PASSION: Class of 2025
Marenco started doing photography in her freshman year when she took Photography Foundations. Marenco says that she never considered herself an “art kid.” She found herself having trouble starting projects without getting distracted. Alongside photography, she took 3D Design and Drawing and Painting.
Out of the three art classes she took, Marenco found herself gravitating the most to photography. “I just felt so comfortable doing it and in my element for the first time that I wanted to continue that throughout high school,” Marenco said. “It carried it into my personal life. I always wanted to have a little digital camera with me, just to document little things. It became like a safety net for me.”
Fellow senior Elenora Waisanen was in Marenco’s zero period Photography Foundations class in their freshman year. The two would start their day by taking photos together at different locations on campus, taking turns modeling.
“She was clearly the best of all of us,” Waisanen said. “Obviously it’s fun working with her as a model, but also her own photography is really cool. She always gives me really great inspiration and ideas.”
Part of what makes Marenco’s photography stand out is her strong sense of personal style. Marenco says that she really started exploring her artistic voice while taking Advanced photography in her sophomore year with former photography teacher Maggie Crail.
“[Mrs. Crail] really encouraged me a lot to channel myself in my work,” Marenco said. “She was the best teacher I could have ever had at that time.”
Much of Marenco’s photography is in black and white, like her senior AP Photography portfolio, titled “Teenage Isolation.” Although she shoots in digital, Marenco says the black and white stems from her appreciation for film photographers.
“I just love the simplicity of it. It almost feels more personal to me,” Marenco said. “I think because a lot of my work is emotion based, I just find that I’m able to depict that more with using black and white hues.”
In “Teenage Isolation,” Marenco wanted to capture the uncertainty that takes place during the transition into adulthood.
“As soon as you turn 18, you’re an adult and you’re in the real world now,” Marenco said. “Teenage Isolation is about how scary and isolating that can be, trying to figure yourself out.”
The photos were partly based on her own emotions.
“For me specifically, it was periods of depression and dissociation,” Marenco said. “I kind of wanted to depict that in my photos, but in a way that wasn’t so scary. I wanted them to feel dreamy.”
Marenco’s main objective was to show others that their feelings are more common than they’d think and that they are not alone.
Marenco started professionally modeling when she was scouted by an agency called FREEDOM Models in her freshman year while attending a music festival.
“Modeling was kind of something that I had been talking about for a little bit, just because I was entering the photography world on my own,” Marenco said. “I thought that would be something cool to do on the side.”
Marenco worked with FREEDOM Models for three years, building her portfolio. One of her favorite shoots was called “Doomed Generation” by photographer Shannelle Infante.
“That one stuck out to me a lot because it was, the first time I had ever been styled or had my makeup done or anything, so it felt real,” Marenco said. “Like, ‘Oh, this is really happening.’ It was also the first shoot I did that had a concept where I was playing a role in someone else’s vision.”
Another notable shoot was “Virgin Suicides” by art director Monica Guzman, based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides and Sofia Coppola’s film adaptation. It was for an editorial featured in A Book Of magazine and was the first time Marenco’s modeling was officially published.
Since her contract with FREEDOM Models ended last year, Marenco has been doing work as a freelance model. Most recently, she modeled for Trixie Cosmetics, famous drag queen Trixie Mattel’s makeup brand. As a long time fan of Trixie, Marenco describes working with the brand as a “dream come true.”
“Working with her and her team really made her seem like a more real person. She cares so deeply about her work and she wants to make sure that everyone’s safe,” Marenco said. “That was the most comfortable that I’ve ever felt in a modeling environment.”
Despite her success, Marenco does not see herself going into full-time modeling or photography in the future.
For her, photography is a sacred way of expression. “I think I’d be interested, like maybe doing an editorial or something that’s still personal to me, not just shooting for a product or a company,” Marenco said. “For now, I want to keep it for myself, and make sure it still holds the same sense of emotion.”
As for modeling, Marenco wants to still continue to be a freelance model on the side, but focus on her studies in college.
Marenco plans to attend Fullerton College and major in Ethnic Studies. Her interest in Ethnic Studies came after taking IB Social Cultural Anthropology in her junior year with Sharon Hollon.
“I sort of fell in love with learning about different cultures,” Marenco said. “I feel like in America it’s taboo to talk about things that are different from us.”
Coming from a mixed cultural household herself, the subject really spoke to her.
“I really loved it a lot and it kept me interested the whole year and it wasn’t something that felt like, ‘Oh, I’m just taking another class,’” Marenco said.
Marenco credits her family for giving her the space to develop her own sense of self.
“I was just very lucky to be raised in an environment where there were no boundaries,” Marenco said. “I didn’t have to look a certain way.”
In her free time, Marenco likes to experiment with makeup. Marenco’s family also has acted as inspiration for her personal style. She and her family have a deep appreciation for eighties and nineties punk rock. Marenco views her clothing as another form of self expression and she finds most items from thrift stores.
Not only did Marenco’s family help her develop her love for fashion, but also her appreciation for music. Her dream is to eventually open up a record store with her dad. “That’s always something that we’ve been talking about since I was little,” said Marenco.
Not only did Marenco’s family help her develop her love for fashion, but also her appreciation for music. Marenco’s parents helped her discover her favorite band, Rage against the Machine in 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I had never been more angry in my life ’cause I had never been directly affected by anything like that before,” Marenco said. “Listening to [Rage Against the Machine] that day validated a lot of the things that I was feeling.”
Marenco’s dream is to eventually open up a record store with her dad. “That’s always something that we’ve been talking about since I was little,” said Marenco.
