Our school recently entered the annual TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) competition. This is an art competition, with more then 20 different categories in which students from different schools compete against each other. The Winston School San Antonio (where I teach) has done very well in the past, taking an overall first place last year along with many individual student winners. Unfortunately, this year the judges liked the other student’s work more and as a school we ended up tying for 5th place. We were understandably disappointed, but I was very happy to see that the three pieces that will be going on to the state level competition are all my students! Yes, I feel like a proud father who’s child has completed a great accomplishment (which in a way they have). So, without further a-due, let me share with you the three students and photographic pieces that will be representing The Winston School San Antonio at the state TAPPS competition.
The water fountain image was taken by Saion Peterson during his first week in my photography class (great shot for a beginner). I love the diagonal lines and the effective use of shallow depth of field to control the viewer’s gaze. Obviously the judges liked it too as the image was awarded 1st place in the Traditional Photography category.
The baseball image was a great surprise for both me and the photographer, Joel Corchado. For me because Joel is not even in my photography class this year. Joel took photography with me last year and I was happy to learn that he has continued to shoot. A few months ago Joel brought me a shot of a baseball he had taken at his house. The image had high contrast and limited detail. Remembering how much Joel enjoyed creating artsy, abstract images, I decided to introduce him to HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Joel then reshot the baseball image as part of an HDR series, brought them into PhotoMatix, and added the final touches in Photoshop. With HDR grunge images, you never know if the viewer will love it of hate it. Fortuantely, the judges loved it and awarded Joel 2nd place in the Manipulated Photography category.
Finally, we come to Caleb Smith’s panoramic image. Caleb actively petitioned the administration at our school to let him take photography this year. I am very glad he joined my class as he has a creative eye and has expressed an interest in becoming a professional photographer. Caleb’s panorama consists of seven images which were taken at the local park while standing inside a dome jungle gym. The images were then stitched together in Photoshop and strokes were applied to the pieces to create a puzzle like effect. The end result is pretty cool and the judges liked it enough to award it 4th place in the Manipulated Photography category.
