Schools
Whiz Kid: Rebeka Ragan
Following in her father's footsteps, Rebeka has become an outstanding photographer.
Name: Rebeka Ragan
Grade: Recent graduate who will attend Duquesne University this fall.
Accomplishment:While she only started “dabbling” in photography as a high school freshman, Ragan is successfully selling her photographs out of the .
Ragan’s father was a wedding photographer in his twenties, and she became interested in photography after playing with his old cameras, which were lying around her house.
Before long, she enrolled in classes at and was selected for a darkroom apprenticeship at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Even as an apprentice, Ragan displayed her photographs at an exhibit.
While preparing for a , Ragan’s boss at the Sewickley Confectionery asked if any employees had artwork to display, and she showed him her photographs. When a gallery worker arrived to help Ragan hang her photographs, he suggested that she sell them and recommended prices.
So far, Ragan has sold 30 photographs. She recently won the Robert Hartley Scholarship for her photography portfolio.
“I think it's a really good hobby to have,” Ragan said of photography. “I love that I can capture beautiful images forever. I think that I have a good eye for small things that people get so accustomed to and just ignore. Also, photography really corresponds to me wanting to be an eye doctor as well.”
Ragan received an academic scholarship to Duquesne University and plans to major in biology and pre-optometry and minor in photography.
