Senior Clare Antonow captures some of Paly’s best moments through her camera lens. From athletics and arts to beyond Paly events, Antonow expresses her passion for videography and photography in every way possible.
Antonow has always had a deep love for art, having taken ten years of art classes as a child with a focus on multimedia and color. She began with painting and drawing in elementary school and switched to fashion in middle school. From there, Antonow found her love for photography which continues to be a part of her everyday life.
“I’ve always been an artist, and I really love that, no matter what form it takes on,” Antonow said.
Her love for photography has been especially evident when traveling or being in nature.
“I started to take it seriously and realized I can bring a camera anywhere, and I can take photos whenever I want,” Antonow said. “I really love travel photography. Whenever I travel, I bring three cameras, and I do photography every single day.”
Antonow packs up to five cameras with her when traveling because of the different purposes they serve.
“I would be so upset if I forgot [my cameras]; it just means so much to me to have that when I’m traveling and capturing stuff,” Antonow said.
Antonow has gotten inspiration from multiple people, including a student who films for Los Gatos as well as a student at Saint Ignatius who runs Wildcat Sports reels, which inspired her to start making sports videos. Recently, her inspiration has stemmed from creative director and producer Cole Bennett, as she has been involved in more creative projects. “[Cole Bennett is] an amazing creative director and producer,” Antanow said.“He does a lot of music videos for rappers, and they’re all amazingly done.”
Aside from individuals, a large portion of her inspiration comes from social media. Not only does it provide a place for other photographers to post their work, but Antonow also enjoys the experience of connecting with them and trying new techniques she discovers online.
“There’s such a huge community out there, which a lot of people don’t realize,” Antonow said. “It’s such a big network, and it’s really awesome.”
So much of it is about the people you meet and the people you take photos and videos of, seeing people’s faces light up when you show them what you’ve taken of them and what you’ve created of them.
Initially, Antonow began her photography career at Paly filming football games and eventually branched out to other sports. This led her to expand into various student activities, including spike ball tournaments, spirit week events, and performing arts.
Antonow later tried narrative filmmaking, beginning with her experience at the School of the New York Times summer program, where she wrote a story and added dialogue to her films for the first time. She feels as if the switch from her typical photography to narrative films was easy due to how transferable the skills are.
“If you can film and you can edit and you can tell a story through video and visuals, then you could film a lot of things,” Antonow said. “You have a wider range than you think you do.”
She brought these learned skills to Paly and began filming for In Focus, Paly’s broadcasting network, which gave her opportunities for more documentary-style filmmaking. She did an independent study for In Focus and filmed things such as video packages, short films, documentary-style videos, and documentary-style social media content for Paly and other Bay Area events.
After high school, Antonow hopes that photography will remain a big part of her everyday life. While attending her summer program, she was moved by the feeling of being in a room full of like-minded peers who were also passionate about film and media. From that moment on, Antonow knew she wanted to pursue film because of how meaningful it was to be with others who felt as strongly about filmmaking as she did.
She recently got accepted and is committed to UC Berkeley, where she plans to study film and media and continue photographing for both the school and professionally. Going into photography professionally, Antanow sees an attainable future in combining business and film, possibly becoming a creative director, and working in advertising.
Having a creative outlet is such an amazing thing that not a lot of people have, and it’s really changed [my] life.
“I can take this thing that I love, and I can take the business side of it, and I can take the creative and interpersonal skills…and there’s so many careers for me,” Antonow said. “I can have a successful career and not have to be a starving artist.”
She is motivated to continue photography because of the joy it brings her. One of her favorite parts of photography is the interactions she has with those she works with. Showing the results of her photography to those in the picture can make people feel seen and appreciated, whether it’s a simple portrait of them smiling at a camera or an action shot showcasing their hard work at a sport.
“So much of it is about the people you meet and the people you take photos and videos of, seeing people’s faces light up when you show them what you’ve taken of them and what you’ve created of them,” Antonow said.
While Antonow thinks of photography as an outlet and really enjoys creating content, at times it can be tiring and takes up a significant amount of time. Editing a video can often take her up to ten hours, particularly having to watch through entire games’ worth of footage.
“While the end result is amazing, and such a fun, creative process as well, it’s so fulfilling to make something I’m so proud of,” Antonow said. “The time it takes to get there can definitely be draining sometimes, and balancing that with schoolwork is not the easiest thing.”
Through this, photography has been a positive contribution to Antonow’s life, and she feels as if having a creative passion is important for everyone to find.
“Having a creative outlet is such an amazing thing that not a lot of people have, and it’s really changed [my] life,” Antonow said. “It’s such a meaningful thing, and making art and creating things that you’re proud of is so wonderful.”
