Verleatha Hill: A School Candy Sale Started Her Photography

October 24, 2008

View Photo Slideshow ››

From a 5th-grade school candy sale to publication of one of her photos in the Canon Best of Photography Annual 2006, Verleatha Hill is the first to admit she's sentimental.

"I like to memorialize the moment for the day when my memory isn't so good," says the Main Street Legal Services, Inc. administrative assistant.

Verleatha, 47, won her first camera, a Kodak, after selling enough candy at a grade school candy sale. Today, she shoots with a 6-megapixel Canon Rebel digital single-lens reflex camera.

Her favorite subjects, she says, are animals, children, and, especially, flowers. She reads photography magazines and books to improve her skills. She's never taken a photography course. Verleatha shot the photo in the Canon annual from her backyard on an early, foggy Saturday morning. "It shows the fog surrounding some shrubbery in my backyard but looks like it was taken in some kind of mysterious rain- forest," she says.

Verleatha notes a number of reasons she enjoys her hobby. "I love photography because I get to observe and create my portion of the world in my own silent, creative way without being judged for who I am or what I look like," Verleatha says. "It is something that I can create that represents me without people actually seeing me. In our society people are often judged by their outward appearance, opinions, race, religion and sometimes financial status. In photography the viewer can make a determination or judgment about a photo based on what they see, what is before them without judging the person who created it."

Another reason she loves shooting photos: "It is exciting to create something that others neglect to see."

Verleatha says she truly believes there is no such thing as a bad photo, only the opportunity to learn from a photo you don't like. "Relax, enjoy what you're doing, be creative," she advises. "Everyone sees the world differently. Snap what you see."

A CUNY School of Law veteran who started working at the School on Oct. 4, 1982, Verleatha lives with her husband in Valley Stream. She attended Queensborough Community College and grew up in the Bronx. She has three sons aged 11 to 26.