Nine-year-old Hillary Larson stood at the gaping mouth of the world’s most powerful waterfall, Niagara Falls, and was spellbound. Not by the 31-mile wall of raw, wet, power, but by the image of a rainbow her camera had just captured. Although not her first experience taking pictures, up to that point she thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “It really wasn’t though,” she said.
Hillary, a sophomore at Boston University, has felt drawn to journalism, specifically photojournalism, since her childhood. Hailing from Burlington, MA, an area seven and a half times smaller than Boston, Larson has encountered characters of all sorts in her 19 years. Three older siblings, a mother in Narcotics Anonymous, and two dogs, Hazel the husky and Ginger the “insane” Rottweiler-Lab, certainly kept life busy. And on top of this, Hillary’s mother effectively turned their home into a boarding home for recovering Narcotics Anonymous (NA) members, making the Larson household an interesting place to be around the holidays.
The first NA member moved in when Hillary was about nine. An extra room in the house and a warm heart lead Mrs. Larson to rent the room to one of her sponsors for a short time. This then turned into a quasi tradition, with the Larson hosting nine people in their home, usually two people at a time, in the past 10 years. Currently, a girl Sarah Abrams and her pit-bull Macaroni live with the Larsons. Mrs. Larson, a nurse, assists Abrams with her multiple sclerosis.
Growing up in such an unusual environment was not always easy for Hillary. In a violation of trust, a boarder once stole her mother’s grandmother’s engagement ring to pawn it for drug money. She often begged her mother to kick everyone out so it could just be their family living together. Now, Larson has warmed up to the generosity that makes her home such a unique place and even considers some of the boarders a part of her family. She has known one girl, Laura, since she was 12 and “can’t imagine life without her.”
“My childhood was, well, different,” Larson said. “This made me curious about people and about their situations in life, which lends itself to journalism. I think people are really interesting; why they do what they do and why they say what they say.”
Larson picked Boston University specifically for its photojournalism program, even though it is so close to home she can bring her laundry back and see her family every day if she wanted. Although Hillary does feel like going to school elsewhere would have made her more independent, she has a sense of adventure that has always been pushing her out the door, no matter how close she is to Burlington.
“Since my mom has lived in the same house her whole life I wanted to do the opposite, to travel a lot and not settle down,” Larson said.
Senior year of high school, Hillary saved up money $4,000 worth of waitress’ wages for a car but once the time came to buy it, she decided to spend it on a trip to Spain and Ireland. She loved the experience of immersing herself in a foreign culture and wishes to seek this in her career in photojournalism.
“The most interesting thing I found, besides experiencing the culture, was that the people over there were not as different as I thought.”
Larson wishes to study abroad next summer in Australia and study travel writing.
Three siblings, one brother Shaun who has been married for two years who has one daughter, sister who is ten years older Andrea who lives in DC. Heather who is married with two kids who lives in Agua, MA.
Holds a job with Catering on the Charles, two internships, one at a photo studio and one at the aquarium feeding penguins and cleaning the tank, does take photos of events for the aquarium.
“People expect you to do so much but it’s frustrating since journalism internships aren’t paid.
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