By Allison Perez / Photo Editor

By Allison Perez / Photo Editor

With a growing passion for photography, mother and daughter Roxanne King and Roxy Orantes-King are inseparable in every way.
Both are students at Riverside City College and are working toward a certificate in photography through RCC’s Photo Program. They also work closely in the real estate business.
They started at RCC taking miscellaneous classes together and landed in photography, which led them to be in the Photo Program.
“It was my idea to take the (first) class, but it was a mutual decision to take them all,” Orantes-King said.
Orantes-King’s experience in photography prior to RCC influenced their decision to start the program.
“I went through the photography program in high school,” Orantes-King said.
Mother and daughter have had their ups and downs of constantly working together but they make the best of the situations thrown at them.
“It’s a little complicated because you have someone else to work around their time,” Orantes-King said.
Both mother and daughter enjoy the time they spend together at home, at work and in class. Even though it gets hard at times, they continue to help each other and work together.
“Last semester it worked out great because we were using teamwork for printing in the dark room,” Orantes-King said. “While I was exposing she was putting them through the chemicals.”
They chose to do all their class assignments together from the start, and because of this, they were able to watch each other grow as photographers.
During the process they have realized that their styles of photography are very different.
“I like taking pictures of people and animals. Something that has a carbon footprint,” Orantes-King said. “(My mom) just likes taking candid shots of stuff.”
Because of their differences they are able to bring together their photos as a package.
“When we have done event photography, she does the group scene, taking pictures of everything, and I go take pictures of individuals,” Orantes-King. “At the end we’ll end up with very complementing styles.”
Along with being members of the Photo Club, Orantes-King said it’s not just the experience of taking a good photo that keeps them in the program. She said it’s the people they have met.
“Other students and their reaction toward my mom and I has been the best part,” Orantes-King said. “My mom is the mother hen to all the little chicks.”
Diego Alvarez, who is a photographer for Viewpoints, is a friend of Orantes-King and her mother in the Photo Club.
“They are active and dedicated members of the Photo Club,” Alvarez said.
Orantes-King doesn’t want to use her photography as a main source of income but enjoys the experience of covering events.
“I find (photography) very interesting and very rewarding, not for the money but for the actual job,” Orantes-King said.
King on the other hand said she hopes to use photography in any way she can, even as a career.
“For me, it’s something I would like,” King said. “At my age, it’s something that I would like to do by myself, for me.”
Both mother and daughter hope that photography will continue to be a hobby.
They have decided that if a photography business between the two of them ever became possible, they wouldn’t hesitate to take the opportunity.