Meet the Editors: Destiny Ditmore
The “Highland Echo” only takes the finest in terms of quality for its staff, and our Photography Editor, Destiny Ditmore, is no exception.
Ditmore hails from a small and picturesque town of Knoxville.
“I’ve pretty much always grown up in this area,” she said. “I chose to come to Maryville College because my family moved out towards Lenoir City. I wanted to be closer to the mountains too.”
Her job as the Photography Editor is one that requires skills in both the fields of photography and teaching the craft to writers who may not have experience with advanced cameras.
“My job consists of editing pictures, distributing cameras to writers, making sure they know how to use the camera and making sure they post their photos and captions online.”
As a fellow editor, I’ll confess that editing photos is beyond my level of skill, but Ditmore makes it seem easy.
“Normally for my personal pictures, I use Adobe Lightroom,” she said. “ I didn’t know going into the job that we have to use Adobe Photoshop, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me.”
One piece of advice she would give to potential Photography Editors is to consistently practice.
“When I got into the job, I didn’t really know what the terms CMYK and RGB meant,” she said. “I was just figuring out how to edit photos specifically for online and specifically for the paper. Make sure you have practice with both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom as well as different softwares.”
One of her favorite parts of the job is that she gets to see other’s work instead of just her own.
“I guess I’m used to editing my own photos, so it’s nice to see events happening around the campus and town as well as the way that other photographers capture them,” she said.
Though there are many joys to be found as the Photography Editor, there are a few challenges.
“Keeping up with all the content and deadlines we need are some of my least favorite parts,” she said. “Sometimes I have to contribute my own photos. Besides that, I really like doing the job.”
As a fellow editor, I can attest that deadlines are one of the few pitfalls of this job.
Besides editing the photography section, Ditmore has other hobbies as well. Of course, photography is one of them, but she combines her love of photography with a love of nature.
“I combine photography with hiking and seeing new places,” she said. “I like going to waterfalls and hanging out with friends at the same time. I love traveling too, but I mostly travel to local places within a couple of hours of here.”
It is worth noting that Ditmore’s favorite color is blue.
Though Ditmore is the best at what she does, all good things must come to an end. She will soon be leaving the “Highland Echo” staff and Maryville College at large and transferring to Tennessee Wesleyan University.
“Take all the opportunities you’re handed,” she said when asked if she had any final comments for readers. As should we all.