With photography-inspired social media apps on the rise, such as Snapchat and Instagram, many students are becoming familiar with taking photos on their cell phone. But for three Diamond Bar High School students, photographs are taken through a different lense.

Inspired to take up photography by her twin sister, senior Janice Gunawan decided to join her sibling in creating their own photo business two years ago. As a result of her sister being the yearbook photo editor at Troy High School, Gunawan knew that photo companies charged a lot of money to print high school dance photos. Advertising through Facebook, Gunawan and her sister started their own business, JG Photo, through a Sadie’s photoshoot.

After a successful shoot, they moved on to taking prom photos for students attending Diamond Bar High School, Walnut High School, and Troy High School.

“We got over 40 couples in less than a year, and made about $900 in less than one year, so it was pretty successful,” she said.

Although her sister takes most of the photos, Gunawan directs the subjects on where to stand and chooses the location. She also helps the couples pose to create the best picture possible. After editing the photos, she prints them and distributes them to the couples. As a side career, Gunawan dreams of taking wedding photos and graduation photos.

While Gunawan started the business with her sister, senior Aaron Lu started his photography business alone. Also inspired to start by his sibling, Lu started taking photos for leisure, then moved on for business purposes.

For the first time this year, Lu took pre-homecoming photos at Cal Poly Pomona, and sold them to DBHS students. Lu also took photos of houses in Diamond Bar’s gated community, The Country, to help a real estate agent sell houses. On top of taking photos with a professional digital SLR cameras, Lu likes to go on to the rooftop of his house and take personal Snapchat photos on his phone.

“Just do what you like to do and make your photos your own,” Lu said. “Don’t copy others, but rather be inspired by others.”

On the other hand, sophomore Clarissa Hui started photography her freshman year after being selected as her class historian. Hui attends all the parades and performances that the DBHS marching band, the Thundering Herd, participates in to take photos. In addition, Hui also took homecoming photos of couples for business purposes.

“I actually had to learn how to format and print them out which was kind of difficult, but I learned,” Hui said.

Using a photo she took of the Thundering Herd, Hui entered it in the Through My Lense photo contest hosted by the city of Diamond Bar, and won honorable mention. The contest was open to anyone from Diamond Bar and asked contestants to submit a photo under a category, ranging from nature to people. Hui submitted a photo of band and color guard performing at a parade, and won honorable mention under the category, People. She also received certificates and a $50 check.

Hui’s short but experienced photography skills landed her many historian roles in different clubs also. Aside from taking photos for the school, Hui enjoys visiting the Botanical Garden in the Huntington library to take pictures. All her photos are uploaded on photographui.weebly.com.