Winning Student Photography Captures Everyday Life

Students in Carol Townsend’s Introduction to Design Two-Dimensional II class were inspired by the Dewitt Jones quote, “Dedicate yourself to a regimented program and gifts may just seem to come your way.”

In order to seize the art potential of everyday life, the students, all communication design majors, took frequent photos on their cell phones or digital cameras during the semester. Each student chose their three best images and had them vetted by their classmates.

The selected final images were converted into a PowerPoint presentation given to juror Donna Jordan-Dusel, lecturer of fine arts, who teaches photography on campus. She chose four winners, listed below with her comments:

First Place: Mia Townsend

“I chose this photo because it sparkled. The ‘ordinary’ objects were simple drinking glasses; however, the composition, the color, and the intensity of the light, combined with the excellent reflections in the photo, rendered it almost painterly. The details also nicely filled the entire ‘frame’ of the photo.”

Second Place: Sarah Costello

“The simple, ordinary object of a driver’s license was transformed into an interesting composition with angles and lines. The light/dark areas of the photo also worked well, giving emphasis to the words at the left and to the upper area at the right of the photograph. This photo was an interesting work with subtle colors and textures. The lines in the work also contributed to the frame-within-a-frame created by the off balance of the object…”

Third Place: Holly Norris

“The angle (nice perspective), at which this was photographed, combined with the fabulous shadows and the subtle coloring produced a very “mysterious” mood. Who’s lurking in the shadows? Who is going to step from around that corner? It’s a mystery. The ‘frame’ actually disappears as it’s created by the light itself.”

Honorable Mention: Dylan Pilley

“A very ‘mysterious’ photo, with subtle color, and unusual ‘disappearing frame’ … the texture in the road is created by the wet pavement and the very unusual lighting.”