Meet Shukrana Shukrullah, a senior at JMU in the Independent Scholars program studying Global Music Business. In addition to being an ambitious student, she is also a gifted photographer and avid traveler. In this collection, “Tokyo Lights and Singapore Sights,” she brings to JMU a whole host of vibrant shots she captured Summer 2023.

A feeling of electricity pervades this collection, reflecting the animated, sometimes frenzied, spaces that Shukrana visited. She felt every bit of the chaos of the Shibuya Scramble Square as she fought to capture shots from what she describes as “probably the most packed Starbucks [she’s] seen in [her] life.” Other photos, such as those of the Merlion and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, are “unplanned and spontaneous” but, Shukrana says, “turned out to be some of my favorite photos I’ve taken abroad.” The vibrancy of these spaces, teeming with new experiences, brings these photos to life. Shukrana has succeeded in sharing stories, discoveries, and amazement through this fantastic collection of photos.

Shukrana also pushed herself to try new techniques and edit her photos in a meaningful way. Every stylistic works together to create a seamless collection. “I think it’s important to be able to tell a story,” Shukrana explains, illuminating the thought process behind her editing choices, from the dark blacks to the electric blues to the warm pops of red. “I had a vision when I was going to Tokyo that I wanted a photo like this, and I got it,” she says about a shot she captured that overlooks the cityscape with Tokyo Tower in the center. This vision continued even as she traveled from Tokyo to Singapore, underscoring her incredible talent both to find compositions in the moment and to bring them together in the editing stage.

Shukrana has been doing photography since she began to experiment with her brother's Canon T6i. Shukrana is a photographer for JMU’s Student Affairs Communication and Marketing. “Working here has really challenged me to push myself as a photographer, and I think I’ve gotten a lot better, so when I got to go abroad again after this job, I think I was able to take photos with stronger and more difficult techniques.”

Shukrana hopes that when people view her work, they’re inspired to branch out and travel. This collection is full of moments she’d dreamed of experiencing her whole life and pleasant surprises she had along the way. “It captures my dreams … both as a photographer and as a traveler.”

View the full collection here