PBS Wisconsin Originals

West

My name is West Whiting and I'm a senior at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School. West Whiting has always felt at home in art class. I think it was, like, just something I was able to connect with. Like, I didn't connect with many other subjects. So, it just kind of felt like it was my niche, really. West had always loved drawing, but when he got a camera his freshman year, it opened up new creative possibilities. Once I got that, I really-- Like, my world, like, exploded. I got to try all sorts of new kinds of things and I got to really just expand my art world. Whether taking his camera with him on trips or exploring his surroundings in northwestern Wisconsin, West is crafting images that invite us to see the world differently. Kind of my whole thing is showing beauty in things that you normally would just walk right past, I guess. When I take pictures these days, I mostly take macro photos of really little things. Like, I can just be walking, and look at a rain drop, and kind of just see this beautiful thing that otherwise people would just normally walk by, just because they're like-- they're a reflection of our world. If you get really close, but they're all distorted and funny when you look inside of them, so... I guess, really, just my whole thing is just showing beauty in things that people normally wouldn't pay any mind to. West's attention to small things is earning him some big honors. I kind of realized that I was maybe onto something there when I got a perfect score on my AP portfolio last year. Like, it gave me a boost of confidence and I was like, "Oh, maybe I'm not crazy. Maybe this is really something interesting and something new." As he reflects on the past, West is looking forward to a future pursuing his artistic ambition as a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Looking back, as a kid, I always thought, like, "How am I going to get to a place where I can do the things that I wanted?" You know, like being a traveling photographer or something like that. And now, the door is right in front of me and I just have to open it.