It was a Tuesday night and very dark. Per usual, Julia Fradkin was in need of photos.

Fradkin hates shooting indoors, so she scanned her house for a luminescent prop and settled on a string of fairy lights, deciding it would look cool if her model, Willa Jones-Irwin, wrapped them around her.

At the time, Fradkin had no clue how the shot would pan out, but it turned out that her vision was gold.

The photograph was entered in the state festival, then put on display at Bainbridge Arts & Crafts for the nonprofit’s annual student showcase.

That’s where Bill Davis, a publishing representative with Macmillan, took notice.

“This particular patron saw Julia’s photograph with the light bulbs and went to the front desk and said, ‘I’m really interested in that piece for the cover of this publication,’” said executive director Lindsey Masters.

Fradkin, not knowing about the gallery’s going-ons, assumed she was in trouble when her photography teacher, Janet Neuhauser, caused a commotion the next day in class.

“She started yelling, ‘Julia! Julia! Big news! Big news!’” the senior recalled.

Davis wanted to purchase the photograph for the cover of a college-level psychology textbook.

Fradkin was floored. She’d never published a photo before. She buzzed her mom, who was in a meeting, maybe seven times.

“I immediately started to freak out a little,” Fradkin said.

Photography has been Fradkin’s “number one thing” ever since Hyla Exploration Week in Walla Walla, where she captured fields and fences and abandoned places with her Canon Rebel t2i.

She’s since built a burgeoning side hustle in island portraiture, posing color-coordinated families and wistful seniors ready to take on the world.

Among friends, Fradkin is the official documenter of social life and significant events, to the extent that there’s no proof she ever went to Ometepe; she was the cameraman.

“There’s not a single photo of me,” she explained.

That’s the only time that she’s regretted not being on the opposite side of the lens.

Macmillan is not in the habit of purchasing photographs from random teenagers — or from anyone, for that matter; staff members usually supply their own images, Neuhauser found out, when she tried to haggle on Fradkin’s behalf.

Consequently, the senior was extra pleased with her $150 check, a portion of which she promptly deposited in the bank. The rest of it went to Jones-Irwin.

They often do shoots together.

“She’s a gorgeous person and she’s really photogenic,” Fradkin said of her model.

And she can handle a bit of bossy.

“When I take photos, I can give a lot of direction, and she’s gotten used to it and we’ve just gotten into this rhythm,” Fradkin added.