Flying High: The Levitation Project

Author:

Ayoka Lucas

June 06, 2013

Working in fashion, I find myself carving out hours just to go through emails. These are filled with the latest and greatest, requests, bookings, shoot production notes, you name it. It's like clockwork but recently I stopped in my tracks when I came across an email of a new intern hire and her work!

Her name is Emma DeMuth and she is just a freshman in high school!

I thought back to when she first shadowed at the office when she mentioned that she was working on an online magazine—at the age of 14 no less! It's obvious by her latest project, Levitation Photography, that this teen is one to watch! Just coming off the heels of winning the Technology Award in computer science, Emma took a moment to give me a peek inside her rapidly growing world! (See a compilation of her levitation photos at the bottom...)

1. Age?

15. I just finished my freshman year of high school.

2. Name of your website and the idea behind it?

Sparkle Magazine. It began as an accident. I took some fun pictures with some of my friends one day. I wanted to send the pictures to them via email, but there were too many. So I just put them up on a free website, so all of my friends could see them (these were my pre-Facebook days). Eventually, it grew to a monthly thing. Some of my friends started to blog about their interests on my site, so it began to become more "magazine-like." Ever since high school started, I have not had much time to manage other peoples' blogging on my site. Now it's growing towards a personal blog for me, although I would love to expand the "magazine" aspect more.

3. How did the levitation photos come to be?

My uncle purchased me Adobe Cloud about a month ago that consists of Photoshop, plus many other software. I was familiar with all of the tools from using them in my computer science class at school. So I had this idea to bring ladders into the forest by my house. There, my friends and I posed on top of the ladders, trying not to touch the ground. When I got home I removed the ladders with Photoshop and edited the pictures. And voilà, I could levitate!

4. Do you consider yourself a fashion girl or visual artist or both?

Some days I wake up and think "wow, I really feel like dressing up today," and then other days I wake up and think "sweatpants and a t-shirt work, too." So honestly, I think it depends on the day. I hope to one day be called a true visual artist. I don't know if I am currently called a visual artist. I just love to take pictures.

5. Top names you aspire to work with?

Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Rodarte, and Chanel

6. How are your grades in school?

I go to Academic Magnet, so grades are a top priority for everyone there, but I currently have 4.5 GPA.

7. What other hobbies do you have?

Besides photography, I enjoy cinematography, sewing, playing the guitar, drawing, and I play soccer and volleyball. I'm kind of a computer nerd, too.

8. What are you looking forward to this summer?

I'm going to London with my grandmother in two weeks, and in July I'm interning with Charleston magazine!

9. What music are you listening to these days?

I've been listening to a lot of Tame Impala lately. They aren't very popular yet, but their songs are quite catchy. I mostly listen to alternative or classic rock.

10. Where do aspire to be in 10 years?

Traveling the world while making a film about what I see.

11. What's your next project?

I tend to go back and forth between having a photo shoot and making a short film. Because I haven't made a film lately, I'm working on creating a music video for a song written by a friend.