Dallas photographer Cameron Salehi will open a gallery on Saturday featuring images she has taken around the world. KERA’s Stephen Becker reports on how she went from college grad to gallery owner in just two years:

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When Cameron Salehi graduated from SMU in 2008, she learned the same lesson many recent graduates have learned – a diploma doesn’t guarantee a job.

So she decided to spend her new free time honing her craft – photography.

She signed up with National Geographic Expeditions to take trips to France, Scotland, Cuba and other places. The expeditions team budding photographers with seasoned pros who have shot for the magazine.

SALEHI: “I justified it to my parents as saying, ‘It’s kinda like grad school!’ Which it basically was – just getting to travel the world.”

After five expeditions and a summer working at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, she found herself with hundreds of images but still no work. So she bet big on herself and opened a gallery, called Look.

SALEHI:: “It’s a bit overwhelming; it’s very scary. Since I’m so young, I feel people may not take me seriously sometimes.”

The space is located on McKinney Avenue in Dallas. She’ll inaugurate it on Saturday by showing a collection of her photographs from Cuba. After that, she plans to show a mix of her own work and work by other photographers.

And while her parents have been supportive, she says the gallery is also her chance to show them all that she’s accomplished since graduation.

SALEHI: “I think a lot of the reason why I did the gallery was not to prove to them, but maybe to say, ‘Hey, look, I actually am doing something. I’m not just wasting time and money going on these trips around the world. I actually am working and producing something. So it’s nice to be able to have something to show for it.”