Click. Snap. Click.

The camera’s shutter sound clicks rhythmically as seniors Maggie Wang and Sanjana Vallampati hold a photo shoot for their photography business, Eminence.

“Maggie and I officially started the business last year,” Vallampati said. “We brought up the idea in 2021 and we started taking pictures and holding photo shoots in 2022. It became a proper business when we got our first commission earlier this year.”

When Wang and Vallampati realized the demand for professional pictures from students their age, they were inspired to create a business to showcase their talent.

“A bunch of people want to get a photo shoot,” Wang said. “At first it was like normal photo shoots, senior pictures, prom, and stuff like that. But then we decided to remix it a little bit and started doing our own fun photo shoots.”

However, it wasn’t until the seniors realized their potential talent for taking professional photos that they established Eminence.

“Our sophomore year we realized we like to take pictures for fun, but our junior year we realized we’re good at this and we can actually pull it off,” Vallampati said. “So, we got into not just doing normal photo shoots but going above and beyond and using our creative abilities which I feel like we can really feed off of each other on.”

When class of 2023 graduate Eujin Chung hired Eminence to take her prom photos, she was amazed at Wang’s and Vallampati’s talents.

“I got great pictures and it was really fun because they’re super easygoing and creative,” Chung said. “My favorite part was how fun they made the experience just with their personalities and jokes. It was also really great how detailed they were with the pictures. They made sure everything looked good down to my hair and the way I was standing.”

The diverse dynamic between the duo allows the business to run successfully.

“Typically I am the main photographer,” Wang said. “I’m behind the camera 90% of the time. I also do the post production and editing. Sanjana helps me with the visions such as managing the set, posing, and she gets to show off her artistic abilities that way.”

Taking the photos to editing, to finally releasing them, can be very time consuming for the seniors and they are often found working late into the night.

“No one really realized what post production takes when taking photos for someone,” Vallampati said. “And afterwards, going through and weeding through the ones we don’t like and then editing them takes so much time.”

However, for Vallampati, the benefits of working with her friend outweighs the consequences.

“My favorite part is working with Maggie.” Vallampati said. “I think we work really well together. It also forces us to spend a lot of time together. But I really like spending time with her and we get to show off our creative ability. A lot of my friend’s friends know about it and it really makes me happy to do all that stuff.”

The seniors’ hope to continue the business throughout highschool and into college.

“I hope I do continue the business and photography in the future,” Wang said. “I love photography and I hopefully will go to school for something in digital media, so I want to continue to keep on taking photos and keep this business running in the future.”