About fifteen minutes from our university campus is a lovely little place called Nauman’s Farm. It’s a bit of a tradition to go every year at the start of fall, but since I had already been last year, I wanted to make the most out of my second visit.
Photographing Katrina for my portrait series was a last minute decision. Having only gotten close to her within the past month, I was unsure whether she would mind doing me a favour, but was pleasantly surprised when she agreed with unexpected enthusiasm.
The day was sweltering, the air was sticky, and the sun beat down on us at nearly thirty degrees. Katrina never once complained as I stole her away from her friends to make her lie down in the pumpkin patch or go into the corn maze. She was extremely patient, and a tad bit shy, but her willingness to be herself really shone through and the photographs turned out better than I could have hoped for.
There are a lot of things I’ve come to appreciate about Katrina. Aside from her patience and kindness, she is quite simply a great friend. She has a genuine desire to do good and to put others before herself — the kind of goodness that doesn’t seek in return, but rather gets satisfaction just from the act of goodness itself. As we work alongside each other as student leaders this school year, I’ve realized how amazing it is to have someone like that on a team, and as a friend. Fall brings the warmest colours, and if Katrina’s personality could be anything, it’d be yellows and oranges, reds and greens. Her sense of warmth and sweetness is as comforting as a bright Fall day.
After a great shoot, we sit down on a vacant bench so I can ask her some questions. We stare out at our wild friends taking ridiculous selfies among the pumpkins. She’s humble in her answers, and shares with me a bit about where she’s travelled, an old passion hobby, and what her friends mean to her.
foreword
katrina
What’s something people don’t really know about you until they get to know you?
I used to be into competitive swimming, and I swam for four years competitively. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of hours a week but I loved it, and I loved it so much that I even coached for two years.
What would you say is a good quality or skill about yourself?
Um. I dunno. I don’t know if it’s a “skill,” but I always tend to put others before me, which is sometimes a good thing. But like, it can also be bad, in a sense. I always make sure that everyone else is comfortable or that everyone is having a good time before I make sure that I do.
Talk a bit about your friendships and what they mean to you. How did you meet Amandreo and Angie? What do you like about them?
Well, Amandreo… (*chuckles*) The first time that I met him was [in residence]. [We were in] my high school friend’s room. Amandreo came up to me and gave me a hug as he left, and he didn’t even know who I was.
Seriously?
Yeah! And Angie, I got to know because we sat in the cafeteria once together, and we went to this one class together all the time. And yeah, the three of us became really close. The reason I love hanging out with them is because…. Amandreo… um, kind of like, takes you out of your comfort zone and makes sure you have a good time. You don’t realize it because you’ll, like, think things are going bad! Like, he puts you in bad situations, and then you laugh at them afterwards! And then like, Angie is there to pick up all the pieces. You have a good laugh with her too, and she’s the sweetest person.
What a squad!
Yeah, it all balances out.
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever gotten?
Well, (*sarcastically*) the other day, I was asked by a very special someone to be a part of a photoshoot! (*laughs*) And [you] said that my aesthetic was great.
[My compliment] cannot be the best compliment you’ve ever gotten!
No, that was a really great compliment! That made my day.
Anything else?
Oh, you know what, I got one too from [our upperclassman] Nick Savel.
Oh my gosh. So that’s immediately the best!
Yeah, it didn’t even matter what he said. He said something good about me and it just made my day.
september 24, 2017
What’s the most interesting place you’ve been?
The most interesting place that I went to was somewhere in Madeira, an island of Portugal. I went on this hike, and it was a very intense and long hike in the blistering heat. But it was beautiful — it was totally worth every minute that I spent walking, and we made it all the way to the end, so it was a really great accomplishment.
