Jason Sohn ’15 is often spotted around campus on his bike. Although most students know him for his love of biking, they were recently able to witness one of Sohn’s other passions: digital photography. Since mid-October, Sohn created a collaborative photo exhibition called “Algo to Acadia” with Liam Nadire ’15. Both strong landscape photographers, Sohn and Nadire showcased their individual and distinct styles, while supporting the theme of the exhibit.

Sohn’s passion for art is nothing recent. He remembers buying himself his “first digital camera” as he became interested in technology. As a third former, Sohn “spent countless hours” digging through the rows of books in the first floor of the library, reading about painting, sculpture, and the philosophy behind art. Seeing “the connection between impressionists and photography in general,” he was greatly influenced by the 20^th century Russian artists, especially Kandinsky and his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Sohn believes, “a shrewd viewer could find the impressionists’ block of color and abstraction of forms” in his own photography.

Ms. Lynch, art department chair, comments that Sohn shines as a photographer because of the way he “portrays the beauty of landscape with his images.” She wishes to “purchase one of his photographs this year, because his delicate Photoshop enhancements of his capture of the wetland really capture its subtle beauty.”

To Sohn, “photography is way to express how I want the world to look like.” As an optimistic and very idealistic person, Sohn uses photography as a medium to “escape from pressures, such as studying.” Through years of “just viewing and reading books about painting and art,” Sohn has built his own personal style of expression, and has established an individual way to view the world.

Although photography is “perhaps the most accessible way to apply the aesthetics and principals of art,” he is always willing to try something new, accelerating his growth as a “wholesome artist.” Ms. Lynch says that she has always “seen Jason as an artist first and a photographer second,” because even though “the camera is a fabulous tools for Jason to express his creative vision, his interest in art history and numerous art mediums reveals the breadth of his inspiration and talent.”

An equally strong passion of Sohn is biking. Winning first place in the junior category of an amateur bike race this past summer in Korea, Sohn was invited to participate in an international competition in Japan. Unfortunately, he returned to Kent before the competition. Sohn is clearly a multi-faceted individual. Photography has become a flexible medium for Sohn to produce art out of a complex camera. Biking, too, is something that means more important than a simple form of transportation.

According to Ms. Lynch, Sohn is an artist born “at the right time,” and his “creativity and genius will soar from this inherent freedom.”