Justine Maust is usually the one pointing a lens and calling out, “Say cheese!” to her friends. Maust, a second-year art major from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, enjoys photographs of nature and people as a means of documenting normal life.
“I just take pictures of whatever’s happening or looks beautiful at the moment. I like taking pictures in the ‘golden hour,’ when the sun is just about to rise or set,” she said.Maust’s interest in art started when she was young. Over the years, she has pursued it and excelled. Last year, she was featured in “Tolerance and the Other,” last year’s art show in the Good Library Basement Gallery.
“Ever since I was little I have enjoyed taking photos. We always had single-use cameras on vacation and I would kind of take charge and take pictures of everyone,” Maust admitted with a laugh.
Nowadays Maust has moved from a single-use camera to a digital one. “I’m a Canon girl,” Maust said about her camera preferences. “Right now I have a G11 but it is not a digital SLR so I’d like to get one of those.”
Maust’s choices of subject ranges from nature to posed portraits to capturing memories in the moment. “I have a lot (of photos) that just evoke fond memories, ones that I can envision without even seeing the picture.”
While Maust is an art major, she does not prefer to think of her photography as something that needs to be learned in a technical environment and gives this advice:
“Just take pictures of everything; that is how I learned. I just experimented. I just do what I like and what interests me, experimenting a lot with lighting or whatever strikes my fancy. Just have fun so you stay interested.”
