Camera in hand, nine-year-old Abby Lim paces down the halls of her childhood home. She captures the lamp, the bed, the architecture — everything she wants to remember after they move to the US. Time freezes in her hands as the image of her home in Korea is forever frozen, the memory perfectly encapsulated in a small digital photograph. 

“I used the camera a lot when I lived in Korea because I wanted to remember all of the rooms and what our apartment looked like and a lot of my friends as well,” Abby said. “So those were my first memories of taking pictures. I would go around my apartment complex and take photos.”

As Abby became more and more experienced with the camera, her photos began to shift away from a simple catalog of memories. Instead, they became a means of artistic freedom, and the process became an outing to enjoy with friends. 

“Originally, when I took them, they were mostly just documentation of where I’d gone, or the people and places I was with,” Abby said. “But now I use it as a form of expression, a form of art. But at the same time, it’s still just kind of fun for me to do something that I enjoy doing with other people.”

As Abby’s photographic art form has progressed and evolved, her ease and comfort with the camera have manifested in her demeanor and focus while shooting photographs. Close friend senior Sidak Sanghari first met Abby through a mutual friend in middle school. Eventually, Sidak built an admiration for the ways in which Abby composes her images. 

“It’s her ability to make people feel comfortable when they’re in front of the camera while also being able to pick up on the tiny things,” Sidak said. “She picks up on the smallest details. She picks up on the light. She picks up on the person in the background. She picks up on the moments where the lens could get the light harsh or soft, and what that’s gonna look like.”

For Abby, the most rewarding process of photography happens the moment she takes a shot, all before the editing and post-production process. Whether through the electronic screen of a digital Sony, or the dusted, worn-down viewfinder of an age-old film camera, that joy is never lost. Though different and separated by decades of mechanical adaptations, they are still equal in her mind. 

“I like the immediate results of digital photography,” Abby said. “But I also really like the process and the method of developing film and rolling it. It’s almost meditative.”

Just as Abby developed a deep appreciation for the process behind photography, she found a similar sense of rhythm and collaboration in music. Around the same time she first picked up a camera, she started playing instruments. Though Abby naturally enjoyed jazz, what really drew her to the jazz band was the close-knit community. 

“In a big band it’s easier to disappear,” Abby said. “But in small combos and with vocal charts, you are heard more and so you have to be more on it. I just think it’s fun, more fun to play with fewer people because it’s a little bit closer.”

Despite Abby’s numerous accomplishments, her experience has been riddled with setbacks, one in part being a concussion she received when playing water polo. Whether in photography, jazz band, or water polo, close friend senior Emily Mitnick has respected Abby’s ability to persevere through all her activities despite such difficulties.

“Abby’s really passionate,” Emily said. “Especially with water polo, especially having overcome multiple injuries and still being involved and being the captain of the team and being a starter and everything. I think that’s commendable. She has resilience and passion for everything she does.”

Abby’s advisor and math teacher, Caren Furtado, has known Abby all four years of high school. Throughout the years, either in the classroom or surrounded by the warmth of her advisory, Furtado has appreciated Abby’s quiet enthusiasm, especially recognizing her inherent resilience and stubbornness that led her to overcome challenges.  

“Through the concussion experience, what she really did learn was that not everything is in your control,” Furtado said. “And so if you let go of some things because they are not in your control, overall you can be happier. That definitely made an overall impact on her attitude, and she could just take a breather. ”

Though her concussion proved a difficult period in her life, Abby has overcome it all and then some. By listening to herself and prioritizing her needs, Abby returned to the pool, even attaining new heights in the sport and seizing the role of captain in her senior year.

“Sometimes you just have to not listen to what people say,” Abby said. “Sometimes you just gotta ignore the haters. And you got to listen to yourself. You just gotta trust your instinct, you just gotta do the hard thing. Push through, do the hard thing.”