned a lot from Zhang Jinja in terms of lighting, posing, models, and etc. I made a lot of connection on those shoots,” Chao said. “From then on, I started learning how to build my own portfolio, and since I had those connections, I was able to start getting some of my work out.”

She originally created a portfolio of her work on her personal Facebook account, and later created a page that linked to Moonglass Studios. From then on, she created her own website and began submitting to different amateur photography websites.

Recently, Chao and fellow junior Dorothy Kang have started a fashion blog called ‘Letrendary’ in which Chao takes pictures of the models and Kang puts the outfits together by researching their historical background and modern relevance. ‘Letrendary’ is currently focusing on clothing designed by Kang based on traditional Asian apparel.

“[The website] is another way where I’m trying to explore with photography while not necessarily concentrating on conceptual work,” Chao said.

Chao is currently working with her agency to develop her own gallery, but as of now, her main focus is school. While she does want to create a solid career in photography, Chao is also interested in getting a degree in physics because she believes it will help her in certain aspects of photography. For example, it would enable her to learn how to refract certain angles of light to make her photos appear more realistic. Chao is very responsive to anything that will help her improves her photos, techniques, and overall, anything that could make her a better photographer.