Senior Carson Bebout’s passion is photography. However, he knows very little about it.
“I don’t know much about photography,” Carson said. “I know enough, but there’s more to learn. It’s a fun thing to do, and it’s not too hard to get into it. I would say if you wanted to try it, you don’t even need a camera. You could just use your phone.”
Though Carson has surpassed just using his phone for his photos, Carson is still just getting into his future in photography, especially as he feels he has more to learn.
Carson plans to major in Digital Media at Ferris State University next year to further his career and knowledge in photography. Beyond the next four years, Carson has even bigger hopes.
“I want to try to work for an athletic team and film and make videos or take photos for them at the games,” Carson said. “It would be the dream.”
Carson’s big dream for the future isn’t just a far-off, unlikely ‘what if?’ Carson has been actively working toward his dream while in high school, slowly getting himself within reach.
At many sporting events for FHC, Carson is a familiar face behind his camera lens, capturing both the crowd and the game. This helps him work towards his future by gaining opinions on what sports he likes to shoot best, but he also simply enjoys it.
I was like ‘I’ll try it out and see how I like it.’ And I really liked it.
— Carson Bebout
“I like football the most, but I had a lot of fun making videos for the hockey team and taking photos for them,” Carson said. “I think the dream for the future would be either football or hockey because hockey was such a fast-paced and exciting game to film. But also I know more about football, and I like watching it. It’s a fun thing to do while I also do my job.”
Carson enjoys both photography and videography for athletic teams. His name has become synonymous with ‘photographer’ within the walls of FHC.
It’s hard to believe that Carson has not been a photographer forever, but he only got started with his well-known passion recently.
“I’ve always had a camera,” Carson said. “I always thought it was cool, but I never did [photography] until my friend, [alumnus] Kevin McPoland, did it. I thought it was cool. I was like ‘I’ll try it out and see how I like it.’ And I really liked it. I like photographing sports. I also like photographing a sunset or nature—but also people doing stuff in nature.”
Carson’s love for photography clearly spans many subjects. Every photo and video he takes pushes him toward his future dream of photographing a sports team.
Though Carson thinks about his future job behind the camera, he also has one now.
Carson has his own photography business of sorts, taking senior photos in the summer. He’s also starting to do graduation photos. He encourages people to reach out to him on his photography Instagram account, @carsonbeboutphotography.
Carson’s business is not just about making money like how other teenagers have summer jobs. He is truly passionate about his love for being behind the camera, especially by using his own creativity and opinions.
“I think you need to have a bit of an artistic side to be a photographer, but it’s all what you think looks cool,” Carson said. “It doesn’t really matter what other people think because you could take a photo that you thought looked really coo,l but someone else can be like ‘that’s stupid.’ You need to have [an artistic side] but it’s also whatever you think looks the best is what you should do.”
