Sophia Chew is a triplet, the third wheel in a family where her brother and sister always took the limelight. As she got older, people teased her for her nerdiness, especially her affinity for Harry Potter. But now, she's a Photoshop wizard.
In early 2019, 16-year-old Sophia started her photography Instagram account “Shots by Sophia.” Her account exploded with her first Harry Potter shoot in September of 2020. From glowing silver horse Patronuses to grey feathered Hippogriffs, her photos look like scenes straight from the Harry Potter movies. By late January of 2021, her account accumulated over 38k followers. With a creative thirst to explore new concepts, she’s captured an eye-catching Stranger Things Mind Flayer, shadowed against cherry skies. She's also recreated Star Wars fights, her friends modeling Jedi robes, dueling with glowing red and blue lightsabers. Since then, she's expanded her repertoire to include Percy Jackson and Shadow and Bone themes.
When Washington state issued the stay-at-home order in March, Sophia found herself stuck at home with an abundance of time and nothing to do.
Much like many quarantine photographers, Sophia’s feed turned to self-portrait shoots. Her discovery of photographer Alexandria's Lens, known for fantasy-inspired artwork, cultivated a flame.
"I saw a lot of creators who were also stuck in a rut, but they could still create despite facing this big block." Sophia breaks off, before continuing, "That was when I thought, I'll just try Photoshop, because I don't have anything else to do, and I have nothing to lose."
Accustomed to sharing with her siblings, Sophia says her photography account became the first time "where I had something of my own." Her siblings and her shared everything, and while they were conventionally popular and extroverted, she'd always been shy.
Yet today, Sophia is unapologetically open. Frequently, she uses her platform to share lighthearted rants and connect with her followers through Instagram Lives. She says that, "Before I started getting traction through my Instagram, I was super, super shy. A lot of my Instagram reflects how I'm in real life, and I want people to see me as if they knew me in person."
"I feel like I've definitely started to care less. There's less thinking about how people are going to perceive me."
When asked about how she deals with criticism, Sophia starts off slowly. "It's not easy, especially when you're on the other side of the platform, because you somehow hold this power over the people who are receiving your content.”
Sophia continues, "I feel like, as a person of color, with the platform that I have, I hold some sort of responsibility to offer representation. It's not as easy as it looks, because we tend to forget about the negative side of social media, until it directly affects us."
Although her main personal account is the centerpiece of her social media side of photography, she also manages a side account, COVID-19 Photos for Teens. The project is a platform run by teen photographers, including Sophia, whose mission is to “come together to combat social isolation." Each week, the team posts challenges where youth photographers can create artwork along the lines of the prompt.
Sophia originally came up with the project in March when she checked the results of a photography contest. The winners of the contest blinked back at her: she hadn't won anything. But in the comments section, she saw numerous supportive people around her age. "They were from all different corners of the world, and I loved how they were able to connect to each other."
Sophia chose a few people by putting out a comment: "If you reply to this comment, I'll visit your page.” She put everyone in a group chat, adding more and more people. Eventually, they came up with the idea for the project so that photographers "could have some sort of consistency and inspiration over quarantine."
COVID-19 Photos for Teens has since then been picked up by a few outlets, including Adolescent Content, UNICEFS Voices for Youth, and XQ America, and even shouted out by Instagram on Twitter. Regarding the future of the platform, Sophia chuckles. "As we go out of the pandemic, I might think about changing the name."
She says, "I think that our motive has always been about offering a creative outlet and consistency, so that teenagers can cope with whatever they're feeling. I like how the project has stayed true to that motive."
In the midst of the pandemic, Sophia keeps busy with baking brownies, homework, and photography (while jamming out to Harry Styles). For what she hopes to do in the future, Sophia wants to go forward with photography as a side job.
"I'm not sure how I would make photography a career, but if I can, that's what I want to do." She laughs.
"The reason that I'm doing so many fandom things is, this is a stretch, if Disney or Universal sees this in the future, I want them to think, 'Wow, she can do something for us.' I don't think that's how that works, but…” She laughs again, smoothing her hair dyed like Narcissa Malfoy’s, silvery white streaks contrasted against jet black.
At last, Sophia has found her calling. "I didn't know what I wanted to do for the longest time. It took a lot of thought and a lot of pushing back this idea of how photographers don't get paid that much, or how it's a difficult industry to pursue. It was when I started to just do what I wanted, that's when I started hunkering down on my photography."
