A single picture may be worth a thousand words, but for the Kentridge High School Photography Club, 14 pictures were worth something even more: A first-place victory.
“This is something we’ve worked hard for since ‘98,” said adviser and photography teacher Jeff Tibeau.
The win at the Washington State High School Photography Print Competition is the club’s second first-place finish in three years. KR also won the state contest in 2006.
The contest is split into several categories reflecting all of the traditional arts of photography from portrait to architecture to landscape as well as new, digital categories. Students are required to take and develop their own pictures for the contest and can enter in up to six categories.
The projects are judged by a panel of professional photographers, who this year reached for a more traditional look, according to Tibeau.
“The judges this year really honored the traditional things we teach,” he said. “This group of kids right here is some of the best I’ve had in five years.”
Individually, the club had one first-place finish, three second-place finishes, two third places, three fourth places, two fifth places and three sixth-place finishes.
The club’s first-place finisher was senior Philip Villanueva, whose photo of the sky bridge at the Museum of Flight earned the top slot in the architecture category.
“I just knew that was my best one,” he said of the black and white, shadow-filled photo of crisscrossing beams and light.
Villanueva earned $100 and a chance at being named Best in Show at the June 4 awards ceremony.
The club also had multiple winners, including senior Brady Mitchell, who had two second-place finishes (architecture and landscape) as well as two photographers who pulled off the rare feat of placing twice in the same category.
Jadina Lee, a junior, took home the fourth- and fifth-place ribbon in black and white people and senior Kevin Gonzales finished second and third in documentary photography.
“It was rewarding,” Lee said. “We all worked hard. It was nice to receive something.”
“It was a little surprising,” Mitchell said. “But we definitely had good work.”
Though the students are scored individually, the total scores are added up like in track or swimming to get a team score.
“We try to work as a team,” Tibeau said, adding that he has high expectations for his students every year. “They rise to it and it makes me proud.
“I’m just really proud of these guys,” he said.
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