Ethan Liu ’26 is a senior from Tallahassee, Florida. During his involvement with The Phillipian, Liu has shot the majority of the portraits for “10 Questions” features. Passionate about photography, he serves as the head of Your PA Memories and is a board member of the Andover Moviemakers Club. Equally dedicated to music, Liu plays piano and saxophone in several ensembles on campus, including his band Goose&Moose. Recently, Liu was recognized by YoungArts for his performance in Jazz Piano. In his free time, Liu enjoys running and biking.
When and why did you first become interested in photography?
Throughout my life, art has [played] a big part because my dad’s an artist and my mom is a musician. I’ve loved doing both music and drawing and ink brush painting when I was younger. During quarantine, I would spend all my days outside in the woods in Florida. I would bring my camera along and begin capturing moments I found beautiful. That translated [when] coming to Andover. [I am] still trying to capture stuff that is beautiful to me, but in the context of the Andover community. I found my way into The Phillipian as a freshman, and ever since, “10 Questions” has been a way for me to capture the personalities of the teachers that are featured each week.
How has working at The Phillipian impacted your photography experience?
“10 Questions” has been very interesting for me because photography was always me going into the woods, or me in the streets of Boston doing street photography. “10 Questions” has been a more conscious human interaction aspect of photography because every week, I get assigned a different teacher. I only get five to ten minutes, and I want to take the photo that brings the best light out of them. I’ve tried and experimented with different ways of giving advice and getting close with them in that short amount of time so that they can feel comfortable in front of the camera. I’m like, ‘just pretend you’re talking to a student or making a joke to a student,’ and that usually gets them to laugh. Then, clicking the camera at the right moment has always been the way for me to capture these faculty in their best light. I’m very grateful for meeting so many different people through this.
When did you first become interested in music, particularly in instruments such as the saxophone, piano, and violin?
I started piano at three and violin at seven. I played [saxophone] in middle school. My childhood years were filled with music. Jazz has become my passion because [of] meeting friends, like my best friend [Brandon Fu ’25] and others in my band called Goose&Moose, and being able to play and perform for so many people and bring so much joy to people. [That] has been my passion for playing music.
What is your fondest memory involving music at Andover?
The highlight of my music career is always the Den Show in May. My band, Goose&Moose, rehearses a lot, many weeks in advance. We prepare around thirty pop tunes, jazz tunes, [and] sing-along songs. Our band can play it in a way where we can showcase our talents, improvised solos, and get the crowd’s energy to go crazy. It feels surreal coming from a classical music background, [to be] able to play for such an energized crowd who’s cheering, laughing, and smiling. That has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Being able to do that with my band has been so fulfilling.
How do you blend your two disciplines? What are the similarities and differences between photography and jazz?
All the art forms that I like to partake in seem fluid to me, no matter what form it takes. For me, it’s kind of a way of expressing myself, my stories, [and] my identity. Also film, making short movies, has been a way for me to bridge all these different aspects like photography, music [through] the film scores, poetry where I can write beautiful narratives, and also acting.
What advice would you give to students who want to pursue the arts?
Be confident. When I was a freshman, a lot of nervousness was there because I felt like all these seniors knew what they were doing. They were doing so many things, and how could I do that? It seemed almost impossible. Just give it time, explore new things as well, and eventually, things will come together. For me, that has been finding my space in different communities, communities that I thought I would be in, and also ones that I did not expect myself to be in.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
Life. Just existing, looking around, being appreciative of everything that goes around me, of the people and the environment. A lot of that stems from my background in Buddhism. I’ve done some work here at Andover, trying to guide some meditation sessions and expose Buddhism to the community. For me, as a self-practice, it has helped me go through my daily life with gratitude and openness.
What do you want to carry with you from Andover after you graduate?
Coming from Tallahassee, Florida, and growing up not knowing about these boarding schools, the moment that I stepped on campus and saw how broad and different the views of my peers are, that’s what I want to stick with me. I want to continue to remind myself that there are so many different perspectives out there and people with different backgrounds. Yet, we can come together to create such meaningful things. I’ve seen that happen, especially in the arts or music. We might share completely different backgrounds and experiences with art, but when we come together and create something meaningful, that’s beautiful.
What other hobbies do you enjoy?
I love to run. I love to go back and forth. I love to bike through the woods. That’s been a way of exploring. At Andover, it’s been hard for me to explore, so that’s why I do so much art. Art is a way of exploring myself. I used to run on the indoor track team as well, and that has been fun.
What is your favorite book and why?
I really love this book called “Ender’s Game.” “Ender’s Game” is about this child hero who is confused about his actions. He’s confused because he saves humanity, but kills a whole other alien species. He spends the rest of his life traveling through space at light speed so he can live through more than two thousand years of human existence to save this alien species. For me, reading that in seventh grade was so eye-opening and gave me a lot of inspiration. Sometimes, I look at the stars at night when I’m going back from Falls and imagine myself out there. That book talked about humanity being a multiplanetary species, and that’s cool to me.
