WASHINGTON — Some musicians play in the bright, major keys, and some play in the somber, minor keys.

Finlay Donaghy, 14, is a self-taught photographer who, I'd say, uses his camera in the minor keys, creating atmospheric, muted prints.

"I see the images in my head first, then try to capture the photo the way I saw it in my mind," he told me in a sit-down at the library.

His work has been on display the Gibbs Library in Union since the beginning of November until the end of this month. He had his first formal art reception on Sunday, December 7, and sold six prints, a major feat for someone so young.

His exhibit, called "The World as I See It," drews the community and even some of his friends, who'd never attended an art reception before. 

"It was such a great experience to be 14 and be able to do this," he said.

The piano metaphor comes into play with one of his framed prints, a forced perspective of an old piano sitting outside in the woods at dusk, with two burnt matches lying on the keys.

"We had a piano in our house that was old, out of tune, and couldn't be fixed, so we were going to set it on fire," he said. "We were going to take the ivory off and burn the rest in a burn pile. It was last winter, at 4 p.m., and getting dark. I liked the colors outside; I liked editing it. I was trying to figure out what emotion I wanted to put into this piece. I looked at this moment as frozen in time and printed it out."

He is constantly trying to improve on his last photograph, and admitted to taking 300 pictures of this piano before he was satisfied.

He uses his iPhone camera and a tiny Akaso camera, which is like a tiny Go Pro, as well as editing apps.

As a freshman at Medomak Valley High School, he is furthering his interests by taking a photography class. But, just in the thoughtful, measured way he speaks and how he forms a deep attachment to the subject matter, it's clear he has an intuitive eye.

His photos have the quality of the detached observer whose subjects don't know he's there. And manipulating the fish eye lens in his some of his work almost feels like we're all sharing his dream. A frequent subject in his work is his twin sister, Erin.

"She's with me everywhere," he said. "She's always willing to be my subject, and in some of these photos, it's like we've created a story, and she is the narrative."

It is also interesting how he can take the light of day and edit the print make it seem oppressive. "I want people to look at my work and not be scared, but not be happy," he said.

In one sense, Gen Z teens have access to the kind of technology that Gen X kids only wish they'd had. I mentioned that when we were teens, we had traditional cameras, and unless you had access to a school dark room, you had to wait a week until the film was developed by Foto-Hut. And, there was no editing of the photos.

The freedom with which this generation can download apps to edit creative work is enviable. But, the amount of easily downloadable tools can also be overwhelming, and some kids don't get beyond the creative phase before they're onto the next shiny tool.

It takes a lot for a young creator to put together a body of work and put it out there in the public like he did.

"I was really thrilled for the opportunity and to share with my community what I've been doing," he said. "But, I was being vulnerable with this show. Because this is new to me—what if people don't like it?"

Still, the drive outweighed the fear. "I put so much time into these photos, and they felt so personal to me that I wanted to show people how much hard work went into each one of these frames," he said. "The feedback I got, and the positive reinforcement, was really important."

His drive, his skill, and his humbleness, are going to take him far.

You can still catch his gallery of work at the Gibbs Library until the end of the month.

Kay Stephens can be beached at news@penbaypilot.com